TORRINGTON – Lexi Busenbark, who lives in West Jordan, Utah, crossed state lines and was in Goshen County hunting antelope earlier this month, snagging a pronghorn that was unofficially score over 90 inches.

“After I shot, I couldn’t even begin to believe what had just happened. It really felt like a dream,” Busenbark said. “My dad had to practically pick me up off the ground, but after I got up it started to sink in… we started walking toward him and I couldn’t help but cry from excitement.

“I had been waiting for this opportunity since I got my hunter safety,” she said. “I had put in for a pronghorn tag my entire youth but never drew it until I was 19.”

Busenbark and her parents, Kelly and Brooke Busenbark, came to town to hunt with Goshen County’s Cory Clark, a good friend of Lexi’s father, Kelly. Kelly has been hunting in Goshen County before.

The Busenbark trio got to the area on their first day of the hunt with not much sunlight left, but they still went on the prowl. Clark had been keeping tabs on the monster antelope for about a year. After driving around for less than an hour, Kelly and Brooke spotted a few head from the road and decided to take a look over the hill. They told Lexi that they had found a monster buck.

“Of course, I walked up there and only saw him for about two seconds before he went behind more hills and was gone, but I could tell he was huge,” Lexi said.

The next day proved to be the day. Clark and the Busenbark’s hit the road early to try and find the buck the missed the evening before. After an hour on the road, the hunting foursome found the buck on property in front of the prison in Goshen County, not far from where they spotted him the night before.

A stalk put the hunters within 150 yards of the buck before a second, smaller buck showed up. Lexi’s eventually buck began chasing off the smaller buck in the direction of Lexi. She followed along with the smaller buck, thinking the larger buck would be hot on his tail, but that was not the case.

“He came right up the first hill toward us and stopped at 70 yards,” Lexi said. “I was so focused on the spot I was expecting him to come through that my dad had to physically turn my head to see where my buck was standing.”

A breath and shot followed. The buck was on an incline and ran for around 20 feet before dropping.

“A glorious moment,” Lexi said. “My dad and Cory were so excited they jumped up and just started celebrating without even caring if they were scaring any other potential bucks away, considering my mom still had a tag to fill as well.”

Clark said he had one thought going through his head.

“That’s all I was thinking was don’t miss,” he said. “If you were wanting to shoot a big antelope, this was probably the shot of a lifetime.

“It was a good time. I just had fun hanging out with my friends and doing some hunting. That’s what it’s all about,” Clark said. “Yeah, she got to shoot a huge antelope, but it’s about having fun and enjoying yourself.”

This was the first antelope that Lexi has hunted, although she has taken two mule deer before.

“I was absolutely hoping to get a big buck, mainly because I have never shot any trophies,” Lexi said. “In my family, we call it ‘wall worthy,’ which is having it big enough to mount. My dad has been hunting his whole life and has a lot of very nice trophies, so competing with him is a challenge but also very rewarding and fun.”

Following the kill, Torrington’s Ward Anderson unofficially scored the massive buck at 91 and 6/8 inches on a green score.

“This is a very, very big buck. You could call it a freak because it is just that freaky big,” Anderson said. “Everybody knows you don’t get that big of an antelope around Torrington. They just don’t get that big around here.”

Lexi is having her antelope scored by Boone and Crockett, which takes 60 days to complete the process and get a net score. According to Justin Spring, the Director of Big Game Records at Crockett and Boone, the top three antelope in Wyoming all scored in at 91 and 4/8 inches, with the next three spots taken by scores of 91 and 2/8 inches. The world record is 96 and 4/8 inches.

“I do believe it has sunk in, but every time I see it, it just brings a giant smile to my face,” Lexi said. “I will absolutely be continuing to hunt in Goshen County – great place.”