Typical Mule Deer Set a Montana State Record in Non-Typical Fashion

People dream of hunting the Missouri River Breaks and the White Cliffs in the northcentral and northeastern part of the state. They imagine tracking a record-setting buck through the area’s rolling hills, buttes, rock outcroppings, scattered forests, and massive prairie flats before getting within shooting distance, either with a rifle or bow, and then taking a clean shot. The deer’s lean and high-protein meat will fill the bellies of a family for a year or more, and getting to retell the tale of the hunt will entertain at dinner parties, social gatherings, and the water cooler in the office breakroom for many years.

This paints such a pleasant picture, which is quite the contrast to the nightmarish circumstances surrounding how the typical mule deer record in Montana was set. Let’s explore the chilling, grim details in the story of the “Letterman Buck,” the biggest typical mule deer ever harvested in Big Sky Country.

The year was 2005, and no one has revealed the circumstances by which the buck met its end.

As part of a criminal investigation, the buck was confiscated as evidence in an alleged plot to kidnap the son and his nanny of former late-night TV talk show host and comedian David Letterman, who has a ranch near Great Falls. Letterman hired (house) painter Kelly Allen Frank for projects around his estate. Sometime in 2005, Frank concocted a plan to ransom the son and nanny for $5 million. His plot was thwarted, thankfully, when an informant came forward with details of Frank’s plan.

Then, during the alleged attempted kidnapping and ransom investigation, another informant revealed that Frank had committed another crime. Authorities were told that Frank had killed a huge mule deer off-season—a serious crime the penalties of which can include, but are not limited to, fines, prison time, and the revocation of hunting privileges. A warrant was issued, and police searched Frank’s home, where they found the buck’s antlers. Upon questioning, Frank denied killing the buck but admitted to knowing that the animal was shot off-season in 2004.

Because the antlers were obtained illegally, they were handed over to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks in whose care they remain today. Submitted for scoring to the Boone & Crockett Club, which sets guidelines for and maintains big game hunting records, the antlers were identified as typical, meaning they featured symmetrical tines and evenly spaced points, and measured. The final tally for the “Letterman Buck” was 207-7/8 and a new Montana state record. The hunter remains unknown.

Frank was never charged for the alleged kidnapping and ransom plot, but he was charged and convicted of felony embezzlement (for overcharging Letterman for his services), obstruction of justice, and for being in the possession of illegally obtained antlers (poaching).

Compared to the world record for mule deer in the typical category, the Letterman Buck’s antlers are quite small, although no one should turn their nose up to Montana’s state record because it’s a darn fine score. Thirty-two years earlier while hunting in Dolores County, Colorado, in 1972, Doug Burris Jr. set the world record in the mule deer typical category when he took a shot at one of three large bucks that had walked into his view. He very quickly realized what a prize the buck was. The antlers scored 226-4/8.