STATE RECORD NON-TYPICAL

Bill Dooley - Biscoe, AR

     On the afternoon of December 17, 19-year-old Bill Dooley of Biscoe, AR was hunting with his Dad, Biscoe mayor Teddy Dooley, on forty acres of private property located along the border of Cache River NWR, just a few miles south of town. His stand that day was a permanent 'box' built in a large oak, overlooking a winter wheat field, and the stand itself had something of a 'history'.
     A month or so earlier Adam, Bill's cousin, had taken a large 11-point there. The buck scored in the mid-150's and, as boys are occasionally prone to do, had led to a playful offer on Adam's part. He told Bill "if you kill a larger buck I'll pay to have it mounted."
     Now Bill's hunting style could perhaps best be described as ‘relaxed’. So after climbing into his stand he hung his rifle on a handy limb, made himself comfortable, and then took out a book to read. An hour or so later, somewhere along about 4:30 p.m., he was so engrossed in the 007 - James Bond novel 'Tomorrow Never Dies' that he was shocked to look up and see a huge buck feeding in the field less than fifty yards away!
     As the animal turned to head back toward the dense woods 007 was quickly forgotten as Bill frantically reached for his rifle, which naturally was hanging on the wrong side. Finally bringing the Winchester .30-06 to his shoulder, Bill managed to fire a single shot as the monster disappeared into the darkness under the trees!
     After excitedly racing to get his Dad, who was hunting a quarter of a mile away, the two returned to the spot. After some serious searching the 250-pound buck, with a rack that "had points sticking out in every direction", was found less than fifty yards away! And what a buck it was!
     27 scorable points (over one inch in length) jutted out in every direction (17 on the right side; 10 on the left)! Though not especially wide (13-inch inside spread), the main beams were long and incredibly massive. Whereas many Arkansas non-typicals are actually 'typicals' with 'sticker' points an inch or two long, the Dooley head has many non-typical tines well over six inches in length!
     That leads to a total of more than 84 inches of non-typical antler, and results in a net non-typical score of 238 3/8 points! That total eclipses the former state record mark, a 237 5/8 buck found dead back in 1994 by Kevin Ward of Vanndale (Cross County). It also places the Prairie County buck in the Top 10 ever taken in the South, and could well be the largest southern buck taken during the 1999 season!
     No word yet on whether Adam will follow through on his promise!