By Billy Davis

He knew it could happen, and it did.

Deer hunter Allen Russell, whose 11-point buck gave him an early lead in The Panolian’s 2008-2009 Big Buck Contest, has been dethroned as the contest’s leader.

Lee Robison, who also bagged an 11-point, emerged this week in first place. His buck earned him 62 total points.

Russell’s buck had earned him 57.50 points, but Robison’s points added up thanks to his 11-point sporting an inside spread of 19 ½ inches and a main beam length of 26 inches. 

Contest co-sponsor Batesville Gun and Pawn Shop measured Russell’s buck and gave it an inside spread of 18 ½ inches and a main beam length of 21 ½ inches. The base circumference is also measured.

Before Robison jumped into first place, Russell told The Panolian this week he was aware he could be knocked out of the top slot.

“I wouldn’t mind finishing in the top five. But I’m just tickled to death that I got him,” Russell said.

Russell, now in second place, said he bagged the buck at 5:22 p.m. on November 20, the opening day of gun season in Mississippi.

The buck was feeding in woods on white oak acorns. Russell, hunting from a tripod stand, said he dropped the deer with a seven millimeter Browning rifle at 81 yards.

“I’ve been hunting for 30 years, and he was the biggest buck I’ve ever seen,” the deer hunter said. The buck field-dressed at 226 pounds, he said.

Game cameras showed the buck was traveling through the area, and Russell hunted from the stand that morning but got down because of wind direction.

Robison, who is from Batesville, could not be reached by press time Thursday about his hunt.

He did not pose for a  photo for Batesville Gun and Pawn.

Russell’s entry immediately put him on shaky ground in the contest. Winning entries in past years have topped 60 points, and the entry points tend to climb, coinciding with the peak of the rut, through late December and January.

In last year’s contest, Joel Williams and his 14-point buck led hunters from mid-December before he was dethroned by a 16-point bagged by Bobby Roebuck on January 5.

Roebuck won the contest with 64.50 points. Williams eventually finished third with 63.50 points behind Brad Alexander, whose 14-point earned him 63.75 points.

The Big Buck man-to-beat remains Kenny Crockett, a rancher from Tate County. His entry, an 18-point he bagged on Christmas Day, earned him 68.25 points in the 2006-2007 contest.

Deer hunters who envy Crockett’s trophy buck may be even more annoyed when they learn how he bagged it: the rancher said he was searching for a lost cow when he spotted the buck.

The Big Buck Contest is open to hunters in Panola County and counties that join Panola: Tunica, Tate, Lafayette, Yalobusha, Tallahatchie and Quitman.

A legal entry must be a fresh kill that was bagged in Mississippi.

The Big Buck Contest ends January 31.