Indiana gained a different top for one of its totem poles during the 2016 season, a new state record among bucks felled by blackpowder.
The name to be associated with this handsome whitetail is Tim Barrett, who has access to numerous family farms in Ripley County. He owns 12 acres of former tobacco fields, son Justin owns the 15 acres across the road, and Tim’s father has 18 acres north of those.
The latter has turnip patches, which are deer magnets after the first frost.
On Nov. 13, two days into the season, Tim went to his father’s place. He had company that morning, but he was the only person on the farm in the afternoon.
Around 3:00, he stood to get the blood flowing back into his numb toes. That’s when he heard a sound in the direction of a nearby thicket and eventually glimpsed antlers.
The buck was only 50 yards from him, but it was mostly obscured by brush; Tim had no shot.
It took the frustrated hunter several minutes to pick out an opening 4 or 5 inches square he hoped was big enough to allow a .50-caliber bullet passage.
“Certain I could thread the needle, I lined up and took the shot,” he told Ed Waite, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine. “Of course, the smoke was so thick afterward that I lost track of the buck for a time. Finally, I saw it on the ground.”
After calling his sons and telling them he’d shot a 180-inch buck, Tim re-stuffed his muzzleloader. The guys arrived soon afterward, and one, his son Jamie, advised him the estimate was way off base.
By way off, we’re talking almost 60 inches. Tim couldn’t see all the irregular points while the deer was on its feet.
With a BTR score of 239 7/8 inches, it wound up being a new blackpowder record for Indiana.
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Dreading Water: Rich Eldridge | Indiana | BTR Score 280 2/8 inches