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One Hunter, Two State Records! - Northeast Big Buck Club

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<strong>One</strong><br />

<strong>Hunter</strong>,<br />

<strong>Two</strong><br />

<strong>State</strong><br />

<strong>Records</strong>!<br />

In 2004 Mark Thomas did something<br />

most Bay <strong>State</strong> Archers can<br />

only dream about – he arrowed<br />

a 10-Point typical in Norfolk County<br />

that scored 175 6/8” gross P&Y, and<br />

established a new Massachusetts<br />

<strong>State</strong> Record for archery Typicals.<br />

That record held until 2006 when<br />

a hunter from Worcester County<br />

arrowed a massive 180-class buck<br />

that pushed Mark’s great buck to a<br />

respectable #2. Many hunters would<br />

be content with that accomplishment.<br />

However, Mark Thomas cares little<br />

for accolades and little about what<br />

other people think. He just loves<br />

to hunt big bucks. That passion<br />

translated into another great buck<br />

on Halloween in 2007. And this one<br />

would become the state’s nontypical<br />

archery record! continued on page 36<br />

34<br />

Awards 2008<br />

<strong>Northeast</strong> BIG BUCKS


On Our Cover -<br />

Mark Thomas and his<br />

"Bay <strong>State</strong>" Monster.<br />

www.bigbuckclub.com Awards 2008 35


Bay <strong>State</strong> Archer<br />

Shoots New<br />

#1 Archery<br />

Non-Typical<br />

Mark has been hunting this area for many years. He is<br />

primarily a bowhunter, and has killed many great bucks in this<br />

county over the years including the aforementioned former state<br />

record typical killed by Thomas. The land he was hunting in late<br />

October of 2007 was familiar to him, as he had been hunting it<br />

for several years. In the past he had seen some nice bucks here,<br />

and in fact in 2006 his trail camera got a bunch of photos of a<br />

great drop tine buck. He hunted the buck hard that year, and<br />

had a close encounter one day in the rain but thought better of<br />

trying a shot. He became obsessed with the monster, and hunted<br />

the buck hard the rest of 2006. He even hunted Christmas day<br />

for the buck (and Mark has two small kids!). The season closed<br />

Background<br />

Norfolk County in eastern Massachusetts<br />

is one of the smaller counties in the state,<br />

at 444 square miles. It is located from just<br />

south of Boston and runs down to the<br />

corners of RI and CT. It is a very suburban<br />

area with a population of 650,000 people,<br />

or more than 1,600 people per square<br />

mile. This is not exactly what you might<br />

consider ideal whitetail habitat. However<br />

experienced New England bowhunters<br />

know that deer densities are higher in<br />

suburban counties, and often hunting<br />

pressure is very light, translating to great<br />

trophy opportunities for bowhunters who<br />

can gain access to small pockets of cover.<br />

In fact, this small county has produced<br />

more than 50 bucks that make the NBBC<br />

record buck, including the states largest<br />

gross-scoring buck! In 2005 Jeff Draper<br />

found a giant 210” non-typical dead off<br />

Route 128 (that state’s busiest highway).<br />

