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New York States NEW Record Non-Typical Buck

By Mike WillandMay 17, 2012

LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015

The New York State Big Buck Club recently announced there’s a new record non-typical whitetail for the state and it was taken off of Long Island.

The buck was taken by bowhunter Mike Giarraputo while hunting in Suffolk County on November 3rd, 2011.

Giarraputo’s plan was to sit all-day in one of his favorite funnels as long as the wind was consistently good. The morning was unusually slow. The first deer he spotted, a small six-point, didn’t appear until noon. After that encounter Giarraputo noticed a slight change in wind direction and decided he would break down his climber and relocate just before the evening to accommodate a more favorable wind direction.

As Mike put it in an interview with the Outdoor News, “The wind wasn’t going to be good for the afternoon with the way it was heading. So I made a plan to move 60 yards to another tree at about two o’clock. I figured I’d give myself 15 minutes or so before making the move.”

It turned out to be the best move of his bowhunting career. Just as Giarraputo was about to move locations, he scanned the terrain around him and came face to face with a giant of a buck already closing the distance. 

“He smelled the area and I could tell he probably picked up a whiff of my scent from walking in, but it must have diluted enough that he wasn’t going to bust out of there,” Giarraputo continued. “I immediately knew he was big, but I really had no idea just how big.”

During an all-day sit in early November, New York bowhunter Mike Giarraputo was lucky enough to get a clean shot at the state’s new record non-typical buck.

At about 20 yards, Giarraputo bleated twice and was able to get his opportunity. “I watched the shot go clean through the buck right at the last rib and I was confident that I at least had a solid liver hit,” he said. “Since the buck didn’t move too far away, I made attempts to get another arrow into him but between the adrenaline and brush in the way, I could only make another superficial hit. I really didn’t want him to suffer more than he had to.”

The veteran hunter waited several hours before taking up the trail, only to find the buck a mere 80 yards from the shot.

“I couldn’t believe it. I kept trying to count points but I kept getting different numbers each time. I kind of chuckled because my hunting partner was in Illinois hunting at the time and I shot this giant buck here at home.”

Giarraputo’s buck was officially aged by the DEC at just 3 1/2 years old!

The giant buck had 23 scorable points and grossed more than 218-inches, with an official net score of 210 4⁄8 inches. The previous record non-typical scored 205 1/8-inches, and fell to hunter Mark Surdi in Erie County, 1996. Giarraputo’s buck was officially aged by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) at the young age of 3 ½ years.

Mike Willand
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