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
197-6/8Charles Rives, GreenfieldGreene2006
TYPICAL ANTLERS – ARCHERY
190-6/8Joel Eggers, PercyRandolph2007
TYPICAL ANTLERS – BLACK POWDER
168-7/8James Hermann, DecaturShelby2007
NON-TYPICAL ANTLERS – FIREARMS
238-7/8Marty Sharp, GilsonKnox2007
NON-TYPICAL ANTLERS – ARCHERY
238-2/8Kevin Radke, EffinghamJasper2007
NON-TYPICAL ANTLERS – BLACK POWDER
202-0/8Mike Buzicky, MahometChampaign2007
