And, before you ask, I wasn't wearing my tattered White Sox hat. But guys kept grabbing me Sunday to ask, ``Did you see Thome's brother's buck?''
As befits, the Thome legacy of humility, the Fulton County buck, taken by Chuck Thome, brother of Sox star Jim, was hung in a row just like any of the other 605 racks measured at the Illinois Deer & Turkey Classic in Bloomington last weekend. It scored a middle of the field 150 7/8 inches.
The break in the weather probably helped, but after a downward track for a couple years--496 in 2007, 588 in 2006--in racks to be measured, there was a sharp upturn to 605.
It was a mind-blowing, maybe even mind-numbing, experience to join the throngs ogling the walls of big bucks. These are the kind of bucks that pull me from my sleep in October.
The biggest non-typical was a 21-pointer (238 7/8), taken by Marty Sharp of Gilson in Knox County in 2007.
Biggest typical was a 10-pointer (197 6/8), taken by Charlie Rives of Greenfield in Greene County in 2006.
Here are the best from show chief Glenn Helgeland.
BEST OF SHOW 2008 Illinois Deer & Turkey Classic
TYPICAL ANTLERS -- FIREARMS
197-6/8 Charles Rives, Greenfield Greene 2006
TYPICAL ANTLERS - ARCHERY
190-6/8 Joel Eggers, Percy Randolph 2007
TYPICAL ANTLERS - BLACK POWDER
168-7/8 James Hermann, Decatur Shelby 2007
NON-TYPICAL ANTLERS - FIREARMS
238-7/8 Marty Sharp, Gilson Knox 2007
NON-TYPICAL ANTLERS - ARCHERY
238-2/8 Kevin Radke, Effingham Jasper 2007
NON-TYPICAL ANTLERS - BLACK POWDER
202-0/8 Mike Buzicky, Mahomet Champaign 2007
There were alot of big bucks at the Deer and Turkey Classic this year. I was egger to see Eggers 11 pointer I had herd so much about. Congrats Joel on a beautiful buck.