By Mike Handley

Two significant changes are being implemented in Buckmasters' Full-Credit Scoring System, both inspired by actual incidents. For starters, we're revising the fair chase affidavit on the backside of our scoresheets to allow for the states and provinces to dictate what is and isn't legal within their borders. We're also going to accept and give full credit to racks with broken points or beams, as long as the scorer sees them BEFORE they're repaired AND can get an accurate measurement when the pieces are put back into place.

Defining Fair Chase
The decision to change the wording in the fair chase affidavit for free-roaming whitetails is based on two Missouri deer. The first was taken back in 2000 by Randy Simonitch, whose neighbor called him on the morning of Oct. 3 to tell him that a monstrous buck was bedded in the soybeans next to her house.

Randy wasted no time in driving over there. He mounted an hour-long stalk in the wide open - keeping to the buck's backside - and made it to within 30 yards, as close as he dared go. He grunted, the buck stood, and the arrow hit home. At 260 5/8 inches, the Simonitch Buck was a runner-up to the world record among bow-killed Irregulars.

Flash forward to Dec. 12, 2005. Bill Wise met his friend, Donald, that afternoon. Donald was carrying a rifle loaded for doe - the only legal option for a rifleman that time of year. Bill, on the other hand, was planning to bowhunt.

Donald went north so that he could watch a pasture, while Bill headed for his usual bow stand. When Donald reached his destination and glassed the terrain, he saw what had to be the enormous buck over which Bill had been obsessing all season. It was lying down at the edge of the distant woods.

He whipped out his cell phone and called Bill, who quickly reversed direction.

The buck was still in its bed when Bill arrived less than half an hour later. With the wind in his favor, Bill managed to stalk to within bow range and arrowed the 216 3/8-inch buck, whose antlers were still clad in velvet.

Randy Simonitch's buck never raised an eyebrow among keepers of whitetail records. Bill Wise's, however, was rejected by the Pope and Young Club, and it almost was disqualified by Buckmasters.

At issue was the use of the cellular telephone, an electronic communications device. While the state of Missouri has no game regulation banning the use of them, both P&Y and the BTR did. Buckmasters' rule, made long before cell phones were the norm, has been printed on the backside of each scoresheet for the past decade. It states: "Buckmasters Whitetail Trophy Records does not consider fair chase hunting to include the use of aircraft, motorized land vehicles, motorized water craft or any electronic communications devices in the act of harvesting wild game."

Other than the fact that the phone used by Randy Simonitch had a cord and Bill Wise's didn't, there's really very little difference between the two scenarios described. So why penalize one deer and not the other, when both were harvested within the legal guidelines established by the Missouri Department of Conservation?

After considering the matter for many weeks, we decided to accept Bill Wise's 2005 buck. And in doing so, the rule quoted above is being dropped.

From now on, Buckmasters will simply defer to the individual state regulations.

I'll address the issue of broken points in my next blog.