Amazing Public Land Alabama Buck — 27-1/8″ Wide 11-Point
Russ Chastain 01.07.20
A WMA in northern Alabama has produced a whopper of a buck. It was taken on December 28, 2019 by Derrick Allen of Moulton, AL in Black Warrior WMA in the Bankhead National Forest.
The big whitetail buck has 11 points and an incredible inside spread of 27-1/8 inches, which is reportedly one of the largest in Alabama state history. Both main beams are 28 inches long, and one base circumference taped 7-2/8 inches.
The hunter had no expectation he was going to get a chance at such a whopper when he halfheartedly headed to the woods.
‘I was on vacation for 13 days, and it was the last day of my vacation,’ Allen said. ‘I saw where there was a management hunt on Black Warrior WMA, and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t that excited. I went half-hearted.’
Allen said he decided to hunt on a ridge where he had hunted five years before, but before his walk in, he said a little prayer.
‘I knew there would be a lot of people in the woods, so I prayed for safety and to kill a buck bigger than I killed last year,’ he said with a laugh.
‘It was already 2:30 in the afternoon when I got there, and I started walking,’ he said. ‘I was walking pretty slow because I was really trying to be quiet and to stalk a little. After about 45 minutes of walking, I got to almost where I was going and jumped a buck out of his bed. I couldn’t see antlers because it was thick there, but I could tell from his size and how he ran it was a buck.
‘I just hunkered down right there. I had a bleat can and hit it about 15 times trying to get him to stop, but I didn’t see anything, so I figured he was gone.’
Allen said he walked about 30 yards and saw a deer in the distance about 100 yards away.
‘I got the scope on him and I could see antlers, but he was behind two trees and I couldn’t tell how big he was. When he turned to the left, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I got the scope on him and shot. I either just plain missed or the bullet hit a branch. He just stood there. I racked another one in the chamber and shot again and he disappeared, but I could hear him kicking.’
Allen had taken a 14-point buck last season, but this buck was significantly larger. He began the long ordeal of the dragging the big buck about 3:45 and immediately… he knew he had to leave the buck and go get help in dragging it out of the woods.
‘I’ve heard those stories of people shooting big bucks that they thought was dead and when they went back to get it, it was gone,’ he said. ‘I was sure he was dead, but I wasn’t taking any chances on this one. I dragged him down a hill and took off my shirt and hog-tied him to a tree.’
Once he finally got help and got the buck out the woods, hunters were amazed when they saw the spread on Allen’s buck.
What an awesome creation — and what a great set of handles for dragging! And those gnarly brow tines are something else.
The monster buck weighed in at 217 pounds and was rough scored at about 180 B&C points.
