After the prerequisite 60-day drying period, the Boone and Crockett Club made it official last month and crowned Earl Stubblefield’s beautiful 12-point buck as Mississippi’s new archery state record.
After closely watching the deer for about three years through trail camera surveillance, the Oxford hunter was finally given his opportunity on this once-in-a-lifetime buck on October 8, 2016.
“I have known of the deer for three years,” Stubblefield told the Clarion-Ledger. “When I saw the pictures of him (the first two years) he was a 10-point each year.
“He had a really pretty rack. It was weird he had such a perfect rack.”
Having never photographed the deer during daylight hours, Stubblefield settled into his stand on that faithful evening to the sight of about ten different deer, his buck still absent. That all changed around 6:55 p.m. that evening, as the buck he had documented finally made an appearance.
“I went out there that evening,” Stubblefield said. “When the deer came out, there were about 10 deer in the field.
“I was sitting there and a four-point came out and walked right underneath me and went in the bean field. About a minute later, he came out and walked right underneath my stand.”
Waiting for the right shot, Stubblefield finally could release his arrow as the deer came within 27 yards of his stand, quartering away. The deer only made it about 80 yards, according to Stubblefield, before collapsing in the dusty bean field.
When the tape met the bone, the buck officially scored 181 ¼ inches with each main beam measuring in at 27 3/8 and 27 ½ inches respectively. When it was all said, and done, the newly-minted rack eclipsed the previous record by 8 inches and now officially calls the Boone and Crockett record books its new home.
H/T: Clarion-Ledger
