Illinois hunter may have shot largest buck ever killed in U.S.

Kavin Szablewski with his possibly record-breaking kill (Photos by Illinois Department of Natural Resources)

Keith Szablewski of Johnston City, Illinois, may have shot the largest buck ever recorded in the United States: 51 points.

"The largest buck on record now is a 47-point buck taken by a Tennessee hunter in 2016, according to the Tennessean. Stephen Tucker of Gallatin, Tennessee, shot that buck in Sumner County with a muzzleloader rifle," Matthew Martinez reports for McClatchy Newspapers.

Szablewski shot his buck with a shotgun on private property in Williamson County, which is about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis, in November. "I was just sitting there, and I heard the deer behind me," Szablewski told WSIL Radio of Harrisburg. "When I walked up to him, I looked at it and thought, 'What a blessing.'"

Szablewski is waiting for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to confirm the record.