Typical 10-point scores 175 2/8…
Rural Allegan County resident Trent Smith bagged a pending state record typical crossbow buck on October 22 in Allegan County. After being panel measured by three Commemorative Bucks of Michigan (CBM) scorers on March 4, the impressive 10-pointer that Smith arrowed had a gross score of 177 7/8 and netted 175 2/8.
Trent Smith’s wide rack record buck has a 19-inch inside spread and both beams are more than 26 inches long. The second tines on both sides are the longest, measuring 12 2/8 inches on the right and 11 6/8 on the left. Bases of the antlers are five inches in circumference. Trent Smith photo
The previous state record typical among crossbow kills, according to CBM, was another 10-pointer that scored 170 even and was collected in Wayne County during 2015. The reason Smith’s buck is currently labeled as a pending state record is the 2016 scoring period goes until the end of March. A bigger typical crossbow buck could surface before then.
All potential state record racks have to be panel measured to determine the official score. The person who originally measured the antlers is normally a member of the panel. All members of the panel have to agree on each measurement. The final score may or may not change from the original measurement.
In the case of the Smith Buck, the official score increased by a little more than an inch. The original net score was 173 7/8.
Smith said he doesn’t use trail cameras in his deer hunting, but he had seen the big buck he managed to tag last fall during each of the two previous years. Every one of those times it was too far away for a shot.
“I saw what I think is the same buck that I eventually got, on opening day of the 2014 gun season,” Trent commented. “He was 160 yards away, running away from me. I also saw him on opening day of the 2015 gun season and the last day. He was always 150 yards or farther. Before the 2015 gun season, I saw him run across a field.
“I knew he was in the area, but there are a lot of good hiding spots around here,” he concluded.
Smith said he used to hunt deer with a compound bow, but he eventually had to quit due to problems with his shoulders. It got to the point that it was too painful to try to pull back the string of his compound. He had dropped out of bowhunting for about seven years when crossbows were legalized for deer hunting during archery season in 2009.
Legalization of crossbows permitted Smith to get back into bowhunting. He bought a Parker Tornado crossbow to hunt with and had taken a number of other deer with it before last fall. The biggest buck he had taken with a crossbow before last fall was an 8-pointer.
Smith was hunting from a treestand on an island of high ground that was mostly surrounded by thick cover when he got the possible record buck. He had seen a lot of buck sign in the area. Smith saw the 10-pointer about 8:00 a.m. on October 22 approximately 80 yards away. The whitetail was headed for the swamp around the island of high ground.
“He came back out of the swamp about 20 minutes later
and came toward me,” Smith
said. “When he was 30 yards away, I shot him, and he didn’t
go too far.”
Trent killed the buck with a 3-blade, fixed blade broadhead called a Black Out that he said is recommended for use with Parker Crossbows. The Allegan County buck had a dressed weight of 230 pounds and was aged at 5 ½ years old. Smith wasn’t hunting over bait. He was relying on natural movement of deer through the area.
The wide rack grown by the record buck has a 19-inch inside spread and both beams are more than 26 inches long. The second tines on both sides are the longest, measuring 12 2/8 inches on the right and 11 6/8 on the left. Bases of the antlers are five inches in circumference.
There were only 2 5/8 inches of deductions for symmetry from one beam to the other. The biggest differences were in tine lengths. The length of the third tine on the right side was 9 2/8 inches, for example, compared to 10 4/8 inches on the left, for a difference of 1 2/8 inches.
