All that's left for a 27-year-old Tennessee man to claim the official world record for a whitetail deer is the certification from the Boone and Crockett Club.
Stephen Tucker of Gallatin killed the trophy buck with a muzzleloader in November in rural Sumner County, but a 60-day drying-out period had to take place to allow for possible shrinkage of the antlers.
That period ended Monday, and a Boone and Crockett panel of four judges measured the 47-point rack, giving the deer a score of 312⅜.
That is larger than the non-typical current net world record of 307⅝ from that Tony Lovstuen in Albia, Iowa, killed in 2003. That deer had 38 points.
Official certification won’t take place until the Boone and Crockett awards banquet in 2019.
"I just tried not to think about whether it was the world record or not during the drying out period," Tucker said. "The last week was probably the worst part of the whole time. I didn't want to get myself real worked up about it because I didn't want to be let down if it wasn't the record. I just kept telling myself, 'It's going to be what it's going to be.' "
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