Boone and Crockett Club official scorer Kyle Easley of McKinney taped the Sewell buck in mid-January following the mandatory 60-day drying period to allow the bone to fully dry.The rack nets 227 and will be entered in the B&C all-time record book, pen
Brody Chapin of Elkhart with the super wide 19 pointer he arrowed on five acres in Anderson County. Chapin rattled/grunted the free ranging bruiser to within one yard of his tree stand saddle. It was his first encounter with the 207 4/8-inch whitetail.The
BOONERS
A pair of free ranging East Texas bucks taken during the 2025-26 hunting season have qualified for entry to the Boone and Crockett all-time record book, pending approval by the B&C Big Game Records Committee. Both sets of antlers were scored in January following B&C’s mandatory 60-day drying period.
Based in Missoula, Mont., B&C is recognized as the official records keeper for North American big game animals. The club’s scoring system is the most widely accepted for measuring hunter taken or found trophies.
The highest scoring of the two bucks is arguably the coolest-looking whitetail taken on low fence property statewide this season. Courtland Sewell of Scurry rifled the whopper 22 pointer at 250 yards on the morning of Nov. 9. He was hunting around a food plot on 56 acres he owns in Kaufman County.
The buck grew matching drop tines, nearly 60 inches of abnormal bone and gobs of mass. The antlers closely resembles the likeness of the Texas Trophy Hunters Association logo.
The enormous non-typical antlers were taped by Kyle Easley, a 15-year veteran B&C scorer from McKinney. The net score on the buck is 227 B&C inches, easily topping the 195 inch net minimum required of non-typicals.
The Sewell buck also crushes the former Kaufman County record set in 2009 by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden Eric Minter of Kaufman. Minter’s remarkable 31-point archery buck nets 205 2/8 B&C.
The smaller of the two giants was taken on the morning of Nov. 8 near Palestine by Anderson County by archer Brody Chapin of Elkhart. Chapin’s buck nets 207 4/8, according to the final score tallied in January by B&C scorer Jeff Gunnels of Streetman.
Chapin’s buck grew 19 scoreable points, main beams longer than 24 inches and more than 40 inches in mass measurements including bases greater than 6 inches, plus a 7 7/8 inch drop tine. The deer also carries a super wide inside spread of 25 1/8 inches.
Chapin also gets the unofficial small acreage award for the 2025-26 hunting season.
The 25-year old hunter arrowed the giant buck while hunting on a tiny, five-acre tract of low fence property where the landowner allowed him to hunt for free. He used rattling horns and a grunt call to lure the massive buck to within one-yard of the tree stand he was hunting from.
“I’ve gotten buck fever on a lot of smaller deer,” Chapin said. “Somehow I managed to hold it together on this one. He was on me so fast I really didn’t have time to think about it.”
Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo. com.