At least ten of the top twenty Boone and Crockett “book heads” were “found.” They were not taken by hunters. The number one non-typical B&C whitetail found dying near a chain link fence in a crowded St. Louis suburb years ago is a good example. No one ever stepped forward to claim seeing it before its death. It now graces the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Many once regarded Dick Idol as the most knowledgeable “Big Deer” hunter in modern times - maybe ever. He hunted primarily with firearms.
Noel Feather, a former steel mill worker from Illinois, initially took three Boone and Crockett record book heads. The two taken with archery tackle qualified at the time for Pope & Young and Boone & Crockett. He took the third B&C trophy with a shotgun’s
slug. All three B&C trophies were claimed within 12-miles of his home.
Idol was columnist, book author, lecturer, deer hunter extraordinary specializing on whitetails. Organizations such as the NRA (Hunter’s Tour), North American Whitetail and other whitetail promotional groups showcased his considerable expertise. For years, every fall and winter, his hunting trail started in Canada and ended in Texas while pursuing trophy whitetails.
Virtually all deer hunters dream of a big rack they can hang on the wall. Some, ego driven, stoop to spot-lighting a monarch feeding at night or employ other illegal activities to accomplish
the deed at any cost. Feather let fame affect his judgement when filming a deer video on a game ranch. The ranch could not furnish the proper papers on a buck he arrowed while making the video on their property. He took it anyway. Allegedly, it stood to qualify for Pope & Young because of the size of the rack. However, it was not a wild deer taken in the spirit of fair chase as required by P&Y records.
Federal Fish & Wildlife agents had staked out the ranch for suspected past violations and asked them for documentation on the kill after Feather left with it. The ranch had to admit they didn’t have proper documentation to prove the slain animal was “domestic” stock.
Enroute home, Feather allegedly attempted to make the carcass appear legal by placing an Illinois deer tag on it after returning to his home state. He was arrested and held accountable for this alleged crime. Multiple sponsor endorsements and, more importantly, credibility with legions of deer hunters, instantly evaporated.
In spite of poor judgement in the game-ranch career ending incident, logic reinforces that Feather’s B&C class trophies were legitimately taken - all three of them. One man could not corral three trophies of that magnitude (arrowing two!) without considerable, and very expensive, outside help. With the going price for trophy racks in that record-book category running into
mega-thousands, it must be recalled Feather was an itinerant steel worker at the time he took those trophies. He did not control anywhere near the financial capital necessary to buy his way into three B&C trophies at that stage of his career.
While the alleged criminal act displayed a deplorable character flaw, taking a wild “phantom buck” legally , or illegally, required far more expertise than hunting on a game preserve. While tainting Feather’s reputation, it cannot diminish the magnitude of those three separate events that developed from knowledge he acquired in penetrating a “phantom buck’s” security perimeter.
A well documented game farm whitetail buck, raised commercially and never allowed to leave its stall, could only feed, rest and was never bred initially. The year its rack scored 250-plus B&C typical points, it was sold to a breeder in Texas. He promptly bred it to 35-does attempting to grow big racked offspring. After breeding the 35-does, the following year this buck’s rack only scored in the 150s.
Jeff LeBaron, Minnesota resident, founded the North American Shed Antler Club. He surfaced interesting accounts of huge sheds while working various winter outdoor sport shows. Networking with these contacts brought exposure through national magazine articles generating even more contacts.
One of these surfaced a set of matched sheds scoring 334-plus non-typical points. This deer, now known as the Minnesota Monarch, was possibly the finest whitetail trophy ever to draw breath. It was never taken. It was videoed at a winter wildlife feed station.
LeBaron recorded numerous shed antlers that topped existing records in the B&C record book - none taken by hunter arrow or projectile. The majority were never seen - not even by farmers or residents in the area where found.
Dr. James Kroll, internationally noted biologist specializing in whitetail studies in the ’80s and ‘90s, stated that whitetail bucks reaching a certain development, often circumvented naturally programmed behavior patterns. The adjustment permits them to survive and dominate the gene pool. He believes it influences mature does as well as bucks.
A key to a new theory surfacing about a certain class age of whitetails can be demonstrated with Feather’s taking of three B&C trophies. He was the first hunter known to accomplish that feat. While his criminal act taints the achievement, this fact remains: He was the first to penetrate the security blanket of three of the finest whitetail trophies ever taken.
Feather employed scent controls much the same as ancient North American Amerinds did. He suppressed body odors the same as ancient Indian sweat lodges accomplished. He washed hunting clothes with no-scent soaps. Then, he showered immediately before leaving for the day’s hunt (non-scent soap) and refrained from donning descented hunting clothes till exiting his vehicle at the hunt site.
After climbing into his stand, he created a sexually charged situation to attract a big buck. Incorporating deer scent, he played a woodland symphony with rattling antlers accompanied by grunt calls that encouraged serious muses over Lady Whitetail’s favors. Feather intended that this “phantom of the woodland opera” metamorphose into “the buck stops here” regarding his stand.
While Idol employs many of the same strategies Feather used, both hunting styles differ radically. Feather hunted from elevated stands attracting deer within range of his arrow. Idol still-hunteded an area after pinpointing a big buck’s sign (rubs, scrapes, etc.). He opted attempting to slip in on the deer and force its hand.
While he killed truly impressive bucks, Idol’s technique placed him at a disadvantage with the very top whitetail trophies. He is due credit for taking the more difficult path to achieve his trophy hunting goals. However, production results comparing the two techniques speak for themselves.
An interesting summation is surfacing from these two hunters’ efforts and achievements.
Dr. Kroll’s and other controlled experiments in raising whitetails suggest an absence or curtailing of intense sexual activity encourages whitetail bucks to generate antlers of exaggerated size. LeBaron’s sheds reinforce that conclusion from the wild.
Therefore, normal rut parameters (practiced by the bulk of whitetail populations) may create mindsets in hunters that mis-direct efforts to bag the “big one.”
An emerging reality about whitetail phantom bucks rates hunter success (specifically Noel Feather’s example) as dependent on solving the paradox that older animals become isolationists in order to survive. Apparently, even to the extreme they forego basic rutting activity to isolate themselves from their own kind.