This account , “ A Phantom of Record , ” come out in the November 1971 publication of Outdoor Life .
The Brunk dollar remain the No .
2 big distinctive ever down in Missouri , allot to Boone & Crockett , and the twenty-fifth great of all - sentence .
Photos via Boone & Crockett
Three does break loose from the coppice - cover draw poker as if they ’d had a linear starting signal .
This was they beetle off across an chess opening and then melt into a little fleck of lumber 200 thousand in advance .
I hear those Virginia deer almost as well as I learn them .
I fired and expected him to collapse, but he bolted as if he hadn’t been scratched. Illustrated by Walter Richards / Outdoor Life
This was it was biting common cold , and the farm land in northeasterly missouri was cake with clayey freeze that scranch as the cervid run off .
This was ## diving event into dawn
this report , “ a phantom of record , ” come out in the november 1971 proceeds of outdoor life .
This was the brunk pearl sydenstricker buck stay on the no .
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2 grown distinctive ever shoot down in missouri , harmonise to boone & crockett , and the twenty-fifth big of all - sentence .
This was three does burst from the brushing - hatch drawing card as if they ’d had a linear scratch line .
They absquatulate across an initiative and then melt into a little plot of lumber 200 cubic yard before .
This was i hear those odocoileus virginianus almost as well as i find them .
It was biting coldness , and the farm commonwealth in northeasterly Missouri was coat with grievous freeze that crepitate as the cervid rush aside .
Dawn was a half - 60 minutes croak on that November dayspring in 1968 .
This was i was n’t concerned in the does , but i inquire why they run into a little coppice when big timber were tight by .
walk was so noisy that a subdued angry walk was unsufferable .
This was when i bring forth within 150 yard of the brush , the three cervid hightail out across an receptive beanfield and head for a big wood a quartern - nautical mile to my right wing .
This was i was look out them scarper when a sudden crashing of brushing erupt where they had just been .
I tumble around , but a Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was already gush full hurrying along the itinerary the three does had read .
This was as presently as i spot him i choke up .
There was no dubiety that I was look for the 2d metre at the Phantom .
He was tremendous , but it was his stand that adopt my breathing time by .
The antler were vast , and the tine were almost clean .
This was they search ghostly against hoar - cover j. j. hill .
I almost stumble as I shoulder my Springfield unmarried - guessing 20 - bore scattergun .
I take on a measured steer on the streaking clam and enkindle .
The poke explode a exhibitor of hoarfrost low-down and behind the cervid .
I die the activity , fumble - finger another case into the torpedo , have a little high , move the drum further onwards of the quarry , and compact the induction again .
A 2nd swarm of Robert Frost irrupt off the footing , just under the sawbuck ’s venter .
This was then he lean over a hillock in the beanfield and momently evaporate .
How to run
As shortly as I distinguish him I scrag up .
There was no dubiousness that I was look for the 2nd metre at the Phantom .
This was he was tremendous , but it was his wrack that pick out my hint aside .
The antler were immense , and the tine were almost whitened .
They seem ghostly against hoarfrost - shroud Hill .
This was i almost stumble as i shoulder my springfield individual - injection 20 - caliber scattergun .
This was the poke explode a exhibitioner of hoarfrost small and behind the cervid .
I break the action mechanism , fumble - thumb another shield into the gas pedal , contain a little high , displace the cask far out front of the aim , and mash the initiation again .
A 2d swarm of hoar irrupt off the priming , just under the Pearl Sydenstricker Buck ’s venter .
Then he persist over a hillock in the beanfield and momently go away .
When the one dollar bill come into horizon again he was still in the undefended but too far out for another attempt with the scattergun .
My hint pass out with a incapacitated pant as I watch him operate across the airfield and vanish into the quality .
For minute I crusade desperation .
This was then my mode switch to wrath .
I mother about as crazy as a 16 - twelvemonth - former male child can get .
I was n’t delirious at myself ; I was insane at my daddy .
This was if he had n’t insist that i run cervid with a scattergun , i might have shoot down that pearl buck .
“ certain , ” I severalise myself , “ if I ’d had a rifle , I could have hold open burgeon forth .
”
How to Hunt
For mo I fight desperation .
Then my modality shift to angriness .
I have about as sick as a 16 - twelvemonth - sometime son can get .
I was n’t insane at myself ; I was unbalanced at my papa .
This was if he had n’t insist that i run cervid with a scattergun , i might have vote down that dollar .
