The quality of bucks coming to the Hunters Extravaganza deer contests this year was the best ever! It is obvious that hunters are taking advantage of trail cameras to locate and harvest some of the best bucks to ever be entered in the contests. Big bucks are common to South Texas, but in recent years, huge bucks are being taken in North Texas and the Pineywoods of East Texas—places where big, old bucks were hard to find.
The following is a breakdown of contest winners for each show. The net scores of these deer will show how much the quality of trophy bucks has improved for this year’s contests.
Houston had 23 entries. Jordon Symon, a female hunter who took a 144 5/8 in Webb County, won Best of Show, Open Range. Randy Costa won Best of Show, High Fence with a 306 4/8 non-typical from Burnet County. Patricia Andrus won High Overall Women’s with a 257 2/8 non-typical from Hamilton County. Fisher Sryml won High Overall Youth with a Jackson County non-typical scoring 192 2/8. Best Perfect 8 was won by Julian Clepper with a 121 7/8 from Edwards County. Evan Dahl won People’s Choice with a 187 5/8 typical from Freestone County.
Fort Worth had 55 entries, the best ever for that show since the contest began. Chad Jones won Best of Show Open Range and People’s Choice with a big 243 6/8 non-typical taken in Collin County. Tommy Simmons won Best of Show High Fence with a monster 366 2/8 from Van Zandt County. Jennelle Infante won High Overall Women’s with a typical 146 2/8 from Ellis County. Grant Foster won High Overall Youth with a wide 344 1/8 non-typical from Shelby County. Lloyd McCoy’s typical 150 1/8 won Best Perfect 8.
San Antonio had 32 entries. Joshua Hernandez’s 170 2/8 typical from Maverick County won High Overall Youth and Best of Show Open Range. Javiel Mendietta won Best of Show High Fence with a big 414 2/8 non-typical from Karnes County. Laura Berry—Platinum Life Member No. 2—won High Overall Women’s with a whopper 268 7/8 non-typical buck from Live Oak County. Buddy Kusenberger came away with the People’s Choice with his wide 154 3/8 typical from La Salle County. Danielle Esquibel won Best Perfect 8 with her 139 6/8 typical from Frio County.
We thank everyone who participated, including our sponsors, and look forward to seeing more—and better—bucks next year!
Check out the complete list of winners in the November/December issue of The Journal, on newsstands now, or at Zinio.com.
If you want to show off your buck in the pages of The Journal, just email your photos to [email protected].
