The Story of Tennessee’s Record Archery Buck

For Charles Strickland, a lifetime of hunting culminated in a single moment on the opening morning of the 2022 season. After an exciting start with two does on the ground, the legend he and his son had pursued for years, a true giant with double drop-tines, stepped into the clearing. Read how this hunter's dream became a Tennessee state-record reality when the massive buck offered a shot, and Charles's Ravin R29X delivered.

Can you tell us about your hunting background and how you got into crossbows?

I've been hunting since I was a kid, so it's been a part of my life for decades. I've taken my share of deer with a rifle and a compound bow over the years and my upstairs wall is full of them. But the switch to a crossbow came a few years back out of pure necessity. I was having real bad shoulder trouble, and I just couldn't pull a compound back anymore. I wasn't ready to hang it up, so I decided to give crossbows a try.

I actually borrowed a friend's crossbow first, but I knew right off I didn't like it. That's what led me to Ravin and their R29X. I'll be the first to admit, it's a different kind of hunting. The crossbow takes a lot of the variables out of the shot. You still have to play the wind and manage your scent, but a Ravin makes the rest much more straightforward. And let me tell you, that R29X is impressive. It’s what lets me, as a retired guy, still get out there four days a week and do what I love.

Breakdown the big day. How did it all go down?

It was September 24th, opening day of Tennessee bow season. The temperature was 60 degrees with a south east wind that morning and 80 degree temperature that afternoon. We had been out of our area for the last 7 days. That morning, my son Allen, my good friend Doug, and I arrived at our Middle Tennessee farm in Davidson County about 20 minutes before shooting light. 

My son and I rode our electric bikes in, since it’s about three-quarters of a mile to my stand, and after my knee surgery in June, I was able to ride within 10 yards of the stand. We were asked to shoot 2 does before taking a buck. My goal was to shoot the first two doe’s that came by that morning because we had two really nice bucks on camera. My son kept telling me we had to get it done early or they would disappear as they have in years past. The fields were planted in milo, which made it tough getting my bike through 40 yards to the tree line, where I had a tree lounger hanging 20 ft up in a tractor gap between two fields about 200 yards. When I reached my stand, I only had two arrows in my quiver. So the first doe came in from the east, at 30 yards around 6:30 a.m. straight towards me. I took a broadside 30 yard shot with my Ravin 29X. She went 50 yards and piled up. A few minutes later, a doe and a yearling came in from the north. The yearling gave me a broadside shot at 30 yards and she was dead before she hit the ground. Without any more bolts for my crossbow, I had no choice but to climb down and pull the arrow from the yearling. I wiped it off the best I could and climbed back into my stand. It wasn’t the most ideal scenario, but I was at least good to go if a buck came in.

Within a few minutes, I saw the double drop tine buck at 50 yards coming from my right. He passed within 5-yards up wind of the first doe I shot, heading my way. I couldn’t believe it was happening! The buck everyone has been hunting for the last three years was about to walk in front of me at 30 yards! So with the wind in my face, and the safety off on my Ravin Crossbow, I was ready. But when he reached where I had shot the first doe, he stopped and was licking, what I found out later, a 3/4 of the broken arrow laying on the ground without the broadhead. At that time, I realized he was in no hurry to leave, so I snapped a few pictures of him. Then I switched my phone to video and recorded over 3-minutes of video with him and 2-other bucks.

Before he started to walk from my left to right, I put my phone in my lap and got ready for the shot. When he was quartering away at 30 yards, he stopped to look back and I decided it was my chance to shoot. I hit him perfectly with a double lung shot and he really had no clue what just had happened. He trotted out about 50 yards between fields, in 4ft of grass, then stopped and stood there for what seemed like an hour.

Finally, he took a step forward and fell down some 65 yards from me. I sent my son and friend a text saying, “The double drop is down!” My son was out of his tree in a flash and on his way to see the prize we all had been after. When he got there, he was shaking way worse than me! All I heard from him the whole day was, “Dad, you don’t realize what you just did”, over and over. I know he was proud of what his ol’ Dad had just accomplished. What a day of hunting!

How did it feel to share this hunt with your son?

It was the best part of the whole experience, without a doubt. As I mentioned, after I shot the buck, he came running over so dang fast. I'd just killed the deer we'd been after for years, but the look on his face and his reaction made it so much more special. It's a moment I'll never forget. We field-dressed the buck together, and that rush to get it to the processor, it was all part of a memory we shared.

We hunt together all the time, and I see him every single day. We're always looking at trail cam pictures, talking strategy, and I even do some spotting for him from my house. To have him there right after I took that buck, to share in that immediate shock and excitement, is what hunting is all about.

Tell us about the state record!

Once the mandatory drying period was over, they got the final measurements. My buck's rack was 26 and 2/8 inches wide and ended up with a final net score of 192 and 6/8. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency confirmed it, my non-typical is the top-ranking crossbow harvest in the state's history. And since Tennessee doesn't separate crossbows from vertical bows in the archery records, that means there isn't a single recorded archery buck with a higher net score than mine. That was back in 2022, and I am proud to say that archery record still stands to this day. It's really something special to me and my family. We will share this story for years to come and hopefully it will be passed on for generations.