By Billy Davis

Batesville deer hunter Bryan Martin is holding onto first place in the Big Buck Contest after bagging an eight-point November 20, the opening morning of gun season.

Martin, 32, is maintaining the lead after a flurry of new entries were measured at Batesville Gun and Pawn after Thanksgiving Day.

The opening-day buck was bagged in “hill country,” so Martin said he expects to be booted from first place by a “big Delta buck” later in the season.

He is probably right. Early-season Big Buck leaders have typically been dethroned when the weather turns colder and the rut really gets going.

The eight-point buck earned Martin 56.75 points in the annual contest. The deer earned few points for its antlers, but a 24-inch main beam, and an inside spread of 18.25 inches, helped boost the score.

Martin said he bagged the buck at only 30 yards, with a Browning 30-06, when the deer ran through a thicket.

The Big Buck leader had climbed down from a stand about 10 a.m. and was sitting on a hill overlooking the thicket. A second hunter, shooting at another deer, apparently jumped the buck from his hiding place.

The buck, running with other deer, had stopped to look behind him.

“I didn’t have time to get nervous or get excited,” Martin recalled. “It happened in under five seconds.”

Martin said he had never entered the Big Buck Contest before he brought the eight-point to get measured.

“I’ve gotten some decent deer but this was by far my nicest,” he said.

The 2010-2011 Big Buck Contest includes a first place winner for biggest buck, and a second place winner drawn from all other entries.

A third place winner will be drawn from youth entries 15 years old and younger.

The long-running Big Buck Contest is sponsored by Batesville Gun and Pawn and The Panolian. The contest ends January 31, 2011.