Mike Handley posted on July 04, 2011 13:47
By Mike Handley
Kevin Petrzilka’s Buck |
I first mentioned Kevin Petrzilka’s 2010 buck in my blog three days after it hit the dirt in Saunders County, Neb. E-mails containing photographs of it were filling more inboxes than pleas from former Nigerian first ladies needing help to move large sums of money across the Atlantic.
Based on an unofficial net score of more than 203 inches, speculation was that the whitetail would be a new state-record Typical by the B&C yardstick.
I can’t speak for B&C, but I can say it’s a state record with us. The former No. 1, taken back in 1999, was 26 inches smaller.
This rascal’s official BTR score, which doesn’t include the 21 1/8-inch inside spread, is an eye-popping 206 5/8. That makes it No. 1 for Nebraska, No. 6 in the world, and one of only 13 typical-racked whitetails in our record book that surpass the 200-inch mark. Its composite score (actual true gross) is an unbelievable 227 6/8 inches!
Another interesting and unusual factoid about the Petrzilka Buck: Its official BTR score is higher than its B&C net score, which suffered nearly 25 inches of deductions because of side-to-side differences and three non-typical points.
Here’s the short version of the hunt...
Kevin wasn’t the first member of his family to sling lead at the incredible 17-pointer on Nov. 19, a week into Nebraska’s nine-day rifle season. His son, Mason, missed what should’ve been a 250-yard chip shot for a flat-shooting .22-250.
When the teenager’s rifle jammed and prevented a followup, he noted where the deer disappeared and called for reinforcements. His dad and older brother, Dillon, postponed the rounding up of a bull that had walked through or over a downed electric fence to join in an impromptu man-drive.
Kevin and Dillon went ahead and took up positions on opposing sides of the draw, while Mason crept along the creek bottom toward them. Experience had taught the guys where the deer were most likely to pop out of the cedars, and the hunch was as on target as Kevin’s nearly 50-year-old bolt-action “beater,” a Remington 788 also chambered in .22-250.
The long version will be included in a piece I’m writing about Nebraska for the October or November issue of Rack magazine. We don’t normally publish destination-oriented features there, but the best way to say this buck isn’t a needle in a haystack is to show what else has gone to ground there in recent years.
Stay tuned...