New state record whitetail deer certified
Outdoors
Pushmataha County produced two record bucks in 2007
New state record whitetail deer certified

By Ed Godfrey

Published: July 10, 2008

Oklahoma has a new state record whitetail deer.

A buck taken in Pushmataha County during the 2007 deer gun season by John Ehmer of Tuskahoma is the new state record for typical racks.

Ehmer's buck and another taken in Pushmataha County during the gun season by hunter Jason Boyett of Glenpool were battling for the new state record.

Both deer scored higher than the previous typical record of 185 6/8, which was killed in 1998 in Bryan County by bow hunter Larry Luman of Atoka.

The two bucks officially were scored Wednesday by a Boone & Crockett panel of judges at the state Wildlife Department headquarters in Oklahoma City.

Ehmer's 12-point buck scored 194 and only had one deduction, a single point that measured an inch and an eighth. Boyett's 21-point buck scored 192 5/8.

Mike Shaw, wildlife research supervisor for the state Wildlife Department and one of the official scorers, said never before in his 30 years with the department had two bucks beaten the state record in the same year.

"Both are just super quality bucks,” Shaw said. "The fact that both came from the same county in the same year is about as improbable as it can get.”

The number of Cy Curtis entries, the state's award list for big bucks, increased from the previous year, an indication that 2007 was an outstanding season for quality deer. Although the total statewide harvest was down from 2006, a record year.

One factor that might have led to the higher number of big bucks was that the 2007 deer gun season fell earlier in the calendar year, Shaw said.

"Whenever that happens, the gun season coincides fairly well with the rut,” Shaw said.

During the rut, more bucks are moving, thus giving deer hunters more opportunities, he said.

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