Ryan Sullivan, 19, of Burdette won the Arkansas Big Buck Classic on Sunday at Barton Coliseum with a non-typical whitetail rack that scored 212 1/8 on the Boone and Crockett scale.

Sullivan, an Arkansas State student, won a Bad Boy Buggy all-terrain vehicle from Bradford Marine and ATV, a commemorative jacket and a silver cup. He killed the buck Nov. 15 with a compound bow in Mississippi County. He said the buck’s age was between 7-8 years.

A buck with a non-typical rack requires a minimum score of 195 to qualify for Boone and Crockett’s All-Time Awards recognition. A buck with a typical rack requires a minimum score of 170. A 205 7/8 non-typical that Scott May of Parkin killed with a modern gun in Cross County was the only other Boone and Crockett qualifier in the show.

Sullivan has collected trail camera photographs of his buck since 2010. It was impressive in 2010, and it only got bigger.

“I found his ‘sheds’ last year and rough scored him at 193,” Sullivan said.

Whitetail bucks shed their antlers every year and grow a new set in the summer.

Sullivan said he had an opportunity to shoot the buck at 50 yards in 2012. He declined because his range pin was set at 40 yards, and he said he didn’t want to chance wounding the buck.

“I wasn’t comfortable with that distance,” Sullivan said. “It paid to wait. I shot him at 28 yards this year.”

Sullivan said he hunted the buck every weekend this season, but he also kept quiet about it. He didn’t even show any trail camera photos to his father.

“I didn’t want him showing any pictures to anybody because it would have caused chaos,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said he learned from the trail cam photos that the buck only moved at night, except during the rut, when it abandoned caution to breed. In the first week of November, Sullivan said the buck got within 35 yards, but didn’t present a clear shot. Sullivan had to stand statue still for 40 minutes until the buck departed.

“I thought it was all over,” Sullivan said. “I was sick.”

On Nov. 15 at about 7:45 a.m., the buck got within range. When Sullivan drew his bow, a doe bolted and the buck snorted at the movement.

“He took three steps back into my opening, and I let the arrow go,” Sullivan said. “It was very close. He almost got away.”

The key to killing mature bucks is growing mature bucks, Sullivan said. Most hunters would have been happy to shoot the buck in 2010.

“People shoot 3- to 4 ½-year old deer and wonder why they don’t have giant deer,” Sullivan said. “If you let that deer grow two or three more years, obviously every deer won’t be this big, but if you let it grow it will reach its potential.”

Sullivan might never see another buck this big, but he said that won’t diminish the excitement of hunting.

“It’s not going to change anything,” Sullivan said. “I still love deer hunting. It’s not about the size, but the maturity.”

Sports, Pages 13 on 01/27/2014