Connecticut's new state-record archery buck was taken in Hartford County last year. The deer gross-scored 177 5/8. Photo courtesy of Chris Belisle.

For many years now, the Constitution State has produced some of the Northeast's most impressive archery bucks. If you have never hunted this state, you probably are not aware that it provides an extended bow season that extends from mid-September through late January (depending upon what zones you hunt).

Parts of Connecticut are densely populated, and therefore bowhunting is often the only legal and acceptable means of hunting deer. Deer densities tend to be fairly high in these areas as well. Other parts of the state, particularly along the state's western border with New York and the northwestern border with Massachusetts, are remote and rugged, and "hunt" more like the big woods of New York.

In both habitats, whitetail bucks have the time and nutrition that allows them to grow to maturity -- and that means big racks. Combine these factors with an extended bow season and liberal bag limits, and you have the makings for some great bowhunting opportunities!

Despite all this potential, and the state's reputation as a great source of archery "monster bucks," the last few seasons had been a little less impressive in terms of top-end archery bucks. But not so in 2008!

This past season started out with a flourish. By late September, the Northeast Big Bucks Club was already receiving phone calls and e-mails about big bucks being arrowed throughout the state. Most of the bigger bucks seemed to have been taken early on in the campaign, but the trend continued through the late season.

In this article, I will feature the new state-record typical archery buck, plus several outstanding bucks that have been officially scored and entered in the Northeast Big Buck Club records.

THE BELISLE BUCK
Back in 1989, Ron Tavrick arrowed a monster 10-point buck in Litchfield County that grossed 175 0/8 and netted 171 6/8 points. It stood at the top of the list as the state-record typical for nearly 20 years until 2008, when Chris Belisle entered the woods in late September. Tavrick's buck came from the rugged country in western Connecticut, but Belisle was hunting in Hartford County, primarily suburban habitat full of expensive houses and big backyard bucks.

One particular "backyard buck" was familiar to Belisle. In fact, he and his hunting partner, Mark Kulig, had two years worth of trail-cam photos of the giant.

As Belisle tells it, Kulig was a little leery about showing the photos to his friend because Belisle is self-employed and has more time to hunt! But Kulig let his friend see the photos, plus some additional shots taken during summer 2008, including some night photos taken just three weeks before Belisle downed the giant.