Yeah, I know, stupid question: We all do. Perhaps a better question would be: Is the next world-record whitetail buck worth a million dollars?

To answer that, I’ll rely on the sage advice of perhaps the most knowledgeable man on antler values: the late Larry Huffman. He was the be-all-end-all antler expert in North America. He not only knew antlers, he knew the intrinsic value of a good storyline. Huffman left us more than a decade ago, but his antler legacy lives on in many forms, including Legendary Whitetails and also the Bass Pro Shops’ “King of Bucks” collection. The Bass Pro collection includes dozens of deer hunting’s greatest bucks, which once belonged to Huffman. His dream was to see the heads displayed in a museum-like setting.

It was almost 20 years ago when Larry called me with an article idea for Deer & Deer Hunting. After collecting high-profile antlers for more than a decade, he was weary of the “tavern talk,” as he called it, concerning outrageous payments to hunters who had killed B&C-caliber bucks.

“I don’t understand how some people who kill a big deer immediately relate it to dollars,” Larry said. I agreed, adding that we had fielded many inquiries from hunters wondering what their buck “was worth.” We published Larry’s article (“Tall Tales & Tavern Talk: The Truth Behind Antler Values”) in D&DH. Since then, the article has become a benchmark for assessing antler values. 

Back then, Larry explained how historical and circumstantial factors, along with the hunting method, are actually more important to a rack’s value than the actual score. Although a buck’s score certainly helps attain a ballpark value, top-dollar offers are reserved for all-time records. Even then, Larry said “top dollar” is subjective.

For example, most B&C racks can fetch a few thousand dollars from collectors — a far cry from the figures tossed out by uninformed hunters. The same holds true today. Despite claims that antler collectors and corporations pay tens of thousands of dollars for record-class racks, few deals ever materialize. And what money is offered evaporates quickly, leaving the hunter with nothing — except, perhaps, a replica hanging on a wall. Most hunters who have chosen this route quickly regret it.

The take-home message: Record-class whitetails are freaks of nature that should be adored and cherished by the hunters who kill them … and respected by the hunting community as a whole. So, back to the original question: Is a once-in-a-lifetime buck worth a million?

Yes. A million memories.