MISSOURI MAN IS THE ULTIMATE BOWHUNTER  By Allen “horntagger” Morris

It was late in the afternoon on December 19^th, 1984 and Jim was walking into the area where he intended to hunt when he saw several does in a small clearing. The does took off into the timber and instead of hunting that area Jim stopped in a hedgerow where the does had crossed.

After getting the portable stand set up and getting situated on his stand, sleet began to fall. But the deer were still moving. Some does passed through his line of sight and a buck that was following started to pass by.

About the time the buck was coming into his range, some more does came out of the timber, and a big non-typical buck was following them. Trying to keep still and hoping none of the deer had spotted him, Jim waited.

"The big non-typical came right into range but it took forever. When he was about 30 yards, I shot."  But this had Jim nervous after this long of wait. Just as soon as Jim shot, The buck jumped the string and it hit him in the spine and he went down and moved a few feet and it was over.

With this 15-pointer 197 1/8” Boone & Crockett Non-Typical Jim Martin held the state record in 1984. But this story does not end with this deer or this outstanding hunter.

It starts around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in 1987. When Jim Martin was sitting on his portable tree stand when a big non-typical buck came through with a few does.The big buck was right on the does and they passed by about 45 to 50 yards away. At this time Jim could not get a shot. Frustrated, Jim hunted the same place the next day and didn’t see anything. Burned out hunting this one located he decide to move.

Thursday morning Jim was hunting a different location, another area where he had seen some big bucks earlier in the year when he was scouting. That morning one little buck and a couple of does came by. 

But things started to heat up a doe came into view and stopped in a little flat where there were some scrapes. She was well within range of Jim’s wheelhouse. He was watching her when he heard more deer coming in. 

The big 15-point buck came right behind the doe that Jim was watching. There was still another doe behind him, but the doe in front had his attention and he was not going to leave her. Just when Jim thought the big buck was going to go right to her, he stopped about 10 yards behind her. It worked out good because it happened quick and Jim didn’t have time to get shook up. The big buck was quartering away from Jim at about 25 yards. It was a good shot. The arrow hit him in the back part of the lungs. The buck took off but only for 400 yards.

Jim Martin bowhunter from Independence, Missouri started bowhunting in 1968 but on November 12^th, 1997 became one of the few and far between great bowhunters in our time by taking a second record book buck. With this 15-point typical scoring 180 4/8” Boone & Crockett. At that time it was considered the state record.

So just think Jim Martin held both state records, with two different 15 pointers for 5 years. The chance that one hunter could just take a record book buck is very slim but holding both records at the same time would be like hitting the lottery in my book.

Congratulations to Jim Martin for taking two great Missouri Whitetails.