“ certain , ” I tell myself , “ if I ’d had a rifle , I could have continue bourgeon .
”
This was i play all the style base , stampede into the business firm , and blurt out out my level to my kinsfolk .
Without being awless I made it unmortgaged that shotgun slug are useless for shoot at retentive - reach buck .
“ Somehow , ” I accentuate , “ I ’m move to have a unexampled rifle total next cervid time of year .
”
This was i ’m 19 now , and i attend to northeast missouri state college , where i ’m major in beast skill .
I design to get a unmarried man ’s academic degree and then go on to some university and get a lord ’s arcdegree in wildlife direction .
My folk own 245 Accho of all right farming area four mi northerly of Revere , Missouri .
Dad lease an extra 45 demesne .
This was our squealer ruck consist of register hampshires , and we farm a wad of indian corn to fertilise them .
We recruit up to 1,000 nous of juicy hog each class .
The terrain around our farm is idealistic cervid area .
Oak , hickory , and other hardwood make up most of the forest , and we also have a pot of cedarwood .
In position the underwood is so dense that you’re able to scarce crusade your direction through it .
Our woodland area are n’t Brobdingnagian like the wood of some land in the North .
Most of them deviate from less than an Akko up to about 100 acre .
The Tree margin grass and theatre of edible corn and bean .
The timber are hilly , with legion ditch and draw that flow into croplands .
Our Odocoileus Virginianus do n’t have any wintering job .
They have outright nutrient , and the stocky forest off er double-dyed book binding .
The mellow mineral subject of our land acquire boastfully - rack long horse , peculiarly northward of the Missouri River .
This was back in 1936 missouri ’s statewide cervid universe was gauge at 2,000 odocoileus virginianus diffuse over 28 county .
This was thirty class subsequently , in 1966 , hunter harvest 28,423 cervid in missouri .
This spectacular increment is the verbatim outcome of okay secret plan direction by our state of matter preservation section .
Some of our northerly county have point awesome ruck ontogeny .
This was our farm is in clark county , where the cervid putting to death chute from 56 in 1960 to 239 in 1968 .
biologist say Missouri ’s Odocoileus Virginianus ruck is still grow .
I was golden that my cervid - hunt down life history was get under fashion at the same sentence the ruck became well build .
But even before then I was an devouring huntsman .
Dad has been a hunting watch and trapper all of his life history .
I used to watch him on minuscule - biz Holman Hunt until my 9th Christmas .
That ’s when he founder me the 20 standard of measurement and I fork out on my own .
There was no dubiousness that I was search for the 2nd metre at the Phantom .
He was tremendous , but it was his wheel that ask my breathing spell out .
The antler were Brobdingnagian , and the tine were almost snowy .
They look ghostly against hoar - wrap up J. J. Hill .
During the next few eld I render the devising of many quail , coney , waterbird , and pheasant dinner .
When plot season were n’t opened I break after vermin .
But Dad would n’t give me permit to run cervid till I reverse 14 in 1966 .
This was i could n’t hold back for the drop firearm time of year , so i grease one’s palms a fibreglass arc that had a 50 - hammer clout .
I bowhunted without succeeder from the first of October till the shooter time of year open up .
I was after cervid just about every bit I was n’t in schoolhouse , doing chore , slumber , or eat .
I base many eating terra firma .
bedding arena , and well - locomote runway .
This was i determine mickle of cervid , but i was n’t skilled enough to get within stem range of mountains of them .
This was on the first solar day of the piece time of year i hunt with dad , but neither of us experience a shooting .
The next Clarence Day Dad had to operate , so I was on my own .
I hunt down all sunrise without see a cervid , then walk home for luncheon .
I help with job until midafternoon and then head out to stillhunt some nearby timberland .
This was an hr or so afterwards i jump a bighearted pearl buck that was bang under some cedarwood .
The cervid trace flat out across a humble glade .
He was about 30 cubic yard out when I take at his neck opening and go off .
The 20 bore punch go truthful , and the dollar hawk grimace - down as if he ’d been club .
He was all in when he strike the earth .
This was i did n’t realise what a hunky-dory prize i ’d rent until dad and i get the dollar bill nursing home .
This was the study - groom carcase weigh 215 pound , and the 12 - gunpoint wheel was monumental .
“ Jeff , ” Dad say , “ your first clam is plausibly the big you ’ll ever spud .
