Trophy bucks are fun to look at. There’s no denying that. Whether its tall-tined typicals or wide-racked anomalies with tons of kickers and coke-bottle wide main beams, there’s something about a mature buck’s headset that spurs excitement in the primal recesses of every hunter’s brain.
Our affinity for year-over-year antler growth can be traced back to ancient times. In many indigenous cultures, for example, the antlers of hunter-harvested deer and elk were treasured like gold and stewarded for generations as heirloom status symbols. The founders of the Boone & Crockett Club—hunter conservationists like Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, and John F. Lacey—had similar affections for trophy whitetail and mule deer racks when they codified their club in 1887, and to this day, Boone & Crockett maintains meticulous records of the biggest and best-looking deer that ever hit the ground.
But their best-in-class scoring system also acknowledges bucks that don’t fit nicely into a typical trophy hunting mold. These are palmated monstrosities, triple- and quadruple-beamed freaks, bucks with drop tines coming off their drop tines, and others that defy apt description altogether. And while they don’t register the same way in a hunter’s brain as say, the Milo Hanson, the Mitch Rompola, or the Dustin Huff Bucks, they’re the stuff of deer hunting dreams nonetheless.
A quick run-through of the B&C archives will unearth countless such bucks, so we decided to distill the venerable books down into an easy-to-read list. Here are 10 of B&C’s highest-scoring muleys and whitetails with some of the craziest-looking racks we’ve ever seen.
Whitetails
The Luke Brewster Buck—Illinois
When Luke Brewster arrowed this Illinois giant in 2018, it was the biggest non-typical whitetail ever taken by a hunter. Today it ranks number three, but it's still the biggest in the Land of Lincoln—a state know for absolute giants—by more than 20 inches. It's "greatest spread" measurement is more than 30 inches while the inside spread stretches 20 inches plus. Its left side steals the show with a whopping 25 points to the right side's 14.
Final Score: 327 & 7/8
State Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 3
Scorable Points: 39
The Portage County Pickup—Ohio
Like Illinois, Ohio is a bona fide big buck factory, but the state's gnarliest and biggest buck wasn't killed by a hunter. This legendary buck, known as the hole-in-the-horn buck, was found dead by a train track in 1940. It wasn't until 1983 that Dick Idol, one of the founders of North American Whitetail, purchased the rack from an Ohio sporting goods store owner and had it taped by a B&C scorer. Today it still ranks number two of all time.
Final Score: 328 & 2/8
State Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 2
Scorable Points: 45
The Stephen Tucker Buck—Tennessee
Stephen Tucker shot this 40-plus point freak with a muzzleloader in 2016 while hunting a parcel of land his family has farmed for more than 40 years. For a short while, it was the biggest hunter-killed non-typical whitetail in the B&C books. Today, it ranks number 4 of all time behind the Luke Brewster and the Brian Butcher Buck (listed below). The rack is owned by Bass Pro Shops.
Final Score: 315 & 1/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 5
Scorable Points: 47
The Tony Lovstuen Buck—Iowa
This Iowa giant was killed by 15-year-old Tony Lovstuen in late September 2003, and I distinctly remember the deer gracing the pages of a Field & Stream issue that I toted around in high school for more than a month. Lovstuen shot it with a muzzleloader from 70 yards away during a special youth season and recovered it the next day with help from his dad—who'd missed a shot on the massive buck the year before. Bass Pro owns the mount today, and there is a replica on display at Bogey's Steakhouse in Albia, Iowa.
Final Score: 307 & 5/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 6
Scorable Points: 38
St. Louis Pickup—Missouri
This famous buck was found dead by road in northern St. Louis County in 1981. According to Boone & Crockett, a local game warden picked it up and found no evidence of poaching. When it was finally taped, it put up the highest B&C score of all time, a title that it retains to this day. Known as the Missouri Monarch, the buck is on display for all to see at the Powder Valley Nature Center in Kirkwood, Missouri.
