Michigan’s State Record Whitetail Buck: A Jackson County Beast

November 15th is an unofficial holiday in the State of Michigan. Vacations are planned around it, preparations are made months in advance, trail cameras are mined for patterns, and alarms are double and triple-checked on the evening of November 14th.

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Every hunter dreams of seeing the moment when a trophy buck crosses their site. Some try to place themselves at that moment when getting ready for opening day.

Jackson County Michigan's 198 Inch Record Setting Buck

It was November 26, 1996, when Troy Stephens crossed paths with this monster Michigan buck. I spoke with Stephens about how and when he encountered the beast.

Stephens had been hunting since he was 14 years old and had learned a lot from his mother's boyfriend about deer management. Going through a financially difficult time in 1996, he had sold off all of his equipment, so when his colleague from the prison called to ask if he'd like to hunt his father's land in Grass Lake, he had to borrow some.

How, in 1996, a New Michigan State Record Buck Was Taken in Jackson County

His mother's boyfriend lent him a 12-gauge and shells, and Stephens set up a folding wooden chair on the edge of the field with a swamp to his back. He said he felt this position called for a staggered shell set-up in Stephens's mind, so he loaded slug, buckshot, slug. The buckshot in the event something approached close from the swamp behind and the slug for a longer shot in the field in front of him.

It had snowed the night before, so there were a few inches on the ground. Couple that with 14-degree temperatures and you can imagine just how quiet it was right daybreak, when he first laid eyes on his state record buck. Stephens remembers the moment well:

I looked up and about 200 yards in front of me a doe began to cross the field and behind it was a buck that looked like he had a tree on it's head.

He sat extremely still, realizing at this point that his glove was too large for the trigger guard. So, slowly, and as quietly as possible, he began to remove it while they walked toward him into the field. They'd gotten within 100 yards when it looked as though they may change direction, which meant Stephens had to get the glove off and get his gun raised.

Taking advantage of a moment when both deer had their heads down, he removed the glove and it dropped to the ground, making enough noise to get their attention. Still seated, he took aim and his first shot at 100 yards with...buckshot.

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The doe immediately bolted, but Stephens, luckily, had slowed the buck down enough (he thinks some of the buckshot hit him in the knee) to allow him to rise out of his seat, chamber the next slug round, and after moving in around 35 yards he stopped, and took his second shot. A slug.

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The trophy buck didn't go down, so another rack, and another buckshot round. He lined up his third shot, pulled the trigger, and the buck dropped right there. Stephens would later learn from his taxidermist that one of those buckshots would enter the deer's brain but, he was lucky none of them hit the record rack.

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While he knew he had a trophy buck and something worth displaying on his wall, it was Stephens's taxidermist, Jim Bass, who said "That's a state record, I'll mount this for free". Stephens left his trophy with Bass to mount, Bass called several different entities, including Commemorative Bucks of Michigan who came out to score it.

The storied buck was seemingly made for the record books. He measured 16 points, including 4 abnormal. The main beams flex over 29 inches each, with an astonishing 20 2/8 inch spread.

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Its brow tines are nearly legendary too, coming in at 10 and 11 3/8 inches. Throw in a G2 measurement extending below 13 inches, and this monster totals 198 inches on Boone and Crockett's scoring.

The gross score was a whopping 214, but after deductions, it still stands as Michigan's record buck.