Big Buck Tales

Johnny Thacker Buck

Johnny Thacker Buck

By Ed Waite

When Johnny Thacker called his wife on Nov. 18, 2006, the tremor in his voice prompted her to ask, “What’s wrong?” “I’ve just killed a huge 14-pointer,” he blurted. “Are you sure?” she pressed. “Well, that’s what I think,” he said. “I counted at least seven points on the side I... READ MORE

Chris Brazzell Buck

Chris Brazzell Buck

By Chris Brazzell

"Leaving my November playground in Nebraska wasn’t easy, but I’d agreed to join my pastor, Shane Warren, and his friend, Ken Roark, in Ohio. So after six days of bowhunting the Cornhusker State, I boarded a plane in Lincoln and flew to Columbus. Soon after arriving, I discovered I’d be hunting public land, and I immediately regret... READ MORE

Michael Rothman Buck

Michael Rothman Buck

By Mike Handley

Michael Rothman knows cold. So convinced that, no matter how early his arrival, he was spooking deer out of a cornfield en route to his shooting house, the deer hunter from Bonnieville, Ky., decided to just spend the night in the box blind. It wasn’t as if there were a Scotty, a Samantha or a Jeannie who could beam, nose-wrinkle or head-bob h... READ MORE

Larry Reece Buck

Larry Reece Buck

By Mike Handley

Larry Reece was desperate. With shooting light quickly fading and a "decent" buck almost within range (at least it was before it disappeared into a pine plantation), he glanced at the grunt tube in his hand. The 57-year-old deer hunter from Benton, Miss., considered the little gadget long on hype and short on magic. He'd never had a deer respond to... READ MORE

Wayne Schumacher Buck

Wayne Schumacher Buck

By Duncan Dobie

As Wayne Schumacher sat in his stand watching the late afternoon shadows steadily darken, he briefly daydreamed about a huge 24-point buck that had been photographed near the property he was hunting. The thoughts that went through his head were not unlike those that go through the minds of many hunters who hope for a one-of-a-kind encounter with a ... READ MORE

Jerry Bryant Buck

Jerry Bryant Buck

By Mike Handley

Strangely, the buck didn't react to the loud pop of the crossbow's string. The deer didn't charge off toward parts unknown. It merely stood there, sort of bobbing its head and pawing the ground. "I thought he was just peeved," remembers Jerry Bryant. There was no way that the hunter from Peoria, Ill., could shoot again. He can only cock his 10-year... READ MORE

Mike Beatty Buck

Mike Beatty Buck

By Dan Armitage

Fumbling nervously in the darkness for one of his distinctive white-fletched arrows, Mike Beatty had made one of the toughest decisions of his life: to temporarily abandon the search for the monstrous whitetail he'd shot at dusk. Still not convinced that he'd chosen correctly, the Ohio bowhunter nocked the projectile on the barbed wire fence to mar... READ MORE

Nick Fauber Buck

Nick Fauber Buck

By Rob Meade

For most of Nick Fauber’s life, spending time outdoors meant puttering around a golf course. That was before his cousin, Chris, convinced him to give hunting a try. The first time the Hillsboro, Ohio, golfer traded his clubs for a shotgun, back in 2007, he shot a doe. Chris and Rob Shipley, Nick’s brother-in-law, took him under their wi... READ MORE

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