Mississippi hunter bags ‘deer of a lifetime’ with 29 points and rack of 205-plus inches

Big deer and unusual deer frequently dominate outdoors coverage this time of year, but when a Mississippi hunter went to his grandparents’ land on Dec. 4, he harvested a buck that was both.

Not only did it have 29 points, the freakish rack scored over 205 inches.

“He is very non-typical,” said Hank Wentworth of Holmes County. “He has two sets of double main beams.

“Most of the time you see one set on the left or right side, but he grew two out on both sides. He is a deer of a lifetime.”

Wentworth said he had no history with the buck until it showed up on camera on Nov. 28. When he looked at the photos, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

An unbelievable buck

“I freaked,” Wentworth said. “I immediately sent them to my grandfather and told him we needed to hunt harder.

“If anyone sees this deer, he’s not going to make it. At that time, I didn’t know if anybody knew about him. A deer of a lifetime like this, nobody’s going to tell about him.”

The photos of the buck were coming from one particular food plot, but they were always at night. Wentworth decided to hunt in a different area that he thought the buck was coming from. That might offer the opportunity to catch him during legal hunting hours, but the plan failed. The buck continued to show up in the same food plot at night, but Wentworth wasn’t able to intercept him during daylight.

On Dec. 3, the buck showed up in the food plot before dark, so Wentworth was in a stand overlooking it the following afternoon.

It was a slow, boring hunt — until it wasn’t.

Buck makes unexpected appearance

“I got in the stand at 3:15,” Wentworth said. “Nothing showed up.

“I was answering some emails from my stand. I was yawning and I stretched and I twisted my back and looked over in the kudzu patch and as I had a good stretch I saw four does in the kudzu patch. I saw them and I slowly spun around leaving my rangefinder and binoculars and gun behind me.”

Wentworth was watching the does and then saw four bucks.

“I slowly spun around and grabbed only my binoculars,” Wentworth said. “The buck closest to the woods that I was glassing had a drop tine and I knew it was him.

“He came out behind me, nowhere near where I thought he was coming from. It was everything I could do not to spin around and grab my gun. I looked at my iWatch and my heart rate went from 80 beats a minute to 179. I had to slow myself down.”

A doe almost ruins the hunt

Wentworth tried not to rush. After all, there wasn’t much reason to rush.

The buck was calmly grazing and walking straight toward Wentworth. The wind was in Wentworth’s favor, too.

However, the situation wasn’t exactly perfect. Because the buck was coming straight to him, Wentworth had no shot. And, with four bucks and four does in his view, there were plenty of eyes and ears for Wentworth to deal with.

That seemed to catch up with Wentworth. One of the does became nervous and started stamping a hoof on the ground.

“My heart was racing so bad, I was just shaking up in that stand,” Wentworth said. “I knew my heart was beating so much. I tried to calm down, but couldn’t.”

The doe didn’t alarm the buck, but she did catch his attention. The buck made a slight turn to one side. That gave Wentworth the opportunity he was waiting for.

“I aimed right behind the shoulder and squeezed the trigger,” Wentworth said.

Big buck down

Wentworth went to the spot where the buck had been standing, but couldn’t find blood. When he walked to the edge of the woods, he found a good blood trail. When he walked a little more, Wentworth saw the buck’s antlers sticking up, indicating the buck was still alive.

Wentworth quietly left the area and came back about 45 minutes later. The buck had expired and Wentworth, again, couldn’t believe what he saw.

“I immediately started smiling and it hasn’t left since,” Wentworth said. “Oh, my gosh, he was so much bigger than I thought.

“I never saw everything in the pictures. No matter what angle you get, you don’t see everything. Using the old-school rule that if you can hang a ring on it, it’s a point, he’s got 26.”

Hunter still needs to put meat in the freezer

The buck’s bases measured 5 3/8 inches and 5 4/8 inches. The main beams measured 20 3/8 inches and 18 3/8 inches. The secondary beams measured 11 6/8 inches and 10 4/8 inches. His unofficial gross score is 205 5/8.

After harvesting a buck most likely larger than anything he’ll ever bag the rest of his life, Wentworth said the question he’s often asked is what will he do now.

The short answer is, keep hunting.

“We eat more deer than we do beef,” Wentworth said. “We eat on it through the year. I’ve still got meat to put in the freezer.”