Big Buck 411 Blog

Entries for 'Gray Loon'

Everything to Gain

Everything to Gain

By Mike Handley

Once upon a time, Homer Miller held deer grunt calls in the same regard as Magic 8 Balls and fairy dust. Now he won’t leave for the woods without one, whether he’s hunting with a crossbow or a rifle. “I’d never had much confidence in them before Nov. 12, 2018,” the Louisiana hunter told John Phillips, who’s writi... READ MORE

Frustration to Elation

Frustration to Elation

By Mike Handley

Kentucky deer hunter Jeremy Smith would rather have one weekend in November than go out every day in October. The choice, for him, is simple: Hunt when the animals are lying down, or hunt when they’re afoot. He went into the 2018 season with a particular buck in mind, but he’s a bird-in-the-hand-type guy. In early November, a 170-someth... READ MORE

The Man Has Priorities

The Man Has Priorities

By Mike Handley

Trading a bed and bandages for a deer blind and camo last season was a no-brainer for Eric Chicoine. The hunter from Saint-Pie, Quebec, had only three weekends he could hunt in 2018. Rather than spend one-third of his precious few off-days indoors, he postponed minor surgery in order to have every opportunity at an 8-pointer that had wandered in fr... READ MORE

Change of Scenery Just the Ticket

Change of Scenery Just the Ticket

By Mike Handley

The next time someone asks Daniel Montgomery to sit in his treestand, the retired sheriff from Mt. Vernon, Indiana, will not be able to say YES quickly enough. Doing so last November resulted in adrenaline-marinated venison and quite a large piece of wall art. The owner of the property he hunts in Posey County asked if he would mind if a friend hun... READ MORE

Following Orders

Following Orders

By Mike Handley

After two decades of hunting deer on a spit of land once cotton-farmed by the president of the Confederacy, Bill Harvey finally shot his due in 2018. For two decades, he’s hunted Davis Island, a peninsula before the Mississippi River changed course a couple of years after the Civil War. Now accessible only by water and west of the main river ... READ MORE

When Their Brains are Scrambled

When Their Brains are Scrambled

By Mike Handley

Don’t tell Greg Glesinger that the rut isn’t the best time to pin your hopes on tagging an exceptional whitetail. While it’s true mature bucks might have tunnel vision, no time for food and no brakes when chasing does, they’ve got to go somewhere, and that somewhere could be within 31 yards of your setup. The story of a doe ... READ MORE

Want a 225-incher? Pass up a 175.

Want a 225-incher? Pass up a 175.

By Mike Handley

How many inches of antler can a whitetail gain from year to year? If you ask Mike Sheffer, he’ll say close to 50. That’s how much the deer he arrowed in 2018 gained in each of the previous two years. The 48-year-old Kentucky bowhunter crosses the Ohio River to hunt in southern Illinois. In 2016, he collected trail camera photos of a 10-... READ MORE

If Not This Year …

If Not This Year …

By Mike Handley

Davey Stuckey waited a long time for a chance at his newest piece of wall art. He first became acquainted with the distinctive whitetail when his trail camera yielded photographs of it in June 2017. In velvet and with a long time yet to grow, the Ross County, Ohio, specimen was already a head-turner. Not for a lack of trying, Davey didn’t see... READ MORE

Multiple Beams in Oklahoma

Multiple Beams in Oklahoma

By Mike Handley

The day someone makes an affordable trail camera capable of operating underwater, Travis Piepenbrok might buy it. Or he might not. The pest control technician from Vinita, Oklahoma, is a catfish noodler, accustomed to sliding his arm into holes in river banks and extracting nesting flatheads, many of them weighing in the double digits. Noodlers rar... READ MORE

In Praise of Grunt Calls

In Praise of Grunt Calls

By Mike Handley

The third-largest whitetail felled during the 2018 season came out of Indiana. At 254 4/8 inches, Adrian Luntzel’s buck is the Hoosier State’s new crossbow record. Among all harvests there, it comes in at No. 6. Adrian – Al for short – knew the deer existed. After he’d heard rumors, one claiming the buck was a 250-inc... READ MORE

Jersey Doe Lives for Another Day

Jersey Doe Lives for Another Day

By Mike Handley

Corwin Myers spent a lot of time shivering in a Hunterdon County, New Jersey, deer stand during the first week of January 2018. Trail camera photographs of numerous bucks hardened his resolve and kept his internal furnace stoked. The local whitetails seemed less inclined to walk around in the cold and snow, however, and Corwin’s enthusiasm ev... READ MORE

Mistaken Identity

Mistaken Identity

By Mike Handley

Corey Bacon is usually pretty good at judging bucks by their cover, but he was dead wrong last year. The 28-year-old from Lebo, Kansas, mistakenly thought he’d shot a 160-inch 8-pointer on Dec. 8, 2018, the No. 2 deer on that season’s wish list. He didn’t see the kickers or the little drop tines it wore until he reached the downed... READ MORE

Trading Camo for Orange

Trading Camo for Orange

By Mike Handley

If I wait more than four days to pull the memory card from my backyard trail camera during the redwing blackbird migration, I’ll have to sift between 3,000 and 4,000 mostly identical images. The numbers are so overwhelming that I wind up trashing far more than I keep. Cameran Derefield is not as easily overwhelmed. The 27-year-old electrical ... READ MORE

Three-stanza Limerick

Three-stanza Limerick

By Mike Handley

The script for Corey Chitwood’s hunt for a nearly 200-inch whitetail could have been written in the form of a limerick. There was a young man from Kentucky, who began his season unlucky. He went out with a bow, was beset by a doe, and his world became far less bucky. He returned to his blind with a crossbow, the weapon du jour from which bolt... READ MORE

Long Time Coming

Long Time Coming

By Mike Handley

Told by everyone the nearly 194-inch buck he arrowed last season was a record book specimen, Edward Walters contacted the Pope and Young Club seeking to have his deer measured. He was surprised and saddened to learn they don’t accept bucks taken with a crossbow. The Boone and Crockett Club does, he learned, but they told him the non-typical d... READ MORE

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