Missouri father, son kill 22-point buck known as 'King of the County'

A father joked that his 11-year-old son is basically ruined for hunting after helping make the kill of a lifetime with a 22-point buck.

Corin Berryhill and his son, Mason, were following a long-standing tradition of hunting the second day of opening weekend of firearms deer season when they found the buck they thought had gotten away. The previous day, Berryhill had been out with his 16-year-old daughter, Addison, when the pair spied the "King of the County."

"The smart old buck that he is, he never would give us a shot," Berryhill, who works in construction, said about spotting the same deer in 2021. "He did the same thing with my daughter and I (this year). He never would come out of the brush."

The buck was following a doe, but he wouldn't come out into the clearing on private land in Barton County.

The next morning, Berryhill and his son got a late start (Mason Berryhill didn't want to get up early, according to his father's version of the story). They finally got going, parked the truck and walked into the woods.

Ten minutes into their trek, Berryhill said he and his son came around a grove of cedar trees when they spotted a doe. He got his son set up for the shot with his .30-30.

More:Independence man gets 'once-in-a-lifetime buck' with 22 points on antlers

"He's drawn up on her, ready to shoot, and I had to stop him because behind her, standing in the brush again, was that buck that everybody around here dubbed 'King of the County,'" Berryhill said. "It's kind of a corny nickname, but we're all a bunch of rednecks, and it's deer hunting, so they all gave him a nickname."

Don't shoot, Berryhill told his son and they waited. The buck was behind the doe, but the female deer had already spotted the hunters. He wanted his son to fire at the doe while he shot the buck.

"I got to laughing because as I'm following this buck, waiting for him to come into the clearing, I watch Mason out of the corner of my eye turn his gun off that doe over towards the buck," Berryhill recounted. "I thought, 'This little s---' — pardon my language — 'is gonna take my buck.'"

After giggling to himself, Berryhill told his son that this buck would take the both of them. The buck stepped into an opening when he let off the first shot with his .308 followed by a second shot from his son's .30-30.

"According to him (Mason), that last bullet is the one that gets to keep it," Berryhill said. "He's pretty witty for an 11-year-old kid."

After an Independence man harvested his own multi-pointed buck in November 2021, Missouri Department of Conservation Media Specialist Francis Skalicky previously told the News-Leader that a 22-point buck could have "unique" antlers for several reasons, including genetics, nutrition, age and more.

'King of the County' was known to many in Barton County

The 37-year-old hunter described the area as "all privately-owned land" with lots of farming. Berryhill's parents went from growing crops to now raising beef and livestock. The venison from the approximately 250-pound buck will help get the Berryhill family through the year.

"Deer season has always been a big harvest for us," he added. "We've been able to put meat on the table and stretch our beef out."

Among all these landowners and leasers, many are hunters. After seeing the 22-pointer last year, Berryhill fretted that his luck had run out and somebody else might have made the kill. But he never heard any of his neighbors bragging about it.

More:Missouri hunters harvest 197,724 deer during November portion of firearms deer season

Then, just before deer season kicked off, Berryhill saw him.

"I thought, 'Oh man, he's still there. He's still alive,'" Berryhill said.

He told his kids about the sighting, but added they needed to keep it under their hats.

"Everybody that knows that buck, if he's out here, everybody's gonna be driving around our place," Berryhill said before opening weekend in November. "We kept our mouths shut and then saw him Saturday morning and I thought, 'Man, there was our chance.' I was disappointed the whole rest of the day Saturday, thinking we missed out."

To give even more perspective of how lucky his kill was, a neighbor about three miles east of Berryhill's property called him up that Sunday to say that he had taken a shot at the big buck but missed the day before.

"As soon as I shot him, it's like the whole county knew that we took that buck," Berryhill said.

A blessing is said following every hunt

Having hunted since he was seven years old, Berryhill has never felt compelled to have any of his kills mounted, until now. Dirt Nap will be handling the taxidermy.

"It's not just the fact that I finally got the 'King of the County,' but just the fact I got to enjoy, with both my kids, opening weekend," Berryhill said. "That adventure with them together is more of a backstory to it than just the big buck on the wall for me."

Hunting is quite a spiritual ritual for Berryhill's family.

"It means a lot to our family to have that meat in there," said Berryhill, who says a blessing after every hunt to thank the Lord.

More:Seven-year-old wins hunting contest with 12-point buck in Belle, Missouri

After opening weekend, Berryhill tagged the buck, since it was his kill shot. He told his son that if he wanted to keep hunting, Mason would have to save his tag. His daughter got a doe with her .30-06.

His son, who is in his second year of hunting, scored an 8-point buck the last weekend of firearms deer season, but told his dad he was disappointed.

"He's ruined for life now," Berryhill laughed.

After asking his son what was wrong, Berryhill said Mason replied that he wanted to see something.

"I said, 'Kid, we're seeing all kinds of deer,'" Berryhill remembered. "He goes, 'No, I want to see another big, big buck.'"

Berryhill told his son that the "King of the County" was a once-in-a-lifetime buck.

But after two 22-point bucks in as many years, who knows when Missouri will see another?

The king is dead, long live the king.

Sara Karnes is an Outdoors Reporter with the Springfield News-Leader. Follow along with her adventures on Twitter and Instagram @Sara_Karnes. Got a story to tell? Email her at skarnes@springfi.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri father, son kill 22-point buck known as 'King of the County'