Could This Buck Break the Missouri State Record

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One of the Biggest Archery Bucks Ever Taken in Missouri Gets Green Scored

Bowhunter Josh Heuser tagged “a buck of 10 lifetimes” on Sept. 27 while hunting in Missouri. That’s according to Clint Schwach, who captured beautiful photographs of Heuser’s goliath whitetail. The buck is a stunner, and some have wondered if it could be a new Missouri state archery record. The current record belongs to Randy Simonitch, who arrowed a 269 7/8-inch nontypical whitetail in Pike County in 2000.

Heuser, one of the hosts of “Respect the Game TV”, has not responded to interview requests from Outdoor Life. However, he did participate in an interview with North American Whitetail. The magazine plans to publish the full story of Heuser’s hunt for the buck he nicknamed “Louis” in its December/January issue.

NAW published an abbreviated version of the story on their website yesterday, which you can read here. It explains that Heuser had been watching the giant non-typical for years, and he arrowed it from roughly 25 yards away while standing 12 feet off the ground on a hackberry tree limb. It also includes the one key detail that we’ve all been waiting for: the buck’s potential score. According to NAW, certified Boone & Crockett measurer Cameron Coble came out to rough-score the buck soon after it was harvested. Coble gave it a “green” gross score of 236 2/8 and a net score of 254 3/8. The rack had 36 scoreable points, and if the preliminary score holds up over the mandatory 60-day drying period, that would make “Louis” the fourth biggest non-typical buck ever taken with archery gear in Missouri.

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“Josh Heuser, son of Kent Heuser, just shot the biggest free-range Missouri buck I have ever seen! I am sure that we will hear more about this buck over the next year,” Jesse Maruschak, an experienced public land hunter wrote in a Facebook post on Sept. 29.

According to social media posts by the hunter himself, Heuser had a long history with the deer. He had watched the buck grow since 2018, which he proved by sharing trail cam photos on Facebook of the deer over the years.

“Us four covered countless miles in the pickup this summer,” wrote Houser, who said that bringing his family along to scout made the whole experience even more memorable. “The kids would watch movies in the backseat while I glassed. Truck piled with snacks and juices we were ready to roll. 5 years of watching him came to a close.”