YOUR BIGGEST ANTELOPE

[Don Martin]

Just curious, what did he score?

 

Don Martin

 

What an incredible antleope!

[Outdoor Writer]

Don,

 

If my notes are still current, Corky's buck grossed 94-1/8 and had a 90 2/8 net score. It is the SCI # 1 archery buck, and I think it's #3 in P&Y behind Marvin Zieser at 91 4/8 and Les Shelton's 90 6/8-inch buck. Not sure where it is in B&C.

 

And unless something has changed lately, it is the tallest buck ever tagged. Only one other buck in any of the record books has topped the elusive 20-inch mark. That buck, reportedly killed in 1899 and now part of the National Collection, measured 20-1/8 inches and 20 inches and currently ranks as No. 3 in the world.

 

Here's one of the articles I wrote about it before it was officially measured by the P&Y panel. This is a reprint of the article that appeared in Rocky Mountain Game & Fish magazine with Corky on the cover.

World-Record Antelope

[Don Martin]

Tony:

 

Thanks for the info on Corky's buck! I read your story you wrote on the hunt, awesome!

 

Here is my best muzzleloader story about a giant buck.

 

A number of years ago, while hunting a lady hunter named Brenda Cagle in Unit 18A on a muzzleloader hunt, I found the tallest buck I have ever seen in Arizona. We made an ardous 1.5 hour stalk on him, crawling and :duck walking" through cactus and low grass and we eventually got to with 150 yards of him and his group of 12 does. I got Brenda set up with my 50 caliber Knight rifle on a Harris bi-pod. As I glassed around one last timeI spotted a muzzle sticking out from a Spanish Dagger about 50 yards slightly in front and to the right of us.

 

I told her we couldn't shoot, that it was obvious another hunter had somehow got to the spot first. it was his shot to take!

 

She was crushed as she could have smoked that buck easily at that range. However ethics and fair play are the rules and I told her she had to wait. Maybe the other hunter might miss!

 

Well he didn't and the buck was 19 inches tall with great mass. Seems like he had 7 inch bases. When we walked up to the young hunter, who had no idea what he had just accomplished, I stuck out my hand and said, "Congratulations on taking the largest antelope ever taken in Arizona with a muzzleloader!"

 

The young man was shocked at the statment and he didn't have a camera, so I took a few photos of him and the buck. He said he thought "it might be 16 inches tall!" As Brenda walked away, now crying, I asked the young man to do me a favor. Would he sign a 8 X 10 photo of the buck that I would send to him and would he write a note on it?

 

I sent him the photo, and he sent the photo to her. He signed it and it read, "Brenda, thanks for being an ethical hunter!" She has the picture to this day in her Mesa home. To me it is as good as having the buck there. She did the right thing. I've often wondered how many others would have waited, knowing they were looking at a true giant of an antelope?

 

I've looked but can't find the orginal photos I took. Can't even remember the young man's name....

 

Anyway I told him to get it scored, that I was sure it would be the state record for a muzzleloader buck, but don't know if he ever did. I do remember he was using a borrowed open sighted 58 caliber caplock rifle. He told me he was about 90 yards away. He said he aimed behind the shoulder. He hit it right behind the left black cheek patch...

 

Don Martin

Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

[Seldom Drawn]

My Sons Buck

[firstcoueswas80]

My Sons Buck

WOW now THAT is a buck! Tall, HEAVY! What a stud!

 

That buck of Corky's is amazing also!

[Don Martin]

Seldom Drawn:

 

How about some details on your son's magnificent buck?

 

Don Martin

AWO

[Seldom Drawn]

Don,

I drew this tag with the Intent of giving It to my son, when I drew and went down to the game and fish and they said

he was to old I was devastated.a week or so later I was about to call Hoal and donate the tag.Then the night before I

was to call I got the reqs out and realized she made a mistake ,he had 3 more weeks before he was to old.

the night before opening day we put a 84 inch buck to bed and I didn't see any body
In the area.In the morning with 30 minutes before shooting light found me, a really good friend,and my son and within 500 yards of this buck before daylight then we saw headlights off In the distance that leads to a dead end road.when It got light enough my son was 5 seconds away from pulling the trigger, Boom the buck went down the other hunters got him what a beautiful buck It was.

The next day we went to the area I had seen this buck only one time.all summer,we got rained on for 2 hours and were soaked to the bone.

then out of nowhere he came running by us at 1000 yards without any of his does.he ran to a small hill in the trees where I had always seen the bucks In the area run too when they spooked, It took us 20 minutes to hike there and when we came around the cedar tree well the rest Is history.

 

Seldom Drawn

[Don Martin]

What unit was that great buck taken?

 

Don Martin

[Condor]

80 3/8 SCI was #29 with a bow but has probably dropped a few spots since I shot it.

 

[Heat]

Here's mine. He's decent for a first one, and a memory I will never forget!

