Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 17, 1993 TAG: 9301180378
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: FRONT ROYAL LENGTH: Long
HORNS OF DILEMMA
When Jim Smith killed a 31-point buck in Warren County the first day of the muzzle-loading season - probably the biggest whitetail ever recorded in Virginia - he suddenly found himself on the horns of a dilemma.The ugly rumors began as soon as he and his two hunting companions loaded the 230-pound (field-dressed) animal into a pickup and took it to Front Royal, his hometown. Some said:
Smith had killed it while poaching on the Shenandoah National Park.
Smith had cut the fence at the National Zoological Park Conservation and Research Center, located on the outskirts of town, and killed a buck that has been shot full of steroids.
Smith had sold the antlers for $65,000.
The head had been confiscated by a park ranger.
Smith was in jail.
None of these are true, Smith assures, a fact supported by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, who said Smith's kill has been investigated, it is legitimate, and Smith has the reputation of being a respected sportsman by those who know him.
The buck probably is the most investigated of any trophy ever killed in the state, said Lu Charette, of the Virginia State Rifle and Revolver Asso- ciation. Charette called the trophy "the Virginia Royal" when it was displayed publicly for the first time at a whitetail seminar sponsored by the association Jan. 9 in Front Royal.
Even so, Smith said the rumors and accusations have robbed him of some of the joy that rightfully was his for killing what likely will be the highest-scoring trophy buck ever taken in Virginia. There are times when he wonders if he would pull the trigger had he to do it over.
"It has been nice, but it also has been a problem," Smith said. "Once the word got out you couldn't put a handle on it. I thought that maybe after a week or two you wouldn't hear it anymore, but it has gone on."
Max Carpenter of Dayton, a retired state wildlife biologist, scored the antlers at 259 7/8, non-typical under Boone and Crockett's international system. That was a "green" score, meaning the rack must be aged for at least 60 days before an official measurement can be made.
Carpenter, who has scored hundreds of racks, doesn't expect much shrinkage.
"I think in deer you have a little, but not much, probably not even an inch," he said.
Under the green score, the buck would be the all-time Boone and Crockett muzzle-loading trophy. In fact, the current leader isn't even close - 232 3/4.
The latest Boone and Crockett record book reveals that Smith's trophy would rank 12th in the all-time standings for whitetail deer. The top Virginia buck in Boone and Crockett is a 38-point Buckingham County trophy killed in 1986 by James Shumaker of New Canton. It scored 232-4/8 non-typical.
The buck Smith killed has not been scored under Virginia's measuring system, which lumps both typical and non-typical racks into a single class, a procedure that results in a higher figure than a Boone and Crockett tally.
"On a big deer, the score could be 40 points more than Boone and Crockett," said Carpenter, who is expected to rescore the buck in late January or early February.
Virginia's all-time state record is a 22-point Wise County buck killed by Edison Holcomb in 1987. It scored 272 10/16 under Virginia's system, but ranks below Shumaker's buck in Boone and Crockett.
A man who is as unpretentious as his name, Smith, 50, said he killed his buck on the 30 acres of mountain land he owns that borders the 300-square mile Shenandoah National Park. He is a construction representative for the National Zoological Park Conservation and Research Center, an arm of the Washington Zoo and Smithsonian Institution, where rare and endangered species are propagated.
Last spring, Smith cut a firewood road into his property. He said he was sitting on a dead tree near the end of it when the muzzle-loading season opened in November. It was a good spot to watch for deer to move from the park through his property down to the agriculature fields below. On other stands were his two companions, Dana Allison, 26, and Chico Partlowe, 25.
Early that morning, Allison had killed a six-point buck with his black-powder gun. Allison is a relife pitcher in the Oakland Athletics organization, who starred at James Madison University. After lunch, he went bowhunting while Smith and Partlowe return to their stands with muzzle-loaders. Just before dark, Smith spotted a doe browsing through the brush.
"The buck came down shortly afterwards, following along about the same trail, through the same thick stuff," Smith said. "I knew it was a buck, but I didn't know how big of a buck it was. I figured he had a nice rack, maybe eight, 10, possibly 12 points."
Smith, who has several fine bucks to his credit, knew not to gawk too much at the antlers, but rather to concentrate on a killing shot, no easy task when guiding a round from a black-powder rifle through thick cover. When Smith saw a fleeting chance for a neck shot, he decided to try it. The distance was about 45 yards.
"That was about all I had. I didn't know if I could hit him then, but I took a chance on him. I figured it was a nice buck. If I missed him, I missed him; so what."
