Maryland Gazette, Oct 6, 2004 | by Bill Burton
It was a most unusual sight. The deer that had just been weighed remained near the scales, but grown men were stepping up to be weighed, one after another. As the procession ended, they were convinced though it was still hard to believe,
‘Tis said a few things can be pretty much taken for granted such as the light meter on a camera, a compass – and among deer hunters, the scales. There might be slight variations, but generally the readings are fairly accurate.
Still, who could believe that chunky sika deer close by could tip the scales at 126 pounds?
Why that’s unheard of. A 75-pound stag will draw hunters from miles around a weighing station just for a look-see, I’ve never even heard of a nimrod reputed to be of the exaggerating type ever claiming he saw one on the hoof that would have weighed in at much over 85 pounds – even when deer tales and drink made an interesting evening at camp.
As each of those men who tested the scales at Bullock’s Deli in Denton stepped down, he had to agree 126 was accurate. Christopher Macmillan of Pasadena had indeed got himself a deer that would be talked about a long time on the sika trail. The weights of the skeptical had checked out, so that had to be the poundage.
That stag had a neck and a chest somewhat akin to that of a wild boar, why the girth of the neck was 22 inches – only 2 inches shy of that on the 10-point buck of 147 pounds Macmillan bagged in ’02. He said it was three times as big as any sika he ever saw, but he had only seen one previously. He didn’t send an arrow in its direction after it shrilled at him – it appeared to be of only about 40 pounds – and now he’s happy he passed it up.
Another curious aspect of his trophy is that it came not from Dorchester, the county maybe best known for sikas in the U. S., or even Worcester or Somerset. This prize was taken on the Wicomico County farm of his father-in-law Charlie Schline. Schline had reservations about his son-in-law’s ID of a sika on his property. He had never before seen one on the farm.
So as if to prove his point, a few days later Macmillan went hunting again from a different stand, and at daybreak not far from a cornfield backed up against a small stream a stag started its bugling routine.
“Something nice he hear at shooting time,” said the 33-year-old hunter.
When the bugling stopped he said he heard a racket as if something was wallowing in the leaves; five minutes later at 7:45. from his right came the second live sika he had ever seen.
“To be truthful, I still wasn’t impressed,” said Macmillan, who added when the stag got about 25 yards away it appeared he might depart.
The hunter bleated with his mouth, the deer stopped, Macmillan scored with an arrow in the chest. The stag dropped, but the coups de grace required a second shot at about 30 yards from the tree stand.
“I thought it was of about 100 pounds,” said Macmillan, “Remember it was only the second I had ever seen and at the checking station I had put 90 pounds on the game tag.”
Had that been the end of it all that trophy would have been remembered as just a another sika of unusual size in the Department of Natural Resource’s records. But when the deer came from the trunk of the hunter’s vehicle. it was decided to put it on the scales. Seeing’s believing.
So big is the sika that Anne Arundel County taxidermist Ray Hitchcock is unable to come up with a plastic sika mold big enough for the mounting job, and Macmillan says there probably will be a bit of modifying with an elk form for an appropriate fit. He wants enough of his prize mounted to give viewers an idea of the size of its neck and shoulders.
Though impressive it’s rack has some shortcomings. The right antler is a perfect 4 points, says Macmillan, but the other is somewhat split like that of an elk.
Once the rack has dried out and a measure taken by a representative of Pope & Young it could be declared of from 6 to 8 points. Records for wildlife bearing horns or antlers are kept, not on the basis of weight, but by antler width, beam, balance, points and such, so what undoubtedly is the biggest sika ever taken in Maryland (and hard to beat anywhere, if at all possible by weight) might not go down in the record books.
Macmillan accepts that, he’s not that much into big game records – and nothing can take away his satisfaction of scoring high in his quest for big game. Computers across the state have been busy punching in messages from other hunters who want to know the particulars. No one has heard of such a big sika, and Macmillan acknowledges that some are probably dubious. But, he read the scales himself.
One might figure, Macmillan is in the same boat as Wayne Hall of Northeast who got a record that wasn’t really a record. On the last day of the firearms season of 1970, Hall shot a notable whitetail buck; fine antlers, and awesome weight. That deer taken at Elk Neck State Forest weighed in at 362 pounds, probably the tops ever in Maryland. But nowhere in any state records is mention of his feat.
Though sikas are confined to the lower Eastern Shore, one might say a “cult” has developed among those who hunt them. Sika numbers are only a tiny fraction of Maryland’s deer population ruled, of course, by those of the whitetail variety. But those on the sika trail are a dedicated lot – valued because they are challenging targets. They are more nocturnal that whitetails, often much more wary, are farther off the beaten track – and they are different.
On the lower Shore, more than a few guides and outfitters have built a profitable and busy service catering to hunters across the country, especially those with the bow. Not many other states host these exotic Asian deer that arrived in this country at the turn of the century in a private Dorchester County “zoo.” In 1916, four or five were released on James Island in Dorchester County, later some showed up at nearby Taylor Island, and now a sizable population is evident in Worcester (Assateague Island and elsewhere thereabouts) and Dorchester.
Some old records indicate that years ago, a 109-pounder was taken on the lower shore.
Maryland Gazette, Oct 6, 2004 | by Bill Burton
The above article was written by Bill Burton for the Md Gazette. Bill has left us now but will this “Record” taken By Chris Macmillan live on and be formally recognized as the biggest Sika ever taken in Maryland?
I surely hope this truly magnificent Sika is at some point formally recognized in the record books as it should. Very nice Job Chris!
Photos by Jay Schline