 

 

 

[AZkiller]

my one and only, 19a, 80" on the nose

 

By 80 did you mean 60?

[Don Martin]

OMG, here it goes!

[Ken]

Don,

 

I have never joined a hunting forum but felt compelled to do so now that I could comment on your earlier post of March 25 relating your "best muzzleloader story about a giant buck."

 

I was there. The young man was my son, Paul. It was September 1995.

 

You tell the story accurately (except there were more than 20 does, plus 3-4 other bucks in that herd). I can add a few more details.

 

We had observed the herd all morning after patterning them earlier and felt sure they would feed along a fenceline where Paul posted up before first light. He was using my TC Big Boar .58 cal. loaded with a Hornady Great Plains 525 grain HB-HP in front of 100 grains of Pyrodex because his gun had proven inconsistent, along with his confidence in it. That gun consistently shoots 2-inch groups open sights at 100 yards (but I'll come back to that later).

 

Opening day, the prior afternoon, I used the same gun to double lung punch "Stumpy" (not to be confused with another Stumpy posted in this thread) that scored LHS/B&C 87-4/8 at 130-135 yards. Now, I was nervously watching the unfolding event from about 3/4 miles north of Paul's position. You, along with your hunter, drove past me on a two-track to get into position for your stalk. It must have been well executed, or my concentration on the antelope and Paul was so intense, because I never again saw you - though I knew you were close by - until I saw the smoke of the shot, heard the report, and watched three figures rise from the grass. I was sure it was Paul's shot but nagging doubt made me race back to camp, collect my Dad and begin a fast walk across the plain about a mile away.

 

You met me and my Dad near half-way. I will never forget your face. It held the widest good-natured smile and was pushed by a booming verbal exclamation to the effect, if not quote, 'I guarantee you that is the new ML record antelope!' I had already noted your hunter, Ms. Cagle as I learned later, in your tow and her understandably disappointed look.

 

Paul's buck had 19-4/8 x 20" length, good mass and prongs. It was scored at 90-4/8 LHS/B&C by a B&C Official Measurer. However, not being "in to" such things, nor frankly having the funds, it was not submitted for official panel scoring. It is listed with an asterick at the end of pronghorn scores on page 516 of B&C's 23rd Big Game Awards. (Mine is more prominently listed at Rank 13, a point most gloriously reinforced around camp fires to Paul's constant irritation ... heh, heh )

 

Now, to conclude the real reason of my post. Thank you, Don. I recall having written you the same subsequent to our hunt, but the opportunity to do so publicly, here, where others given to hunting might take notice, was not to be passed. Your action on that day demonstrated the highest degree of hunting "ethics and fair play" that has ever been my privilege to witness. It made a lasting impression on my young son and me. The story, as you have accurately told it, has often been repeated in our camps, to many of our friends, over the years since.

 

You probably do not recall, but we first met you in your 18A antelope camp in 1993. That is how I recognized you when you drove by me on that two-track. I remembered that buck you were skinning, and although you were friendly as could be that night, that you were, after all, a guide with a client. I never expected a guide would act as you did. I have always been poor at remembering names. But I remember yours, did when you were in 18A again in 1997 and again when we ran into you in 2B in 2001. I don't know that I have ever met a more jovial good-natured person.

 

I do know I have not met a more ethical one. Kudos to you and Ms. Cagle.

 

Regards,

 

Ken Langford

 

P.S. Almost forgot, about how accurately that .58 cal shoots, I asked Paul why he shot that Buck in the neck. He swore that was the only shot he had over the cactus and swells of the ground. I've alway been a little dubious about that claim so it was with great interest to read the story you got ... "aimed behind the shoulder." I would like to get him between us around a campfire and see which version he wants to defend. That should be interesting.

[Don Martin]

Ken:

 

You are right, it was your son Paul. What a day to remember!

 

I wish you guys would put that buck on the book. What a GIANT!

 

I am getting older, but when it comes to my statement that Paul said "I was aiming behind the shoulder!" that was exactly what he said. He looked like he was in shock and I was surprised to see where he had hit him. That's why I asked him where he was aiming.

 

But you know, that part didn't and doesn't matter. Fact of the matter is Paul got what I still believe is the best antelope taken in AZ with a muzzleloader! And I was pleased to at least having been there to watch the events unfold.

 

Ken I appreciate your kind words about the story, but it was and will always be the right thing to do!

 

Today in many cases, unfortunately it is about "who gets the biggest" and ethics be damned.

 

That is a shame.

 

In my opinion and I tell Brenda this every time when I visit her home (She and her man Paul are really good friends of mine!) , "You may not have that record book buck on your wall, but you have something you can always be proud of, you have the fact of knowing that you did the right thing!"

 

Don Martin

Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

[Flatlander]

Very heartwarming. Now can someone post some pics of that beast?!