That buck currently ranks as the state’s #1<br />

non-typical of all time.<br />

by Jeff Brown<br />

without another sighting of the buck, so Mark set his sights on<br />

shed hunting. He found the right shed with a huge drop tine, and<br />

he continued to follow the buck through the summer, capturing<br />

10 trail camera photos of the buck. Mark was psyched for the<br />

beginning of the 2007 season.<br />

The Hunt<br />

Halloween morning of 2007 was very cold, although the<br />

weather called for the temperature to rise quickly during the day.<br />

Mark was in a treestand about 200 yards from where he had seen<br />

the great buck in 2006, and he rattled and grunted throughout the<br />

morning as the temperature rose. At about 8:45, just before Mark<br />

was ready to get down, he heard a deer walking in the distance.<br />

He scanned the pines 100 yards from his stand, and caught sight<br />

of a single tine from the rack – and he knew instantly it was<br />

36<br />

Awards 2008<br />

<strong>Northeast</strong> BIG BUCKS


“his buck.” The buck<br />

walked out of the pines<br />

looking for a fight, and<br />

immediately picked off<br />

Mark in the stand. Mark<br />

froze, and the two had a<br />

standoff that lasted for<br />

about a minute (but it<br />

seemed like an hour!).<br />

Finally the buck flicked<br />

his tail demonstrating he<br />

was relaxed, and started<br />

walking. At 37 yards the<br />

buck turned broadside.<br />

Mark drew his bow and<br />

let the arrow fly! The<br />

arrow struck the buck<br />

high, and he bolted out<br />

of sight. Mark was juiced<br />

with adrenaline, but<br />

his experience with big<br />

bucks taught him to always wait at least three or four hours before<br />

beginning the tracking job. While he waited he called his friend<br />

Matt Grady and also called his father. After they arrived and the<br />

“wait was over” they tracked the buck for about 150 yards, and<br />

found the monster than Mark had hunted so hard for the past two<br />

years. Mark could not believe that the big beast was actually there<br />

on the ground!<br />

After dragging out the buck they took him to a check station<br />

and weighed him at just over 200 lbs. dressed. They headed back<br />

to the house and Mark called all his hunting buddies who knew<br />

how obsessed he was with this deer, and they all got together at<br />

Mark’s house to celebrate. TJ Mello – Mark’s friend and also a<br />

scorer for the <strong>Northeast</strong> <strong>Big</strong> <strong>Buck</strong> <strong>Club</strong> – was among those at<br />

Mark’s house, and he green scored the buck. He informed Mark<br />

that there was “a chance” that this could challenge for the state<br />

record. Sometime later TJ organized an official panel scoring<br />

session with the NBBC, and the results supported TJ’s claim!<br />

Stats and Ranks<br />

The Berestka <strong>Buck</strong> was the current Massachusetts <strong>State</strong><br />

Record Archery Non-typical. The final gross score of this<br />

amazing rack was 178”, with a net score of 166 7/8” non-typical.<br />

This is what the Thomas buck would need to beat when it was<br />

officially panel scored by <strong>Northeast</strong> <strong>Big</strong> <strong>Buck</strong> <strong>Club</strong> scorers with<br />

