The biggest buck to ever make the record books wasn’t shot by a hunter, but the hunter who did find him never got a dime for his discovery. The Boone & Crockett No. 1 world-record nontypical sports 44 scorable points with a final net score of 333 7/8 inches, redefining what was possible for a wild white-tailed deer.
It was 1981, and the biggest whitetail on record at the time had held the No. 1 spot for almost a hundred years with over 284 inches of antler. Most assumed no deer could ever top it. Then, on the second day of the Missouri firearms season of ’81, Dave Beckman had just checked in his buck with local conservation officer Michael Helland and was going on his way when he noticed antlers next to a fence line. He couldn’t just pick up the buck as it was on private property owned by the local Pipefitters Union near St. Louis, Missouri. So, he went back and told Helland of his discovery. An old article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reveals that the exact location of the buck was just off Strodtman Road across from what today is the entrance to the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area.
Agent Helland obtained permission to retrieve the carcass from the local Pipefitters Union. With the help of friends, he skinned out and examined the buck, and determined the deer had only been dead a few days. He found large scars on the buck from a previous injury, which biologists believe was from a coyote attack. The buck weighed over 250 pounds and the rack alone weighed more than 11 pounds. Investigators determined the buck died of natural causes, and estimated his age to be 5.5 at the time of his death.
Despite living to 5.5 years old, there were no confirmed sightings of the buck until his death. It’s believed he may have even been living on public land for a portion of those years.
When Beckman discovered the deer, Missouri did not have salvage laws legally allowing him to keep the rack. Ppossession of the buck defaulted to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). The true injustice of this story is that the MDC “made and kept a ton of money from selling artist’s prints and replicas of the buck,” according to Wide Open Spaces. Thirty years later, the MDC did finally decide to recognize Beckman’s discovery by giving him one of the replicas. Thankfully, salvage laws have since changed in the state.
