At first glance, Joe Lacefield's buck might appear to sport identical foot-long drop tines on a 4x4 mainframe. That's exactly what Joe, a B&C measurer and wildlife biologist with the state of Kentucky, thought when he peered at the dying animal through his binoculars.
Actually, however, the deer's main beams droop downward, which is even more evident when the partially shredded velvet was removed. And even with the addition of a kicker off its left P2, it qualifies as a Typical, which makes it the runner-up to the world longbow record in “Buckmasters Whitetail Trophy Records."
Unlike other clubs' measuring systems, ours allows for distinction among bowkills: longbow, recurve, compound and crossbow.
Joe has taken more than a dozen whitetails with his longbow since relinquishing cams and peep sight. None rival the buck he tagged on the second day of Kentucky's 2012 archery season.
The reason Joe went to that particular stand on Sept. 2 was because someone had shot and spent much of the night tracking a deer on the farm adjacent to where he'd originally planned to spend the morning. His next best spot was in a cedar tree on a bluff overlooking the Kentucky River.
He heard deer moving through the dark woods almost immediately after climbing into his stand. When dawn broke, three young bucks – still in in velvet – were feeding almost underneath him. When they moved out of range, a big doe – venison on the hoof – eased into the tableau.
He wanted to shoot her, but she kept offering him bad shot angles. A second doe was equally uncooperative.
Joe was watching a third doe a little while later when he heard a twig snap.
"I looked over my left shoulder and saw a buck with 12- to 13-inch tines, partially covered in velvet, with bloody strips hanging down like tinsel. It was already within 20 yards of my stand," he said.
“I rose quietly, readied my bow and started the slow turn to my left. As I came around, there was no sign of the buck. It had changed directions and was now passing directly behind my stand," he added. “I had to turn all the way back to my right to get on it."
And get on it he did. Twice.
The Woodford County specimen has a BTR composite score of 169 1/8 inches, and the man who measured it, Ed Waite, will share the rest of the story in Buckmasters magazine this fall.