Connecticut is not a state known for cranking out world-class whitetail bucks, but that could change if the official score of a buck killed by Tom Vinal last month matches its green score. Vinal’s buck, a tall, massive main-frame 8-point with a forked G3, green-grossed 194 inches and could threaten the state’s top typical buck, which was killed in 1993 by Garry Lavrin and netted 179-4/8 inches.
Vinal shot the buck on Thanksgiving day at a farm in northeast Connecticut. “Our family owns a farm nearby, and we’ve been hunting that property for many years,” he told Field & Stream. “We’ve been trying to manage for better bucks for several years now and have been successful, but a 120-inch 8-point is still a very good buck in this area. We’ve never seen anything like this buck before." When the buck showed up on trail camera three years ago, Vinal and his hunting partners couldn’t believe it. "He was so tall, we named him ‘Towers’. By the fall of 2023, he was something else, but this year he just turned into a freak show. I decided I was holding out for him and no other deer.”
After dedicating at least 30 bow hunts to his quest for Towers, Vinal prayed for a better outcome during the rifle season. On Thanksgiving day, Vinal was in his tree stand when Towers appeared, approaching from directly downwind. “I couldn’t believe he didn’t wind me,” Vinal said. “Eventually, he worked out into the open and gave me a 90-yard shot. I managed to make the shot, and as he ran off, I felt like I’d hit him well. Then I had to sit down for 45 minutes so my legs could stop shaking. My adrenaline was just sky-high.” Vinal texted his father, who joined him to track the buck. The pair had good blood for 150 yards but worried that the buck wasn’t down yet and that the hit might not be as good as Vinal thought. So they backed out and returned several hours later—and found Towers almost immediately.
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While the buck was a jaw-dropper on camera, he looked even bigger in person, Vinal said. The main-frame 8-point sported 30-inch beams, 16½-inch G-2s, and a 26-inch spread. Green-scored by an official measurer, the buck grossed 194 inches B&C. The buck's typical net score will obviously have some deductions, particularly given the forked left G3, but as long as they don't ding the rack by more than 14 and half inches, Vinal's buck should be Connecticut's new state-record typical whitetail.
“He was a really old deer,” Vinal said. “I had a biologist age him at 7 years old. After tagging the buck, Vinal also learned why he’d had such a hard time laying eyes on Towers during the archery season. “I thought he was bedding in a spot where a lot of deer on that farm bed,” he said. “Then the landowner showed me a picture he'd taken of the buck’s rack sticking out from scrub growth he was bedded in. That patch of cover is 100 yards from his house. I guess when a deer gets that old. he just does things differently from other deer.”
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