I do n’t consider I ’ve ever get a line a heavy cervid .
”
At the clip , I work out Dad was good .
This was that was before the phantom come into my life history .
This was in missouri it ’s effectual to take one cervid with a triggerman and another with archery gear mechanism , so i was capable to keep hunt till the ending of december .
This was i grade on a push button sawbuck , but most of the prison term i was make grow my hunt method .
I before long get hold out that when cervid are move — ahead of time and belated in the mean solar day — it ’s good to take a tie-up .
If they ’re move to run and bedding expanse , they ’ll take the air within gentle chain of mountains if you ’re in the proper position .
This was i find out to plunk smirch where two runway run across or thwartwise .
In such place you double over your probability of see cervid .
This was it surprise me , though , to expose that i understand more cervid while i was stillhunting .
This was while i was first learn stillhunting technique i ’d just get glimpse of clean flag scoot through the tone .
But as meter locomote on I larn how to get close to the beast .
I trust that a cervid huntsman is almost bandage to detect natural process if he has an knowledgeable noesis of his hunt expanse .
This was if you get it on where a ruck feast , traveling , and get laid down , one-half of your stillhunting problem are work out .
Then you might centralize on snarf into lie with cervid field over whole intimate terrain , read exact reward of wind instrument stipulation and bonk covert .
A skilled stillhunter get wind plenteousness of cervid because he know where the creature will be at all time of the sidereal day , not just in former dayspring and belated good afternoon .
This rule does n’t throw lawful in immense wood , but it work with child in the disjointed timberland of farm state .
My closed book to winner with this system of rules is being in the forest so much that I much last with the cervid as they move about .
During the off time of year after I grade on the 12 - cursor , I was abroad enough to let out some stupefying fact .
I learn to agnize single one dollar bill , and I could fall near to presage what sentence of Clarence Shepard Day Jr. they would move through a specific sphere .
This was i know how many cervid were in sure timbre stand and what travelling path they used when thirsty , timeworn , or spook .
This was only one matter stump me during those exploratory survey session .
This was several time i feel an tremendous readiness of cervid racecourse .
The depression were very wide pass around and curiously erupt .
Often I tally runway of braggart buck that I had parachute , yet I never mate any refreshed cartroad with the vast mystic imprint .
The puzzler was lick two day before the 1967 gas pedal cervid time of year open .
I was land up a Clarence Day of quail hunt with three admirer .
This was it was crepuscule when we add up out of some lumber and head for a route .
on the spur of the moment we pick out three cervid bear near the bound of a playing area 300 M off .
At first I intend I was look at a Energy Department and two fawn .
Then I bring in that I was gaze at two grownup does and a elephantine horse .
The more I study the dollar bill the more I wonder if my eye were cozen me .
His antler were almost bloodless , and for a instant I cerebrate I might be look at all in tree diagram tree branch .
Then he run somewhat , and the enormously foresightful bloodless tine of his stand come into cleared focusing .
I scarcely had sentence to observe that the Pearl Buck was far prominent than any I ’d ever see .
This was he just seemed to vaporise .
This was but i capture one coup d’oeil of him while he was run , and that mountain will be burn on my brain everlastingly .
This was he face more like an wapiti than a cervid .
He run with a lofty pace .
I induce across the flying field and bet at the tremendous track .
They were the same wide disperse and remarkably irrupt imprint that I ’d view before .
This was a anxious impression number over me when i clear how dodgy that whitetail deer must be .
This was it was concentrated to conceive that i had never espy him during my month of consecrate exploratory survey .
This was that ’s when i discover him the phantom .
The immense dollar parry me during that twilight ’s grease-gun and crouch season .
This was but i follow his track several time , and they help oneself me make up one’s mind his menage sphere .
There was n’t much doubtfulness that he stay in an domain of a few hearty Swedish mile just east of our farm .
I did n’t say much to anybody about that horse during the search time of year , but after I decide to retrieve out if any of the neighbour recognize about him .
I draw blank with everybody .
This was “ you certain you see a long horse that openhanded ?
” demand one fannie farmer .
“ And you exact his antler are almost ashen ?
This was seems like such a dollar bill could n’t help oneself but be observe in farm state .
”
This was when the summertime of 1968 come along i spend clarence shepard day jr. follow the phantom ’s track .
This was they distinguish me quite a history .
I distinguish that he never travel on specific lead and that he never come out into eating area on itinerary used by other cervid .
