hanson buck at bcIt will obviously take one rare and incredible animal to best the 213 5⁄8-inch monster that Milo Hanson shot near Biggar, Sask. 22 years ago.

My analysis of the top 200-inch typical racks in the Boone and Crockett book show that the new record typical will have to possess 12 points or more, with the G-2, G-3 and G-4 tines on each antler in excess of 10 inches; an inside spread of 22 inches and likely more; and bases of 6 inches or more, with good mass throughout the 27-inch-plus main beams. The rack will have to be clean and amazingly symmetrical, with few abnormal points and less than 8 inches of deductions. The animal will probably be 5 to 7 years old.

Of the thousands of typical racks that have been entered in the B&C book since 1993, the year Milo shot his giant, 80 racks scored more than 190 inches, and 7 topped 200. It would just take a few more inches of spread, mass and tine length to push a world-class rack like that over the top. Some people believe the new record will be shot soon, maybe one day this fall, though they have been saying that for the past 20 years.

One of the country’s top whitetail biologists doubts it will happen soon, and he has an intriguing theory why. “Most whitetail bucks have non-typical antlers in their genes,” says Dr. Grant Woods. “As they age, especially on managed private lands where there is so much nutritious feed, they start to put a lot of junk on their antlers. It’s actually pretty rare for a 6- year-old buck to be a straight typical these days.”

Woods expects the record for the largest non-typical whitetail (currently a 307 5/8-incher shot in Iowa in 2003) to be broken before the new No. 1 typical falls.

Where might the new No. 1 be shot? Based on my analysis of record-book bucks shot since 2000, I predict Illinois, Saskatchewan, Ohio, Kentucky or Kansas. My 2 sleeper states are Missouri and Nebraska.