Final Score: 333 & 7/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
Scorable Points: 44
The Brian Butcher Buck—Kansas
With 64 gnarled points on its left side and just three on its right, this Kansas buck is a legitimate freak show. Brian Butcher shot it with his Matthews bow in Chase County, Kansas on October 11, 2019 and still owns the mount today. It's inside spread is just over 20 inches long.
Final Score: 321 & 3/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 4
Scorable Points: 67
The Mitchell Vakoch Buck—Minnesota
Mitch Vakoch shot his now-famous Minnesota giant in November 1974 in Norman County, Minnesota. Just 17 years old at the time, it was Vakoch's first deer, and he shot it with a 12 gauge slug after another hunter missed it and sent it fleeing in his direction. With more than 40 scorable points, it grossed 295 and 6/8 inches. The right side of this buck's main beam has more than 77 inches of abnormal growth, including a club-like drop tine on the right that resembles the left side of Iowa's Lovstuen buck. Fun fact: The Vakoch buck was ousted from Minnesota's top non-typical spot by a 277-inch dead head picked up by Jesse Schroeder in Goodhue County in 2023.
Final Score: 268 5/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 2
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 43
Scorable Points: 41
The Tony Fulton Buck—Mississippi
Tony Fulton killed Mississippi's biggest-ever non-typical in January 1995. According to Buckmasters, it stepped into a food plot a few minutes before dark and Fulton shot it from just 50 yards away, finding it a few hours later while following its blood trail with a flashlight beam. Its B&C gross score is 313 & 3/8, and the inside spread stretches more than 21 inches in length. Today it's owned by Maine-based antler collector Brian Ross.
Final Score: 295 & 6/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 9
Scorable Points: 45
The Neil Morin Buck—Alberta
Alberta is famous for giant heavy-horned whitetails, and the biggest one that's ever been scored by B&C was shot by 17-year-old Neil Morin on his family's farm in Whitemud Creek. Its brow tines branch off into several points and measure more than a foot in length, and it has a massive drop tine on its left side that was still sporting remnants of velvet when Morin shot it in September of 1991.
Final Score: 279 & 6/8
Provincial Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 21
Scorable Points: 27
The Jerry Roitsch Buck—South Dakota
Killed in 1965 in Lilly, South Dakota, the Roitsch buck sports a dizzying 32 points and an inside spread of 19 and 2/8 inches. The deer would net 250 or higher if it didn't have a bullet hole in its right main beam. It's unclear if Roitsch caused the hole with a missed first shot or if a different hunter sent a bullet wizzing through the massive rack earlier in the 1965 season. Today, the buck is on display at the Cabelas store in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Final Score: 249 & 1/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 3
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: 139
Scorable Points: 32
Mule Deer
The Brett Ross Buck—Colorado
One of Colorado's most impressive mule deer was shot by a self-proclaimed meat hunter in 2014. Brett Ross shot the 34-point toad muley while stalking through the woods of Mesa County with his lifelong best friend Levi. For a gnarly non-typical, Ross' buck is remarkably symmetrical. It has an even 17 points on each side and a "greatest spread" measurement that stretches more than 42 inches.
Final Score: 292 & 6/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 10
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: 34
Scorable Points: 34
The Harold Laird Buck—California
The Laird Buck was taken in 1974 in Mariposa County, California. It's 50-point rack is legendary, but there's little concrete info on Harold Laird's hunt. According to lore, it hung in a gas station in the town of Ceres, California for decades before it earned its current status as the number 8 non-typical of all time.
Final Score: 319 & 4/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 8
Total Points: 50
Year Killed: 1972
The Alton Hunsaker Buck—Utah
Alton Hunsaker shot this famous Utah buck in 1943 in Box Elder County. He was hunting from horseback with three friends in Baldhead Canyon near Honeyville before the group spilt up and Hunsaker found a good bluff to sit on. He shot it around midday with a .32 Winchester Special, the B&C archives reveal, and half of the rack was still covered in velvet. At 330 and 1/8 inches, it's still the largest B&C non-typical muley ever recorded in Beehive State history—and the number 3 non-typical muley buck of all time.
