Photo: BTR master scorer Ed Waite has measured more world records than anyone in history. Here, Ed's hands are full with The Brewster Buck's 41 measurable points.
It's official: The Illinois buck arrowed Nov. 2 by Virginia bowhunter Luke Brewster is the hands-down largest free-ranging whitetail ever recorded, a world record in every respect.
The top-heavy Edgar County deer is the latest of only 19 wild-born whitetails that have topped the 300-inch mark since 1892, or at least since the current antler measuring systems came into existence. Luke's buck has been entered into Buckmasters Whitetail Trophy Records with a score of 353 5/8 inches.
The new record is a mainframe 4x5 with 32 irregular points, nearly two-thirds of which are on the left antler. That side alone tallies 208 5/8 inches to the right's 124 7/8.
The rack carries impressive bases, 6 3/8 and 7 1/8 inches, but the typical frame's overall mass is only slightly above average for this class of whitetail. The sheer number of points and their lengths are where this animal outshines all others.
Six of those 41 points (not counting the main beams) are more than a foot long. Three more exceed 10 inches.
To look upon it is to invite the unhinging of your jaw.
The Illinois whitetail has also been proclaimed a world record with the Pope and Young and Boone and Crockett clubs. A panel of measurers taped the rack in Omaha, Nebraska, on March 1. After more than eight hours of opinion-sharing, they arrived at a net score of 327 7/8 inches.
The BTR score is higher than B&C's because Buckmasters has no deductions. In addition, BTR master scorer Ed Waite, no stranger to deer of this caliber, interpreted the rack's irregular points differently, which resulted in longer tip-to-baseline measurements.
The story of Luke's hunt will be in the July issues of Rack and Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine.