Lenny Gilbert never imagined he’d be a centerfold.
Holding a dead buck, that is, in Rack magazine.
The 33-year-old New Jersey resident loves to watch hunting shows on television, and he reads numerous magazines devoted to whitetails. So he’s well aware that most truly monstrous deer are shot in the Midwest, not where he lives, and not in Delaware, where he hunts with his dad.
Prior to 2016, Lenny’s career-best buck was a 120-inch New Jersey 9-pointer, which is a great deer for his neck of the woods. He says the best he ever hoped for up there was to get a 150-incher.
On the second day of Delaware’s 2016 firearms season, Lenny went to where his father had sat the previous day.
“My dad had taken nice bucks out of that stand on opening day the last two rifle seasons,” Leonard told John Phillips, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine. “He hunted from it on Friday, but saw only a couple of small bucks.
“My brother, 18-year-old Brandon, wanted to hunt with us on the second day, so my dad went to another stand with him,” he continued.
Lenny was in place by 5:30 a.m., keenly aware the temperature had dropped 40 degrees since the previous afternoon. Just after sunrise, he saw deer at 150 yards, and he heard what had to be a buck chasing a doe in the nearby cover. Turns out, six of them were trying to corral a single hot doe.
“All six bucks crossed the road so fast, there was no way I could get my 20 gauge up and get them in the scope,” he said.
Less than an hour later, Lenny heard the clash of antlers.
“I soon spotted a doe to my right and put my barrel on the stand’s shooting bar in case a buck was nearby. Next, a deer with a huge rack stepped out of the thick cover 50 yards away, quartering away from me.”
His dad sent a text message a few minutes later, asking if Lenny had shot, and then he and Brandon came to help.
The deer has a BTR score of 169 4/8 inches, and it ranks as Delaware’s No. 9 Typical in the shotgun category.
— Read Recent Blog! Nocturnal No More: Mitchell Flowers | Ohio | BTR Score: 201 6/8 inches