Leake County gives up 178-inch 17-point

Monster deer carries 21 total points.

Elmer Busby was just enjoying an afternoon in the woods last Friday (Dec. 16), watching a group of does feeding in the green patch stretching down the Leake County gas line in front of the box stand.

He didn’t even lift his rifle when a 5-point walked out to join the crowd.

But Busby couldn’t get his hands on the gun fast enough when a huge buck stepped out of the woods about 5 p.m. That deer later scored 178 4/8 inches Boone & Crockett.

The hunter said he was clueless there was even a big buck in the area.

“I’ve got cameras everywhere (on the property) but over there,” Busby said.

He said the action that day began about 4:30 p.m., over an hour after he settled into the stand.

“A doe came out, and then three more does came out and started feeding,” Busby said.

The young buck soon moseyed out of the woods, not even causing Busby to get excited.

“I’d been seeing that 5-point pretty regular,” he said.

Just before 5 p.m. a big, mature doe and yearling walked down the pipeline to the food plot.

And then Busby almost swallowed his tongue.

“I was just sitting there watching them, and he came out to the right,” he said. “I said, ‘Holy smoke: That’s a shooter!’”

The buck was eyeballing the mature doe, grazing its way toward the doe.

But Busby couldn’t take his eyes off the huge rack springing from the buck’s head.

“I throwed the scope on him, and on the left side all I could see were all those points,” he said. “I said, ‘Oh my God, let me shoot him before I get nervous!’”

Busby dragged the crosshairs to the deer’s shoulder and squeezed the trigger.

The buck didn’t take another step.

As the rest of the deer scattered, Busby sat back to catch his breath and let things settle down a bit.

He knew he had shot a fine buck, but he was unsure just how much calcium he’d find when he retrieved the trophy.

“I knew he had pretty good horns on that (left) side, but I didn’t know how many points,” Busby said.

When he climbed out of the box about 10 minutes later, he was stunned.

“When I called my wife, she asked me how many points it had, and I said, ‘I don’t know. I quit counting at 15,’” Busby said. “She said I was lying.”

Points pretty much sprouting from every direction. Added to the nine mainframe points were 12 more protrusions. Seventeen of the points could be scored.

“I’m proud of him,” Busby said. “You think about killing a deer like that … but you don’t ever see them in the daytime.

“Lucky, lucky, lucky.”

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