Olive Branch hunter arrows deer that tops state Magnolia Records.
Kevin Medlin didn’t have time to think about such things as rewriting Mississippi’s archery record book when a monster buck walked out of a thicket 50 yards from his stand on Nov. 11 in DeSoto County.
“I didn’t even have time to get nervous,” Medlin said. “It all happened so fast. I guess from the time I saw him to the time I watched him crash down in a thicket wasn’t much more than a minute, if it was that long. It all happened that quick.”
A green score that day produced over 190 inches gross, beginning a long wait for the 60-day drying period to pass. Friday, the wait ended when the 13-point — a mainframe 10 with three sticker points — was proclaimed the new state record for typical deer by bow.
Biologist Rick Dillard, co-founder of the stae Magnolia Records, officially scored it at 173 2/8 inches Pope & Young.
It replaces Will Rives’ 172 4/8-inch buck taken in 2010 in Jefferson County. Click here to read the full story of Rives’ buck, or listen to Rives tell the story of the hunt in a video by clicking here.
“It is the new record, by less than an inch,” Dillard said. “The main beams are the best characteristics of Medlin’s deer. At 28 2/8 (right) and 27 5/8 (left), it is ridiculous — and I mean really ridiculous. I may have scored one or two deer in my life with main beams like that, but not many. It was also wide, with an inside spread of 21 7/8 inches.
“I’ll be honest with you. The net score and even the gross typical score of this buck do not reflect just how big and pretty this deer was. It is remarkable.”
For that reason, Medlin knows, it’s a good thing he didn’t have a lot of time to study the antlers and all of that mass walking through a cutover toward his stand that blustery November day.
“We had a trail cam photo of this buck in late July, and we knew it was a good one, and I think I saw him one time last season,” Medlin said. “I was in a stand last year a couple hundred yards from where I shot him this year and was watching two young bucks running a doe. Then this big one came barreling out of the thicket and ran them all off, and then he was gone.
“It happened so fast, I didn’t get much time to look at it then, so I’m not 100 percent sure this is the same deer. I’m pretty sure it is. All I know for sure is that the buck I saw that day was a good one.”
Then, in July, a trail cam produced the photo of the buck.
“It’s the same buck in the picture, for sure,” Medlin said. “But we still didn’t know it was this big. Funny thing, his brow tines are very small, and in the photo there are two split brow tines. When I shot him the left brow tine was broken off below the split.”
Medlin, 34, a loan manager for Bancorp South in his hometown of Olive Branch, started the morning hunt by studying the conditions.
“I chose the stand I was in that day because I needed one that was good for a strong south wind,” Medlin said. “I had hung the stand Oct. 30 in a sweet gum stand surrounded by thickets. It was near where two trails intersected. I didn’t go back to that area until the day I shot him, Nov. 11.”
Medlin had been in the stand that morning for about 45 minutes, and was passing time by reading a news story on his smart phone.
“I was in a climbing stand, sitting and looking down at my phone reading this article, and I just happened to look up and I saw a deer walking out of a thicket,” he said. “I put the phone down, looked back up and saw it was a good buck, a shooter. At that point, I started concentrating on staying calm and getting a good shot.
“He was about 40 or 50 yards away when he came out of the thicket and was walking straight toward me. Then it turned left and started walking across in front of me.”
Medlin was still seated, and he knew he would have to wait for a perfect opportunity to stand and get his bow in position.
“At about 30 yards, he walked behind two trees, and I was able to ease up and grab the bow,” he said. “I was up and ready when he emerged and walked toward another tree a few yards away.
“When he stepped behind it, at about 22 yards away, I was able to draw.”
Medlin had his Mathews Switchback XT bow at full draw when the buck stepped out and gave him a broadside shot at 22 yards. The hunter sent the 100-grain NAP Spitfire Broadhead toward the deer’s vitals.
“When he took off, I could see about two thirds of the arrow sticking out of the buck,” Medlin said. “That worried me, and I started thinking I might have made a bad shot. But I could see him running the whole time, and I was watching when he went down about 60 yards from my stand and 40 yards from where he was when I shot him.
“I never took my eyes off him. I could see him lying there. He was in an edge of a thicket, but I could see him. That’s when I started getting nervous and excited.”
Medlin, whose biggest buck before that was a 144 7/8-inch 10 point, sat back down in the stand and began the wait.
“I stayed in the stand for an hour, at least, mainly because I needed to calm myself down,” he said. “I got real excited after it was over. I grabbed my cell phone, and I called my wife Melissa to tell her I had killed a monster buck. When I finally got down and walked to him, I took a picture of the buck with my phone and sent it to my brother Brett.
“It’s still kind of hard to believe, but this really is a monster. Those main beams are huge and he’s so wide.”
The score sheet, courtesy Rick Dillard of Magnolia Records, with measurements to the nearest 1/8 inch:
• Inside spread: 21 7/8.
• Right side
• Main beam: 28 2/8.
• Tine lengths — G1 2 5/8; G2 11; G3 12 3/8; G4 8.
• Circumferences: 5 3/8; 4 5/8; 5 2/8; 4 6/8.
• Left side
• Main beam: 27 5/8.
• Tine lengths: G1 1 6/8; G2 11 1/8; G3 10 7/8; G4 9 5/8.
• Circumferences: 5 4/8; 4 5/8; 5 1/8; 4 6/8.
• Abnormal points: Right side —2 inches (off brow tine) and 1 1/8 (off G3); left side 3 6/8 (off G2).
• Deductions: 11 7/8 inches (6 7/8 abnormal points, 5 inches symmetry).
• Typical gross score: 185 1/8 inches
• Nontypical gross score: 192 inches.
• Net typical score: 173 2/8 inches, NEW STATE RECORD.
Medlin is proud of the archery record, but somewhat humbled. It was only his fourth buck with a bow, and he said the previous three probably wouldn’t measure 100 inches, combined.
“It’s hard to describe the feeling; it probably hasn’t had time to sink in,” he said today (Jan. 19). “I’m an average hunter at best, so it’s hard to believe when I think about all of the great sportsmen that hunt in Mississippi year in and year out.”
Click here to read about other big bucks killed this season.
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