No Luck, Fake Buck
A would-be big buck and state record turns out to be a total hoax. North Carolina deer hunter poacher Nick Davis even fooled an official scorer, but the disproportionately-large antlers did not trick the whitetail hunting community. Continued pressure from deer hunters finally spurred action within the state’s wildlife agency.
Davis recanted after investigation by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC).
The deer was reported to have been shot last Wednesday by the Surry County deer hunter and was measured by Joey Thompson, who happens to be an official scorer for the North Carolina Bowhunters Association. He put the big whitetail buck at a gross score of 223 1/8 inches, a net score of 208 2/8 inches.
Too Good to be True
The buck looked good. Too good. The remarkably white antlers were almost flawless. Hunters continued to point out the pristine rack and commented that the antlers were too white. The inquisitions prompted the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) to take a closer look.
Wildlife officials eventually determined that the antlers were not from North Carolina, but apparently the small-bodied buck was. Based on casual observation, my first thought was that the buck has genes from a northern subspecies of whitetail. It takes a big-bodied buck with a large skeletal system to grow antlers of that size.
North Carolina, or Pennsylvania?
Apparently, the antlers were from a Pennsylvania buck that had been screwed onto the skull plate of a recently taken 3 point buck. As it turns out, the young buck was poached using a rifle. Ouch. Davis finally confessed to wardens that the oversize antlers were from another state.
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Davis almost pulled the switcheroo off, but some skeptical hunters turned out to be right. That’s not always the case. Davis hoped his giant, fake buck from North Carolina would get him a little attention from the deer hunting community. As it turns out, Davis got way more publicity than he ever wanted.