The antlers of a massive whitetail poached in Montgomery County in December was measured at 174 1/8 gross inches — and when measured under the standard for trophy bucks the rack could potentially have been one for the New York state record books.

But the state Department of Environmental Conservation reported Friday that, since the buck was illegally taken with a shot from a road at night, “King Louie” — so nicknamed by locals in the Johnstown area — is ineligible for listing on the state’s record books.

The state record score for a typical whitetail rack remains 198 3/8 Boone and Crockett Club points for Luckey Roosevelt’s buck taken in 1939 in the town of Hume, Allegany County. At one point, the “Luckey Buck,” taken in a time when legal whitetail hunting was again permitted in the southern zone of New York, was the world record for a typical rack.

Amazingly, the New York record for a non-typical whitetail rack — with a 244 2/8 Boone & Crockett score — was also taken in 1939 in Allegany County. Homer Boylan took the massive buck — the rack has 26 points — in the northeast corner of the county.

In the case of King Louie, on Dec. 5, DEC received complaints regarding the potential poaching of the well-known buck in Johnstown. Christopher Brownell of Fultonville had paraded around with the buck that morning and photos of the huge deer circulated through social media and text chains, “eliciting many concerns in the community,” DEC reported.

Environmental conservation officers immediately investigated, canvassed the area and worked with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in search of evidence. They learned that Brownell’s story of when and where he shot the buck did not add up and, after being pressed in the investigation, he eventually admitted to shooting it from a road, at night, while the buck munched in a pumpkin patch.

ECOs confiscated the buck and issued several tickets, including a misdemeanor for illegally taking big game. On Jan. 8, Brownell pleaded guilty to all charges, resulting in a $3,000 fine, five-year hunting license revocation and mandatory completion of a New York state hunter safety course.

THE LUCKEY BUCK

Roosevelt Luckey owned a Ford dealership and garage in Fillmore. While each year he traveled to the Adirondacks to hunt deer, in the 1930s state game officials reopened deer season in Southern Tier counties, where deer had been eradicated by hunting and habitat loss by the later 1800s but had returned to the region in the 20th century.

Luckey, his brother and other hunters organized a deer drive in the town of Hume in the 1939 season. Luckey saw the buck coming toward him and, choosing an opening, fired a slug from his Remington shotgun. His shot took down the massive 14-pointer.

The Luckey buck hung in the Ford dealership for many years before it was given to the DEC. In 1955, the Boone and Crockett Club asked for the opportunity to measure the antlers and the buck was declared not only the New York state record typical whitetail — which it remains — it was also declared the biggest typical buck on record in North America. (That world record was later surpassed.)

This photo from New York State DEC archives shows two massive racks from the same buck taken in Allegany County in the late 1930s.

PREVIOUS YEAR’S SHEDS EVEN BIGGER

There is also another chapter involving the Luckey buck.

In 1978, the largest typical set of shed antlers in New York disappeared from a display at the Erie County Fairgrounds. According to a 2010 article in the DEC’s The Conservationist magazine, the sheds were found by farmer Joseph Merwin in 1938 — in the area where Luckey took the buck the next year. (The 1938 sheds were scored at 205 6/8 Boone and Crockett points, larger than the state record 1939 buck’s antlers.)

Sixteen years after the sheds disappeared from the Erie County Fairgrounds, the DEC received an anonymous phone call about a huge set of antlers tied to a road sign in Cattaraugus County. An investigation ensued and the DEC determined that the antlers were indeed those found by Merwin in 1938.

In 1995, the antlers were returned to Merwin’s widow, Phoebe Merwin, who donated them to the DEC. And today the agency possesses the two greatest pairs of typical whitetail antlers ever recorded in New York state — produced by the same buck in Allegany County.