Novinger girl snags massive 26-point buck

[Lee Borgersen]

Novinger girl snags massive 26-point buck

 
Kim Harden, of Novinger, poses with her 26-point buck she shot on her family's property early Sunday morning. The Novinger High School senior made the kill with a .243 single-shot rifle. (Photo submitted) 
NOVINGER, Mo. - Even an avid deer hunter like Kim Harden was surprised at what she found Sunday morning on the property of her parents, Carrol and Denise Harden.

What she discovered lying in the brush was a 26-point buck she killed with a .243 single-shot rifle.

Harden, a senior at Novinger High School, thought she shot a 10- or 12-point buck until she moved closer to the target.

 
"I checked out the buck lying in the brush," she said. "I thought it was just a small buck. It was hard to tell with all of the twigs around it. The only thing I could tell at the time was that it had four points on one side."

Then came the first surprise.

"The buck wasn't dead, the head moved up and I could tell it was something big. I was shocked to see it."

 
 
Harden said she then shot the buck in the heart from about 30-40 yards. Her first shot was from 150 yards.

After completing the kill, the new problem was moving the buck. It weighed more than 200 pounds field-dressed, which is the measurement taken after removing the game's innards to avoid tainting the meat. Harden called her father, Carrol, who had to bring out the tractor to help move it.

Harden said the deer is currently being mounted at Hazel Creek Taxidermy, where they are wondering whether it is big enough to go into the record books. Her parents will take the deer to be processed.

 
 
Harden couldn't recall how may deer she has killed over the years, but said she has snagged two bucks.

"The biggest one I've gotten was an eight-point buck," she recalled. "It was a nice eight-point buck, but nothing like this."

Harden's deer had a preliminary Boone and Crocket score of 218 1/8. The national record is 333, but that buck was killed by a car in the St. Louis area. There were 24 scoreable points on Harden's.

 
 
Harden said she'd likely be included in the Missouri Show-Me Big Bucks Club, which honors hunters who kill or find deer with racks scoring 140 Typical or 155 Non-Typical in the Boone and Crocket scoring system.

"I just really like [hunting]," she said. "It's fun being out there in nature. It's a good time."

Harden also hunts turkey, squirrel and rabbit, although none of those pursuits give her the satisfaction of hunting deer.

 
 
"I just like to hunt deer," she said. "It's my favorite. That's all there is to it."


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[JD]

Wow :o, what a massive deer!

[Mayfly]

 :o