Published: March 14, 2008 04:58 pm      

Big bucks

TBGA whoppers trickling in as deadline nears

The 2007-08 Texas deer season has been over for weeks. But we won’t know for sure good it was for whopper bucks until after March 15. That’s the final deadline for paperwork to be submitted to the Texas Big Game Awards program.

TBGA is a cooperative effort between the Texas Wildlife Association and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The program is intended to provide recognition to hunters who harvest quality big game animals and to the land managers responsible for producing them. The main idea is to get more folks on the quality game and habitat management bandwagons.

TBGA program executive director David Brimager of San Antonio said scored entries continue to trickle in. He expects to see more as hunters race to get scoring and paperwork completed ahead of the cutoff.

A quick review of the TBGA website indicates Texas’ most recent deer season may have been just as good in some parts of the state as many had anticipated.

Thanks to timely spring and summer rains, forage was plentiful at critical times. The abundance of natural food bolstered antler growth on bucks and carried does and fawns into fall and winter in excellent physical condition.

The unofficial TBGA leaderboard by region indicates there were three bucks taken in Region 5 (Post Oak Savannah) that gross upwards of 200 Boone and Crockett points. Two of them came from Grayson County, an archery-only county in northeast Texas.

The top scoring Region 5 non-typical is a Grayson County 21 pointer shot behind low fence on small acreage by archer Brock Benson of Sherman. Benson’s buck grosses 210 4/8 and nets 201 2/8, a shoo-in for the record book.

Another great Grayson County buck shot by Donnie Herod holds the No. 2 spot. Herod’s buck grosses 211 3/8, 199 3/8 net.

Grayson County also produced a couple of 180-class giants last season. Perhaps the most impressive is Jim Lillis’ 10-point typical that gross scores 181 2/8. Dustin Sandlin also took an outstanding non-typical that grosses 188 6/8.

Interestingly, the No. 3 Region 5 non-typical was collected on open range less than three miles from the Palestine city limits by Andrew Jimenez of the Swanson Hill community. Jimenez’ Anderson County 20 pointer grosses 201 7/8 and nets 196 5/8.

There is a good story behind the Jimenez buck. The hunter works construction out-of-state and only had time to hunt one day last season. Needless to say, he made it count.

“I was on a job in Cheyenne, Wy. and I had been seeing a bunch of big ol’ mule deer up there,” Jimenez recalled. “I just couldn’t stand it. I had 1 1/2 days off around Thanksgiving and knew I wouldn’t get any more time off until after the first of the year. So I decided to drive 15 1/2 hours home, just to hunt one day. My wife didn’t like it much, but I did it anyway.”

Jimenez erected a pop-up blind near a cane thicket that was riddled with fresh buck sign. He had been sitting there about 20 minutes when the buck came barreling by on the heels of a doe in estrus.

“It was pretty obvious he had been chasing her for a while,” he said. “Both of them were wore out. They were panting and their tongues were hanging out. I started shaking like a leaf the second I saw him.”

The top scoring non-typical reported thus far in Region 6 (Pineywoods) belongs to John Smith, Jr. Smith’s Gregg County whopper grosses 186 3/8, 182 net. Randy Hurst took the No. 2 Region 6 non-typical in Cherokee County, 174 5/8 gross, 167 3/8 net. The No. 3 non-typical was killed in San Augustine County by Robert Mosley, 170 3/8 gross, 167 1/8 net.

JT Parker shot the top scoring Region 6 typical in San Augustine County. Parker’s buck grosses 160 1/8, 156 7/8 net. Cody Gladden’s San Jacinto County buck ranks No 2, 161 2/8 gross, 156 3/8 net.

Deer hunters in regions 7 (Coastal Prairies) and 8 (South Texas) also harvested some outstanding bucks last season. The top scoring non-typical reported from Region 7 was taken in Colorado County by Gregory Greer. Greer’s buck grosses 191 2/8, 186 6/8 net. James Seabolt shot the No. 2 buck in Guadalupe County, 180 1/8 gross, 173 net. The best Region 7 typical gross scores 175 3/8, 167 3/8 net. Hugo Helmcamp shot the buck in Colorado County.

There are currently four bucks on the South Texas leaderboard with gross scores topping 200. The biggest is Marko Barrett’s Webb County giant that grosses 275 7/8, 269 2/8 net. Barrett’s buck is high scoring non-typical ever entered in the history of the TBGA program.

Region 8’s top scoring TBGA typical was shot by Rick Friedrich. Friedrich shot the buck in Webb County.

You can check the TBGA website(www.texasbiggameawards.com) for additional updates and photos in coming weeks.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwilliams@netdot.com.