Here is the official score sheet on the buck.
Here is an article that appeared in the National Post about the buck a while back.
BYLINE: Siri Agrell
SOURCE: National Post
NOTE:
[email protected]
Poacher leaves buck with record antlers behind: Illegal catch
The man who shot a white-tailed deer with record-sized antlers in Northern
Ontario should be collecting endorsements, accepting invitations to hunting
shows and bragging of his kill at the lodge.
Instead, he is likely to be charged with hunting illegally and abandoning an
animal.
On Nov. 10, the Ministry of Natural Resources office in Dryden, 150
kilometres east of Kenora, received a tip that a deer had been shot after
legal hunting hours.
For safety reasons, deer can only be shot in daylight, from half an hour
before dawn to half an hour after sunset.
When a conservation officer arrived on a piece of private property 30
kilometres north of Dryden -- a destination popular with hunters -- he saw
an impressive shadow looming out of the darkness.
"It's certainly the biggest thing I've ever seen," said Bryan Merritt,
regional supervisor for the Ministry.
The white-tailed buck is believed to be seven or eight years old and is not
unusually large in body. But the size of its rack of antlers, with 18
separate points, is close to the world record. A score sheet filled out by a
representative of the Foundation for the Recognition of Wildlife according
to the official standard for big-game trophies gave the rack a net score of
199, just 14 5/8 points off the world record, which was set by farmer Milo
Hansen near Biggar, Sask., in 1992.
It is a trophy most hunters would brag about for years, but this animal was
left where it fell.
The Ministry's investigation into who killed the impressive deer led it
across the border, to two American hunters who are believed to have fled
Canada after shooting the buck. "It would appear that they left in a hurry,"
Mr. Merritt said.
If the men are charged, it is unlikely they will face jail time, but they
could receive a "substantial" fine, and have their hunting equipment seized
and licenses suspended. Because the suspects live in the United States,
there is concern they will not respond to the cross-border summons. The
Ministry could proceed with charges whether or not the accused show up, but
enforcing a penalty will be difficult.
Hunter Larry Polny said the shooter will pay in a different way. The
resident of nearby Sioux Lookout heard about the poachers on the Internet,
where two pictures of the buck have been posted on Web sites frequented by
hunting enthusiasts. Mr. Polny said that although the buck did not break the
record for rack size, the antlers' impressive girth would have made the
hunter legendary in big-game circles.
"If it was shot legally, the guy would get to go all over the United States
to gun shows and he'd be wanted for every gun commercial," said Mr. Polny,
who estimates the subsequent endorsements could be worth almost $100,000.
Although it was not a legitimate kill, the big buck could bring big bucks to
Dryden tourism. "It has generated a lot of interest in the hunting
community," Mr. Merritt said.
Initial rumours that the buck scored 41 points more than the world record
fuelled debate in hunters' chat rooms over the past month and could draw
attention to northwestern Ontario, which already attracts American hunters
from as far away as Eastern Seaboard.
Mr. Merritt said no one who hunts in the area remembers seeing the buck
before it was killed, but the prospect of similar-sized animals will be a
huge draw for sport hunters. "The antlers certainly are out of the
ordinary," Mr. Merritt said. "It's a big rack."
The ministry is holding the antlers until charges have been laid and
wildlife officers can figure out what should be done with the animal's
remains. The meat was donated to a First Nations community and several
hunting organizations have called the Dryden office expressing interest in
the antlers.
Mr. Merritt said the antlers are undoubtedly impressive, but are also a
shameful reminder of an illegal act.
"Antlers are something that are a trophy, something a hunter remembers the
hunt with," he said. "But in this case they were obtained illegally so
there's nothing trophy-ish about them."
The behaviour of deer in the dark is another reason night hunting is
prohibited, Mr. Merritt said.
"It's also a fair chase issue," he said. "Deer are a lot more docile at
night; you can get right up next to them."
Shooting the animal in the dark, abandoning its remains and fleeing the
scene "does not reflect the general ethic of the hunting community," Mr.
Merritt observed. "And what a shame, because it's certainly a spectacular
animal."