Big Buck Tales

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

Brad Heuvelmann Buck

Brad Heuvelmann Buck

By Brad Heuvelmann

While hunting after a heavy snowfall about 10 years ago, I ran into an older gentleman dragging out a once-in-a-lifetime whitetail. He had taken the buck early that morning and had been struggling to get the huge deer to his truck. It was about lunchtime, and he was only halfway to his vehicle. I was happy to give him a hand, just for the opportuni... READ MORE

Kevin Fitch Buck

Kevin Fitch Buck

By Ed Waite

It was as if the ground opened up and swallowed Kevin Fitch’s buck. One minute, it was on the receiving end of a shotgun slug (he hoped). The next, it was gone. Not fall-down-dead gone. Not running-with-the-wind-and-leaving-a-blood-trail gone. Just gone, leaving the hunter from Norwalk, Ohio, with Rodney Dangerfield eyes and a mouth full of... READ MORE

Tom Hamel Buck

Tom Hamel Buck

By Mike Handley

It might be impossible to determine the extent of one deer’s effect upon the economy in Republic County, Kan., a couple of years ago, but there’s no doubt a substantial amount of cash changed hands when photographs of the animal hit the Internet. An influx of nonresidents hungry to lease hunting ground is never appreciated by those who... READ MORE

Stuart Everett Buck

Stuart Everett Buck

By Rusty Johnson

Stuart Everett almost quit deer in 2014. After three seasons of pursuing a photogenic whitetail with a rack that seemed to double in points each year, he got an eyeblink of an opportunity and never fired a shot. The episode left him keenly aware of how much money he'd spent and how many hours he'd devoted to be able to touch those antlers. His obse... 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

Jeff Ralls Buck

Jeff Ralls Buck

By Derrick Schreiber

Unaccustomed to shooting at bucks with a rifle, Jeff Ralls was almost certain he'd shot over the deer he saw as Kansas' 2009 firearms season came to a close. There was no sign whatsoever - neither in the animal's reaction, nor on the ground -- to indicate that bullet had met flesh. Before going home, he stopped at the local locker to compare notes ... READ MORE

Blake Voltz Buck

Blake Voltz Buck

By Mike Handley

The only sound worse than the steel-on-brass click of a firing pin punching a dud primer is the raucous laughter of the deer gods, one of whom is surely named Murphy. Just ask Blake Voltz. That’s precisely what happened to the deer hunter from Columbus, Ga., back in 1997, when he was staring through crosshairs at the biggest buck he’d... READ MORE

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Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd