behold, boys.. this what alapha bucks from 276 look like

it goes to show you, you don't need high fences, feeders, food plots and all that other shite.. you just need a prime environment

Buck One, this buck was secretly killed in northern Tazewell County and drug across the state line, notice the the fella who downed it is a taxidermist right across the line in WV

quote:
A 12-point buck killed in West Virginia last week by bowhunter Chad Scyphers is a likely record for that state, although it still is too early to say for sure.
What is certain, it has been attracting a ton of interest.
Scyphers said he had been after the buck for two years, but he gave few details, telling fellow outdoor communicator Chris Lawrence that he isn’t going to say much until the record status is officially verified. Word on that should come in mid-January following a 60-day drying period required before measurements can take place.
The buck was killed on public land in McDowell County, which is along the boundary of Virginia’s Tazewell County.
The deer has been rough-scored at 196 5/8 typical Pope and Young. The standing record for West Virginia bow-killed bucks is 175 6/8. That buck was killed in Logan County in 1998 by Mark Lester.
As for what taxidermist will mount Scyphers’ trophy of a lifetime, that is an easy call. Scyphers works at the Mountain Heritage Outdoor and Taxidermy in Princeton.
“Record or not, the buck has everybody’s attention and can already be seen as one of the biggest bucks ever killed in West Virginia,” said Lawrence.

smart fella, imo

Roanoke Times article

and then, a couple of weeks later, down near BFIV..

Buck Two

quote:
This wasn’t supposed to be a trophy year for Virginia deer hunters; nonetheless, some record-book candidates have been showing up to add spice to what otherwise has been a lackadaisical season.
Getting the most attention is a heavy-beamed, 14-point typical buck killed by Doc Kestner of Chilhowie, who was hunting a wooded ridge on private property near Glade Spring.

Social media is ballyhooing it as a North American record, besting the famous Milo Hanson typical record taken in 1993 in Canada by a Saskatchewan farmer hunting his own land. It scored 213 5/8 Boone and Crockett and changed Hanson’s life.
Read more: Deer pulling a disappearing act (Dec 3)
It is a stretch to say Kestner’s buck will top that, but there is no argument about it having an exceptional rack.

“People are going crazy over it out here,” said Tim Blevins, who is Kestner’s father-in-law. “We believe it will score over 200.”
Sgt. Jamie Davis, a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries conservation police officer assigned to the region, isn’t so sure.
“It’s a very nice deer, especially for this area, but I don’t think it’s a record of any kind. I would estimate a score of approximately 180 or so.”
The antlers must cure 60 days before they can officially be scored, and then only by a certified person. The rack has tremendous mass, but also has some abnormal points that will be deductions.
There is a chance it will top the current leading Virginia buck in the typical category of the national Boone and Crockett Club. That one was taken in 1999 by Jerry James in Buchanan County. It scored 189 2/8 and ranks 166 all-time in the North American record book.
Virginia measures its bucks differently from Boone and Crockett, and Kestner’s deer should score well with in-state competition, thanks to its massive tines and basket shape.
The Virginia system does not distinguish between typical (even number of points) and nontypical.
The state record is a 31-point buck taken by Jim Smith in Warren County during the 1992 muzzleloading season. It scored 259 7/8 Boone and Crockett and 296 Virginia style.

Kestner’s buck should easily place in the top 10 of Virginia all-time records, but it must first beat out a 13-point Bedford County buck killed by Cotton Witt the first day of the 2014 muzzleloading season. That one has been rough scored at 165 Boone and Crockett.
“It was a gift from the Lord,” is how Kestner described his buck.

So many people have come by his home to see it, that he stashed it away in another location with the idea of making a full-body mount.

Kestner, who is 35 and has been hunting since age 6, said he first laid eyes on the big buck from atop his ladder stand, 7:30 a.m. on “a frosty, clear as a bell, sun-shiny morning.
“I had looked to my left and said, ‘What in the world?’ ”

The buck was leisurely moving toward Kestner’s stand, which is placed in a saddle of a ridge where white oak acorns are plentiful. Not far away is an 80-acre spread of soybeans.
When Kestner’s 7 mm boomed, the majestic animal dropped in its tracks at 65 yards.
“I just killed a monster buck,” he called to tell his wife. “Let the kids out of school if you want to, this one is big.”

As he approached the deer, he put his phone on video mode to record the scene, all the while saying, “Don’t move. Don’t move.”
Kestner is NFL-size, 6-foot-7 and 381 pounds, yet he couldn’t budge the buck, which weighed 245 pounds. He called his father-in-law, Blevins, who was home after killing a 9-pointer.

“You’ve got to get over here. I’ve killed the biggest deer in my life,” he told him.

“We don’t think there could be a better person to kill this deer,” said Blevins.

Kestner works in the coalfields delivering uniforms and is active in the Outdoorsmen in Christ program based in Chilhowie. The buck will be a great resource to draw attention to that ministry, he said.

Roanoke Times

276=Alpha Bucks