Final Score: 330 & 1/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 3
Scorable Points: 49
The Fauria Buck—Nevada
Clifton Fauria shot the non-typical pictured below with a .270 in Nye County, Nevada in 1955, but he died a year later and it wasn't measured by Boone & Crockett until 1991. It has 21 points of antler on both sides, and it reportedly weighed 300 pounds when Fauria shot it in the Stoneberger Basin—which lies in Austin-Tonopah Ranger District near Austin, Nevada. It's still the biggest muley ever taken in the Silver State.
Final Score: 325 & 6/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 4
Scorable Points: 42
B.C. Beast Taken by Unknown Hunter—British Columbia
Details on the hunt that claimed this incredible muley buck are speculative at best. According to Boone & Crockett, the mount was given as a gift to a lieutenant governor of British Columbia who served from 1892 to 1897, and the buck might have been killed by an indigenous hunter with a bow in the Okanagan Valley. It wasn't scored by B&C until 1955, after spending time on display at the International Hunting Exhibition in Vienna, Austria. With 24 points on the right side and 23 on the left, it's the second-biggest non-typical muley buck of all time.
Final Score: 339 & 2/8
Provincial Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 2
Scorable Points: 47
The Ed Broder Buck—Alberta
Ed Broder shot his record-setting buck while hunting near Edmonton, Alberta in the fall of 1926 on the south shore of Chip Lake with a .32 Winchester Special. When he saw the buck pictured below, he trained his lever-action rifle on its spine and dropped it with a single shot. Decades later, one of Broder's sons sold the famous rack to an antler collector, unbeknownst to his siblings. The 355 and 2/8 inch rack brought six figures, but Don Broder spent six days in jail for selling it without permission from his fellow heirs.
Final Score: 355 & 2/8
Provincial Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
Scorable Points: 43
The Murphy Buck—Arizona
Arizona's Kaibab Plateau is a legendary mule deer destination, and the so-called Murphy buck only adds to the lore. In fact, five of the top 10 Arizona non-typicals were taken on the Kaibab. William L. Murphy shot his on November 14, 1943, and the massive rack stayed under the radar for 30 years before his son-in-law finally sent it in to B&C for scoring. The deer had an astonishing 43 and 4/8-inch greatest spread score, and it grossed 337 and 1/8.
Final Score: 324 and 1/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 1
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 5
Scorable Points: 33
The Jack Aldredge Buck—Oregon
Jack Aldredge killed this super-wide mule deer in January of 1948 in Lake County, Oregon. It has a tip-to-tip spread of 27 and 5/8 inches and matching drop tines that grew in downward spirals. Beyond the score, there's very little information available on this epic Oregon mule deer, other than the fact that Cabelas Inc. now owns the rack.
Final Score: 299
State Non-Typical Rank: 2
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: 24
Scorable Points: 38
The Darwin Hulett Buck—Utah
Utah's second-biggest non-typical muley buck was killed in 1950 in Iron County. The bucks greatest spread measurement exceeds 43 inches, and the inside spread of its main beams is a whopping 32 and 7/8s. The rack has no brow tines, but its main beams are tree-trunk thick, and a big palmated branch on the right side breaks out into six or seven scorable points.
Final Score: 302
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 2
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 20
Scorable Points: 38
The Robert Arledge Buck—Idaho
Robert Arledge shot this buck in Elmore County, Idaho in October 1997. It's said to have had an ivory (a vestigal tusk rarely seen in mule deer but common in elk) and is sometimes referred to as the "ivory tooth buck." Its right side alone has 15 points and what look like two separate main beams. According to B&C, Arledge still owns the antlers, which ranks 30th of all time for non-typical muleys.
Final Score: 294 & 4/8
State Non-Typical Rank: No. 5
All-Time Non-Typical Rank: No. 30
Scorable Points: 26