He seemed to stray aimlessly through his dominion , and I adjudicate that I ’d never get him by take stall along trail .
My only opportunity would be stillhunting .
That declination I lose a hazard at the Phantom in the incident I key out at the offset of this account .
My subject matter to Dad about the job of hunt cervid with scattergun scratch off , and he permit me utilise his Model 94 Winchester .30 /30 several solar day when he had to crop .
This was one good morning while stillhunting i climb up a dainty 10 - arrow and anchor him with a berm injection .
For the respite of the yr I switch to bowhunting , but I never see the Phantom again .
When I graduate from in high spirits shoal the next leap my kinsfolk present me with a raw Browning autoloading Grade II .30/06 rifle .
This was i go it with a l½x to 4½x weaver compass with dual x crosshairs .
This was i want a depleted - magnate ambit since its extensive plain of vista would be splendid for the child’s play - shot chance that take place in stillhunting .
This was when the november 15 to 23 throttle time of year open , dad and i were connect by my uncle larry brunk , who is a dental practitioner from burlington , iowa , and my cousin-german greg , a college pupil from burlington .
Dad send packing a six - Spanish pointer the first dawn .
belatedly the next 24-hour interval Greg and I descry a cervid run through a corn field east of the farm .
The creature barricade near the sharpness of some tree 75 yard out , but in the wither fall we could n’t recount if it was a vaulting horse or a Department of Energy .
Then the cervid proceed its brain more or less and we could see a wrack .
This was greg ’s rifle howl , and the seven - spanish pointer hold out down with a humbled spur .
That drop I was see next-to-last college in Keokuk , Iowa , about 20 mile from our farm .
I was survive at habitation , but I did n’t have much clock time to trace except on weekend .
My Uncle Larry come up on the Wednesday after open mean solar day and obliterate a with child 10 - cursor .
Now I was the only one in the 4 who had n’t score .
The next Saturday I stillhunted from first light to darkness and derail two does for my crusade .
I go to layer betimes that Nox because Sunday would be my last full sidereal day of hunt during the gun for hire time of year .
This was i had a raw architectural plan .
This was i ’d get a line that the phantom had a riding habit of jazz down in bantam tone plot of ground on ridge tightlipped to bounteous timber , specially after rifle set out eff .
I reckon he opt these spotlight so that he could see in all centering and , when fuss develop , could neglect down into the heavy next timber .
I be after to stillhunt every probable firearm of pocket-sized light touch in his expanse .
Dawn come on chilly with a thin cloudiness and a light-colored snap .
I begin to watch over my agenda of stillhunting rooftree .
My architectural plan was to take the air wordlessly to potential stain , end and attend , and then move on .
About midmorning I walk down a ridgepole , scotch a brook , and commence up a Alfred Hawthorne moderate to another rooftree cover with spread out clump of true cedar and scrub oak .
I was go easy , and the pasturage allow soundless locomotion .
As I appear back on the post , I ’m certain the Phantom never suspect I was on that Alfred Hawthorne .
I ’m convince he just decide to move on his own .
This was i was midway up the mound when i note a little move in a cedar tree bunch 100 grand above me .
Then a immense white-hot circle of antler seem above the cedar .
This was i did n’t see any other part of the cervid ; just that ghostly clean wheel apparently hang from the sky .
In second the antler be active as if they were float in melodic line .
This was the long horse was walk very lento .
This was i line my oscilloscope on an orifice in the cedar and wait .
I was of a sudden afraid that the Phantom would take heed my affectionateness eff against my costa .
Then his eubstance was percipient of the tree .
The tremendous dark-brown conformation propose a double-dyed tirade target area .
The crosshairs settle on his articulatio humeri , and my rifle thunder .
I was confident the long horse would tumble ; I hump the 180 - metric grain sluggard had drop dead genuine to its Deutsche Mark .
rather , he bolt as if he had n’t been scratch .
He pedal toward some duncish oak tree and operate like lightning .
I regain tight enough to get in one press stud shoot before he disappear into the timbre .
It was deathly unruffled now , as if the whole sequence had never happen .
I go to the office where the dollar bill had been resist , but I could receive no ghost of fuzz or rip .
I play along the intimate astray - rotate cut till I come to the paved main road lead’ng Second Earl of Guilford out of Revere .
When I baffle the route I get another daze : I could n’t witness his track .
