Buck Out Of Character Newman Lake Whitetail Disturbed Coffee Break

Sun., Dec. 7, 1997

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

Usually, big whitetail bucks are the sneakiest critters in the woods. Occasionally they’re not.

Steve Pipkin and his son, Steve Jr., had spent a morning scouring an area near Newman Lake while hunting last month.

“We didn’t see anything that even looked like a fresh buck track,” the elder Pipkin said.

The pair and another partner rendezvoused at their rig around 10:15 a.m., unloaded their rifles and were drinking coffee. They were were getting ready to drive to another area when Steve Jr. nearly sucked all the oxygen out of Spokane County.

“Look!” he said, as the two other men turned to see a buck moving just 20 yards away.

While the men stood in disbelief, the younger Pipkin grabbed his rifle and slipped into the woods. Seconds later, the 1996 East Valley High School graduate dropped the trophy.

The buck’s antlers had seven points on one side and six on the other, scoring 163 Boone and Crockett points.

That doesn’t match the Washington state record whitetail measuring 181 taken 12 years ago in Whitman County by George Cook. The state’s record for nontypical whitetails is 234, taken in Stevens County by Larry Gardner in 1953.

But the Pipkin buck is huge. “Pictures don’t do it justice,” said taxidermist Dan Beyer. “It’s massive, but the extra tine was nine inches and a major deduction in the score.”

“We noticed the buck had small feet for its size,” Steve Sr. said. “Looking at the tracks, you might have thought it was a doe.”

But there will be no mistaking its gender on the family’s wall.

“I was really pleased for Steve,” his father said. “But I had to tell him that the only thing he has to look forward to is smaller bucks.”

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