When Smith squeezed the trigger on his .54 caliber Thompson-Center Renegade, the 100 grains of powder sent the projectile true to the target. The deer thrashed about, then everything got quiet.
"I went up there to see what I had and I guess I was amazed more than anything. I couldn't believe it, really. I never did count the antlers. I turned him over and started field dressing him. I was having a little bit of trouble getting him to sit up where I could get his brisket open."
So Smith went to get Allison.
Smith had purchased his mountain property in 1978, with the idea of assuring his son a place to hunt.
"I figured when he got my age there probably wouldn't be many places left."
Ten years later his son was killed in a car crash. After that, Allison and Partlowe, a couple of his son's buddies, became his hunting partners. Partlowe is a lawn service specialist.
"How many points does the deer have?" was the question Allison had for Smith, after hearing the boom of his rifle and seeing him approach.
"I haven't counted them yet, but I would say over 30," Smith answered.
"I was just amazed," Allison said upon viewing the buck. "You don't see bucks like that around here. It was like something you see in a magazine, the ones that come from Texas or places like that. I couldn't believe my eyes."
Partlowe stayed on his stand until dark. When he came in, Allison advised him to brace himself for a shock.
"Just be prepared," said Allison. "You'll never see anything like this again."
Partlowe thought he was kidding.
"When they showed me the deer, I had to sit on the ground. It was just amazing. How could you ever expect to see anything like that in your life. It was incredible."
Allison and Partlowe began preparing Smith for the attention they were certain his buck would attract.
"You'll get your picture in the paper," they told him.
"I said, `Naw, let's just do what we normally do, skin the deer out and get it mounted,' " said Smith.
"It isn't going to work that way this time," advised Allison.
"And it didn't," said Smith.
There have been calls from across the country, writers who want an interview, promoters who want a piece of the action, agents who want to represent Smith.
Smith has been pumped for details on the techniques he used to make the kill.
"I don't have any," he answers, trying to cope with the mounting attention that makes him uncomfortable and terse. Then he adds, "Find yourself a place to hunt and sit down."
One caller from Minnesota wanted to know what kind of clothing he was wearing.
"Just some old rags," Smith said.
Obviously expecting to hear about sporty dress that had given Smith an edge, the caller pressed for more details.
"Just plain old clothes," assured Smith, no Gortex, no Trebark, no leaf design.
The caller still didn't give up.
"Just some old Sears Roebuck stuff. Ted Williams brand," Smith said.
"Oh. They were old," said the caller.
While such conversations have been discerning for Smith, the rumors have hurt most. Like the one that says there is a video of Smith shooting and dragging the deer from the park, and another that says his pliers were found near a hole cut in the conservation center fence.
"In a small town like this, it was a no-win situation from the start, with me working at the conservation center where they have hundreds of deer inside their fences and with land that I own that boarders the national park."
You get no argument from Smith over the likelihood that the buck spent much of its life in the park. Smith said he'd never seen the huge animal before, and figures it had matured and grown its forest of antlers in the seculsion of the park's miles of ridges and valleys. But when it came onto his land, it was a legal target.
"It's jealousy," Allison said of the rumors.
The taxidermist heard so much that he called Smith to come get the antlers, fearing someone would break into his shop and steal them while he prepared the mount. Trophy racks often are worth big money.
"It's not really that pretty of a head; not as pretty as some I've measured," said Carpenter. "It just has points coming out of everywhere."
There were 35 in all, so many that a piece of tape had to be placed on each one for accuracy when the count was made. Only four failed to measure the one-inch minimum required to score. The outside spread was 29 7/8 inches.
Smith is taking his time deciding what to do once the taxidermist completes the mount.
"I figure I will keep it a couple of years, take it to some shows and see if I can make a little money off of it. In my travels, if I run into some of these collectors who want to pay a price for it, I will get a couple of replicas made and let one have the head. If I have to keep it locked up in a vault, it is no good to me."
Early on, Smith has shown that he won't be a pushover for promoters. The Virginia State Rifle and Revolver Association had hoped the antlers would be the centerpiece of its whitetail seminar in Harrisonburg next Saturday, as it had been at Front Royal, but Smith told Charette he wouldn't be there. He thinks the association scheduled his appearance before he'd given the final go-ahead, so the show will go on without him, said Charette.
For a time, Smith said he thought about quiting deer hunting. How could he top this buck? And would it be worth the rumors if he did?
"But the last week of the rifle season, Dana and I were headed up through the mountains and there was a nine-point buck that came down, bleating and carrying on. I came out of retirement in a hurry."