a panel led by TJ Mello (note: all potential NBBC state records<br />

require a panel of senior scorers to be convened to determine the<br />

final score). Mello had “green scored” the buck at 178”. He was<br />

“conservative” in his treatment of several abnormal points, and<br />

felt the buck had a good chance of scoring better during the panel.<br />

And he was correct – the buck scored a whopping 179” gross<br />

B&C, besting the current record by an inch!<br />

This buck is very impressive in many ways. It is a massive 9-<br />

point typical with 5 additional abnormal points, including a large<br />

group of points at the base of the left beam. There was no sign<br />

of the big drop tine the buck had in 2006, although it was plenty<br />

impressive without it! The beams are relatively short at 23 7/8”<br />

and 21 3/8”, forming an awe-inspiring inside spread of 26 6/8”.<br />

The buck has great mass, with bases of 5 2/8” and 7 7/8” on the<br />

left side where the large mass of abnormal points come together.<br />

The final gross score of this amazing rack is 179 0/8”, and it nets<br />

out at 165 5/8” non-typical because of the significant deductions.<br />

Let’s take a look at the best bow bucks of All-Time in this state.<br />

The top three Archery Non-typicals<br />

in this state are now:<br />

1. Mark Thomas<br />

179 0/8” gross 165 5/8” net 2007 Norfolk County<br />

2. Larry Berestka<br />

178 0/8” gross 166 7/8” net 2005 Worcester County<br />

3. Mark Manoogian<br />

176 7/8” gross 170 4/8” net 2003 Worcester County<br />

Amazingly, Thomas also owns the number two archery typical in<br />

the state as well! The top three archery typicals are:<br />

1. Paul Buccaccio<br />

185 7/8” gross 172 1/8” net 2006 Worcester County<br />

2. Mark Thomas<br />

175 6/8” gross 173 4/8” net 2004 Norfolk County<br />

3. Paul Reusch Jr.<br />

173 2/8” gross 166 7/8” net 2000 Plymouth County<br />

As you can see, Thomas’s accomplishment is mind-boggling. But<br />

as I will show you later – it is not unprecedented…<br />

see next page<br />

www.bigbuckclub.com Awards 2008 37


<strong>One</strong> <strong>Hunter</strong>, <strong>Two</strong> <strong>State</strong> <strong>Records</strong>!<br />

continued from previous page<br />

Bay <strong>State</strong>s Best Bow<br />

<strong>Buck</strong>s of 2007<br />

The Thomas <strong>Buck</strong> is just one of several<br />

outstanding archery bucks taken in 2007<br />

in this state. In a previous issue of this<br />

magazine we brought you the story of Fred<br />

Cristina’s outstanding 172 6/8” Plymouth<br />

County 10-Point – the best archery typical<br />

of 2007 in the state. And many other great<br />

bucks were arrowed throughout the state<br />

this past season. <strong>Buck</strong>s of 150” or better<br />

were arrowed in many counties, including<br />

Norfolk, Plymouth, Worcester, Hampden,<br />

Middlesex and Berkshire. That covers nearly<br />

the entire state. Let’s take a look at some of<br />

those bucks. Jim Kelly shot a monster typical<br />

10-Point in Middlesex County that scored<br />

164 5/8” gross P&Y. Kelly’s buck had a 20<br />

1/8” inside spread and bases of 5” each. In<br />

Berkshire County in the western part of the<br />

state Justin Davis shot an enormous 8-Point<br />

with a gross score of 157 7/8”. Davis’s 8-<br />

Point had main beams of over 25” each and<br />

an inside spread of just under 19”. Other 150-<br />

class bucks included Dave Zani’s 155 1/8”<br />

non-typical 11-Point from Worcester County;<br />

The Score<br />

The beams are relatively<br />

short at 23 7/8” and 21<br />

3/8”, forming an aweinspiring<br />

inside spread<br />

of 26 6/8”. The buck has<br />

great mass, with bases of<br />

5 2/8” and 7 7/8” on the<br />

left side where the large<br />

mass of abnormal points<br />

come together.<br />

The final gross score<br />

of this amazing rack is<br />

179 0/8”, and it nets out<br />

at 165 5/8” non-typical<br />

because of the significant<br />

deductions.<br />

Jeff Brown<br />

NBBC President<br />

Robert Mastroianni’s Hampden County 11-<br />

Point scoring 153 4/8”; a 152 5/8” 10-Point<br />

for Steve Coulter, also in Hampden County;<br />

and a 152 1/8” 9-Point for Rick Anketell in<br />

Worcester County. In total, this state’s bow<br />

hunters took three bucks in the top twenty<br />

archery All-Time and two (Cristina and<br />

Thomas) in the top seven All-Time. That<br />

makes for quite a year!<br />

Summary<br />

Shooting one buck that makes top ten alltime<br />

in any state is quite an accomplishment!<br />

Just imagine shooting two bucks that both<br />

rank number two in the archery typical<br />

and non-typical categories. This is an<br />

astronomically improbably accomplishment.<br />

And yet, it is not unprecedented. In 2006<br />

Massachusetts hunter Bill Tatro took the<br />

#1 muzzleloader non-typical and the #5<br />

muzzleloader typical in the same season! And<br />

just imagine, for a period of time he also held<br />

the state record gun typical that now ranks<br />

#2 in that category. So I guess we can say<br />

that Mark Thomas and Bill Tatro have both<br />

accomplished something that many of us<br />

would have considered nearly impossible!<br />

38<br />

Awards 2008<br />

<strong>Northeast</strong> BIG BUCKS

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