Photo courtesy of North Carolina Sportsman magazine.
The deer Nick Davis of Elkin, North Carolina, submitted as the new non-typical bowhunting state record really was a North Carolina deer. The antlers on its head really were from a 27-pointer, with 11 1/2-inch tines, bases between 6 1/2 and 7 inches around, and 60 inches of non-typical “junk.” The problem? They were not one in the same.
Davis purchased the rack—sheds from a Pennsylvania deer farm—and screwed it into the skull plate of a 3-point North Carolina deer, attempting to pass it off as a legitimate kill. To add further shame to his claim, the would-be record deer was shot with a rifle in bow season.
Davis began lying September 17, telling North Carolina Sportsman magazine he had killed the deer around 6:30 p.m. the previous day with a bow in Surry County. Certified scorer Joey Thompson of the N.C. Bowhunters Association was brought in to measure the rack the same evening it was killed, which led to an impressive gross score of 223 1/8 inches and a net score of 208 2/8 inches. The measurements were the green score, but the deer would have easily broken the standing record of 176 7/8 inches even after the 60-day drying period required by the Pope and Young and Boone and Crockett Clubs.
Readers were immediately drawn to the color of the rack as a source of concern. The rack appeared almost white—an unlikely occurrence given the early date of the kill and the recent shedding of velvet by bucks. A typical rack would be brown with tree sap or dried blood on September 16, perhaps even retaining strands of tattered velvet. Davis said he had seen the buck in full velvet just two days prior to killing it, adding further suspicion to the photo.
The size of the deer was another red flag. Surry County lies in the northwest corner of North Carolina on the NC/Virginia state line. While solid scorers have been killed there, the area does not produce the sort of rack Davis’s deer sported. The deer’s body was small and appeared to be that of a young buck, possibly 2 1/2 years old—an unlikely king for a crown that size.
The mounting speculation led to an investigation by North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission game wardens. Thompson told NC Sportsman that enforcement officers with the NCWRC had visited Davis’s home September 20 after receiving numerous calls about the deer. Davis allegedly confessed to taking the local buck with a rifle and screwing the purchased antlers into the skull plate, then covering it with the deer’s hide to appear natural.
The investigation by NCWRC officials led to four wildlife violations for Davis: two charges for killing the deer with a rifle during archery season, and two for a buck Davis killed in 2014 but never tagged or registered with the state.
Sgt. Brian Blankenship with the NCWRC’s enforcement division said the deceptive attachment of the antlers to the skull was hard to spot until Davis allegedly confessed and explained the method used. Many had blamed Thompson for not spotting the scam himself.
“Joey Thompson has been catching a lot of flack for something that was not his fault,” Blankenship told NC Sportsman. “It would have been very hard for a normal person to ever see what was wrong, how the horns had been attached to the skull cap.”
Davis’s court date was set for January 28, 2016. Blankenship told NC Sportsman the charges typically bring a fine and court costs of around $250, although the judge has the option of taking the violator’s license and imposing an additional $604 replacement charge for the illegally taken deer.