Hunter discusses huge 11-pointer

Joel Eggers knew a big buck was out there in the timber he hunts in Randolph County. He had found sheds from the buck in two of the past three years. He had glimpsed the buck before on a blurry videotape. But not until Oct. 23 did the 22-year-old bowhunter from Percy, IL finally get a shot at his “once-in-a-lifetime buck” after grunting at the buck to get it into shooting range.

And Eggers made good on that shot, bagging an 11-point buck that green-scored at 198 1/8 inches and has been all the rage on Internet sites. Eggers estimates the buck was his 30th or so since he started hunting at age 12.

Now Eggers has stepped forward to tell his story to reporter Rod Kloeckner of the Belleville News-Democrat. Click here to read Kloeckner’s story. Here’s a small excerpt.

“The hunting stars aligned for Eggers last week. On Oct. 23, Eggers was about 25 minutes into his daily after-work bow hunt when two does came crashing through the brush.

In pursuit was a monster 11-point buck, the mythical Bigfoot of the timber. Somehow, Eggers calmed himself enough to bring down the behemoth. Only after he found the animal 200 yards from where he shot it did he begin to comprehend the scope of his kill.

The buck field dressed at a whopping 251 pounds, and Eggers estimated he weighed well over 300 pounds on the hoof. Of more significance was the massive rack, which may be the biggest taken with a bow in North America this year.”

When scored by an official measurer last Thursday, the buck’s rack scored 211 inches gross. After deductions for abnormalities on both sides of the rack, the deer netted 198 1/8 inches. After the 60-day mandatory drying period that could shrink.

“They say it’s almost like winning the lottery,” Eggers told Kloeckner. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deer. All you can do is to try and do it again. The likelihood that it will ever happen again is probably none.”

He expects to have the deer done in a full-body mount. Here are more pictures of the big buck.

Here are pictures of shed antlers from the buck.