Local hunter has deer in state record book

0
2300

A local hunter now has a deer on the state record books.

Bobby Hicks of Williamston successfuly harvested a white tailed deer that measured 139 on the Boone and Crockett system placing it 37th on the 2012 South Carolina Antler Records List. The deer was taken using a shotgun on October 27, 2011 just outside of Williamston.

Hicks’ 11 pointer weighed 201 lbs. and had five points on the right antler and six on the left antler. From tip to tip the spread was 7 5/8 and the inside spread of main beams measured 17 3/8 inches. The greatest spread was 19 1/8.

Hicks said the deer was his biggest and he had killed a nice eight pointer in the same area just ten days before he got the record deer.

Recounting the morning, Hicks said he was sitting in his stand when a deer came through some thick brush and started down a hill. When the deer jumped, the big one came out.

Hicks said when he saw the deer’s antlers in the sunlight “they looked like they were chrome plated.”

He managed to get off a shot and the deer went into a thicket but when he went to the other side, the deer wasn’t there.

Hicks said he went back to his stand for a drink and then went in search of the big deer. Two dogs belonging to the property owner helped him find the deer, about 125 yards away.

Hicks said he started hunting in 1975 and quit in 1995 after injuring his trigger finger, but had recently taken up the hobby again.

He said he wanted other hunters to know there are big deer in the area and there have been other deer taken in Anderson County that are in the books.

 

After being scored by SCDNR, Hicks received a letter in May of last year stating that the official score for the dear was above the required minimum for inclusion on the State Antler Records List.

The record is listed in the annual record book and on the SCDNR website at http://dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/index/.html