Hundreds of hunting enthusiasts filled the Ashmont Agriplex on Saturday afternoon, and nearly 70 of them brought this year’s kill with them, all in hopes of earning some lucrative prizes and more importantly, bragging rights with the highest scoring animals.
The 33rd annual Buck of the Season competition saw 68 animals entered, which is an average turnout, according to Steven Jeffery, one of the event organizers and this year’s emcee. He added that he was happy to see the high turnout of youth and ladies entries.
Jeffery’s grandfather initiated the event over 30 years ago, making Buck of the Season an important event for his entire family. The first Buck of the Season took place on Ashmont’s main street since there was no facility available to play host for it, says Jeffery.
“It’s become a well-known event,” he says, adding, Buck of the Season always takes place on the first Saturday of December, following the close of hunting season. This year, a number of hunters from outside the area made the drive to Ashmont to compete.
Hunters from areas such as Vemilion, Lac La Biche, Smoky Lake and Cold Lake were in attendance.
Although the day started a bit slow, by 3 p.m. volunteers were busy scoring as many sets of antlers as possible to keep up with the last-minute entries. This year’s scorers were Bryan Bespalko, Kris Smith, Darren Gates and Scott Jeffery.
A gross score is taken by measuring all possible scoring inches on the set of antlers, explains Jeffery. All the inches are added up to determine the animal’s final score. Then, that score is placed on a large board and winners with the highest score in a number of categories are chosen for the top prizes.
As a long-time organizer, Bespalko says he felt this year’s entries were on the big side.
“There were some big, massive deer,” he said as the show wrapped up, adding that overall, it sounded like it was a slower hunting season, but what hunters saw and killed was of high quality.
In all, organizers believe there were nearly 400 people in attendance at the end of the day. The high turnout ensured that fundraisers such as the 50/50 draw and the Ashmont Moms and Tots bake sale were also successful.
Jeffery also pointed to this year’s sponsors who donate the majority of the prizes and come out “in a huge way” for the event.
This year’s Buck of the Season winners are:
Open
Dustin Cardinal – Typical whitetail – 188 3/8”
Darren Yaremchuk – Typical mule deer – 203 5/8”
Chris Swan – Non-typical mule deer – 190 4/8”
Glenn Moir – Non-typical whitetail – 238 1/8”
Ladies
Roxanne Kozakewich – Non-typical whitetail – 177 4/8”
Vivian Wolgien – Typical mule deer – 156 3/8”
Youth
Curtis Williamson – Non-typical white tail – 172 2/8”
Eric MacNeil – Typical white tail – 169 3/8”
*There were no mule deer entries for this year’s youth category.
