Green Scores 177 6/8 Gross Boone & Crockett
For many Michigan families, deer hunting is a chosen lifestyle rather than just merely a recreational activity. Twenty-seven year-old Linc Lafountain comes from a large family of hunters and distinctly remembers sitting with his father, Terrie, as a young six year old. Linc comments, “My dad remains an avid hunter who rarely misses a morning or night hunt.”
Linc and his immediate family live near Cadillac in the little town of LeRoy. Even though Linc lives near a classic “up north” town he regularly hunts with his uncles Chris and Mick Lafountain in southern Michigan’s Oakland County. Lafountain regularly travels down-state to work with his Uncle Chris who owns a tree cutting service.
During the summer, Linc placed trail cameras in his hunting areas and got some impressive pictures of a giant 9-pointer. One evening the young hunter actually saw the buck in an agriculture field when scouting with a spotting scope. “He was by far the biggest buck that I have ever seen in the wild,” declared Lafountain.
On October 27, 2011, Linc chose to hunt a stand located at a point that comes out into a field. On one side of the point was cut soybeans and the other side held standing corn. Linc was on a definite mission and that was to kill the giant 9-pointer.
Lafountain sat 25 feet high in a maple tree. Behind him was a mixture of mature maples and thick brush. Linc narrates what happened that fateful morning. “At first light a group of five does came through. Around 9 a.m., I heard a twig snap and looked behind me. I immediately saw the big 9-point. The wind was swirling and the deer was very cautious. The big buck stood perfectly still for about 20 minutes. By the time he committed to come my way I was shaking pretty bad. It was a good thing that I had a whisker biscuit arrow rest, otherwise my arrow would have come off the rest. Finally, the buck stood in a quartering away position only 22 yards away. As all of this was happening I had a large flock of starlings perched all around me making a very loud racket. When I released the arrow my shot looked like I hit him about three ribs from the center and I was afraid that I made a bad shot. I was rather upset with myself.”
Linc says that he waited a full hour before getting down to look for sign. “Fortunately I hit a lung and the buck expired
about 150 yards from where he was shot,” stated the relieved bowhunter, who found the giant 9-pointer lying at the bottom of a creek bed.
This great buck is not your typical 9-point. To start with he has an ultra-wide inside spread of 22.5 inches and sports extremely long tines. The longest tine measures an incredible 14 inches and the opposite side has a matching tine just 1/8 of an inch shorter! Heavy mass is maintained throughout the heavy rack. The monster buck’s green score is 177 6/8 gross Boone and Crockett points and 174 net B&C points as a main-frame 8-point. Barring no major shrinkage, the buck will be officially measured after the mandatory 60-day drying period and should qualify for the national Boone and Crockett record books. This is quite a feat for a main-frame 8-point. According to Linc, this is the third year in a row that he has taken trophy class bucks. In 2009, Lafountain states that he got a 156 inch, 10-point and in 2010 he got a 140 inch 8-point.
As fate would have it, 2011 turned out to be a banner year for other members of the Lafountain family as well. Linc’s father shot a 9-point on the opener of gun season and Linc’s brother, Perrie, shot his all-time biggest buck on November 17, which was a 140 inch 10-point. 2011 will definitely be a year to remember for the Lafountain men!
