Wyoming bowhunter Shane Sanderson started the season in the Cowboy State off right on opening day by arrowing a monstrous whitetail deer still in velvet!

The 10-point buck fell to Sanderson, 39, on Sept. 1, the first day of archery season in Wyoming. Sanderson lives in Kinnear, Wyo., and has been bowhunting for 13 years.

He shot the 10-point from a blind after it and two smaller bucks passed within 35 yards. The big buck’s location wasn’t a surprise, though. Sanderson had been scouting it since August. He knew it was big, but wasn’t certain about just how big.

But after his great shot, and finding out it might push the state record aside, Sanderson had it officially scored on the Pope & Young system. He waited 60 days for “drying” as P&Y requires, and after that it was scored again — measuring a great 170 3/8 inches!

Pope and Young told officials with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department that it is a state record for a bow kill.

A 170-class is a superb buck, a great example of forage, age and genetics. But you mostly hear about those in parts of the Southeast, in Texas and in the Midwest. Definitely not in Wyoming, which has outstanding hunting for a variety of game along with super scenery.

But a 170-class in Wyoming? That’s simply amazing. That kind of whitetail record may not be broken for years, if ever, in the Cowboy State.

A huge D&DH “salute” to Sanderson!