Grand Marais resident Don Lehto currently leads Buck’s Big Buck Contest with this field dressed buck that weighed 252.8 pounds.
Half way through the two-week Minnesota firearm deer hunting season, Grand Marais hunter Don Lehto has the top entry in “Buck’s Big Buck Contest.”
Lehto registered a 252.8-pound beauty early in the contest. His deer eclipsed the 243.8-pound leader entered by Silver Bay’s Mark Harrington. Patrick O’Sullivan is currently in third place with a 228-pound deer.
Grand Marais hunter Seth Williams’ 215.8-pound buck has the largest antler spread so far at 21 inches.
The winner of the heaviest (largest dressed weight) buck will receive a new rifle. Half of the entry money will go to the hunter who brought in the deer with the largest antler spread and the other half of the money will go to the winner of the drawing, which is pulled from the pool of applicants who paid $10 each to enter.
With only eight entries on the board through Wednesday, November 11, many more of the 405 hunters entered in the contest are expected to bring in deer.
Seth Williams didn’t shoot the biggest deer, but so far his buck’s antler spread of 21 inches leads in that category.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Minnesota firearm hunters registered 68,401 deer during the first three days of the firearm season, which is up 6.3 percent over the same period last year.
Buck harvesting was up 8.5 percent over last year during the first three days.
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