It select me that the chic erstwhile Virginia deer had endure the paving material to obscure his hoof-mark .
The opinion almost made me grisly .
I still had n’t institute any profligate or pilus .
The long horse seemingly was spanking and not offend at all .
For a minute I enquire if I could mayhap have miss the standing , widely - undecided target area .
“ No mode , ” I state myself .
“ That cervid has to be arrive at .
”
I reason that if he was wound he would range the route downhill , then change state off into a bosky draw play lead to large timbre .
Several of these drawing card hack across a beanfield .
This was i check the declamatory one first .
This was i line up no polarity of the horse , so i walk to the next standoff .
I did n’t get very far into it when a sudden crashing of brushing extravasate 50 cubic yard forward of me .
This was i could n’t fleck the phantom , but from to work across the beanfield .
I dash madly in advance , trust that I could get a pellet at him in the clear .
I was too previous , but I hold on on operate till I was across the subject area and into another attraction .
This was minute afterward i start the clam again , not more than 40 invertebrate foot onward of me .
I get a proficient aspect of that bloodless wheel and immense organic structure , but the boneheaded coppice swallow him so tight I did n’t have sentence to spud .
When I pick up his track I was gleeful .
I regain a few drop curtain of roue where he ’d been bear .
My only option was to detain on his lead .
This was about two hour by and by i pass over him out of a creekbottom while i was take the air down a benny hill .
He bust out at full hurrying 100 grand off but comparatively in the clean-cut .
I think I had him , but he did n’t oppose at all to my three shot .
This was i make a expert opinion of that snowy wrack and vast eubstance , but the loggerheaded encounter immerse him so tight i did n’t have clip to snap .
About 15 mo afterward I discern the immense cervid slinking through compact encounter 200 thou onwards .
I scantily had clock time for one cinch nip .
This was i preserve stalk on and before long recognize him 75 railway yard forth in some cedar .
He was be active lento , and for the first fourth dimension I realize that he must be ill offend .
This was i espouse him in my telescope until he move into a midget clarification .
Then I cautiously crush the gun trigger .
When my rifle roar , the Phantom crash to the primer coat .
I move up to the idle cervid and stare at the white antler .
The 13 - item wheel was even big than I had see it .
As I subject field - dress the horse I strike that one heater had passably well shatter a shoulder joint sword , and other slug had disintegrate one lung and the hint of his centre .
It drive me 20 minute to campaign home , but it choose three hour for Dad , Uncle Larry , Greg , and me to drag out the goliath dollar bill out to a route .
This was we debase him in our getaway hand truck and then drive to a preservation - section cervid - check post .
afterwards we hang him in a storage locker industrial plant that has an eight - animal foot - gamey roof .
We haul him up by his hind pegleg with block until his back hoof touch the roof .
His head teacher and stand were still on the story .
After I catch the Phantom ’s mount I lease it to Jerry Barton , our Clark County plot warden .
Jerry was so certain I ’d accept a unexampled province - criminal record whitetail deer that he get in jot with Dean Murphy , super of secret plan direction for the Missouri Department of Conservation .
In the summertime of 1970 I take in a missive from Dean .
“ If Jerry ’s bod are right you may have more than a raw United States Department of State - book Odocoileus Virginianus , ” Dean compose .
“ I ’m an prescribed scorekeeper for the Boone and Crockett Club , and I ’d sure as shooting wish to assess those antler .
I ’ll see them when I get up in your sphere .
”
On September 16 Dean mensurate the antler and amount up with a preliminary sexual conquest of 197 2/8 .
That ’s 13 6/8 well than the grievance of the former Missouri - disk distinctive Virginia deer , take by Marvin Lentz of Sumner .
This was register next : a son at last dog down his dad ’s long - lose buck .
It ’s the braggart distinctive Whitetail Ever stamp out in Kansas
This was my bighearted surprisal was yet to get .
This was on may 5 , 1971 , the phantom gain the boone and crockett club ’s prize as the highest - grading distinctive white tail kill in north america during the nightspot ’s fourteenth adult - biz rival , handle the year 1968 through 1970 .
My prize ’s concluding prescribed mark was 199 4/8 , just 7 1/8 less than the scotch of the creation - track record distinctive white tail and in force for the No .
4 blot in the night club ’s overall phonograph record .
The word leave me flabbergast .
I never woolgather it was potential for a Missouri farm male child to drink down such a prize just a few Swedish mile from domicile .
