MAIN BEAMS 24 1/8" & 23 3/8"

SPREAD 33 3/8"

SCORE 333 7/8"

 PHOTO AND STORY COURTESY OF MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/

This is the story about the big one that got away: a world record deer that was smart enough or lucky enough to avoid hunters despite spending it's life in the shadows of a major metropolitan area.

It all started,, November 25, 1981, when Conservation Agent Mike Helland was sent on what appeared to be a routine patrol call in St. Louis County. The deer was discovered by hunter Dave Beckman. The white-tailed deer that carried a record breaking rack was not felled by a slug or arrow.

The toothless white-tail was found dead, apparently of natural causes.  The deer had a non-typical antler rack that measured 333 7/8 under the complicated Boone & Crockett Club trophy scoring system. This shattered the record from Texas of 286 points, which had stood since 1892.

The rack is "non-typical", which means the antlers were not symmetrical. These abnormalities: and the fact that some points were broken are considered when the experts total the points. The antlers had an inside spread of 25 1/8 inches and weighed 11 1/4 pounds. There is no definite explanation for the tremendous antler growth exhibited by the deer. It should be remembered that the deer did not carry that big rack around more than a few months. Deer lose their antlers each winter and grow new ones in the summer.  

The record deer was 4 1/2 years-old and weighed 250 pounds. His facial features consisted of deep sunken eyes and a deformity in the lower jaw causing it to be set back a few inches. According to Department biologists, the deformity may have been caused by a canine bite early in the buck's life. There is a small puncture hole in the lower jaw bone.  Apparently, an infection set in which caused a total loss of his lower incisor teeth. They were replaced by a spongy bone.

Antlers are basically composed of calcium, phosphorus, and protein.  When growth is completed it forms solid bone.  Abnormally shaped antlers occur occasionally and sometimes represent injury during growth.

This record rack may be worth from $50,000 to $1,000,000. It goes into the books as a deer "not taken by a hunter". This is a one in a million deer.