Big Buck 411 Blog

Entries for 'Gray Loon'

THREE-OH-OH!

THREE-OH-OH!

By Mike Handley

Kansas yielded its second-ever, 300-inch whitetail during the 2018 season, the first actually felled by a hunter. (The other, a victim to EHD, was found dead in 2012.) Several hunters were reportedly drooling over the buck when it was alive, but none were more serious about taking it home than Arkansas brothers Mark and Rob Watson. Though they hunt... READ MORE

World’s Largest 10-pointer

World’s Largest 10-pointer

By Mike Handley

The new world-record, 48-pointer taken last season by Luke Brewster generated more saliva than a blind squirrel at a dog park. But the Illinois giant wasn’t the only whitetail dropping the jaws of deer hunters in 2018. Another tongue-wagger wore only 10 points, and no deer was attached. The “Indiana Legend” sheds stole some of the... READ MORE

Good Things Come …

Good Things Come …

By Mike Handley

His name is Keith Szablewski, but he’s called Ski. Much to his chagrin, the Johnston City man spent Illinois’ 2018 firearms opener on the job. He didn’t manage to take his year-old 20 gauge afield until 2:30 p.m. on the second of the three-day season. Ski went with his buddy, Steve Malroy, to a private 20-acre tract in Williamson ... READ MORE

Wide Thing

Wide Thing

By Mike Handley

Prior to 2018, only four bucks with 30-plus-inch inside spreads were listed in Buckmasters Whitetail Trophy Records. Now there’s a fifth, and it’s wider than all of them. Isaac Yoder, a 25-year-old Amish farrier living in Bethesda, Ohio, felled the latest. It took him two seasons, two gentlemen’s agreements and two arrows to seal ... READ MORE

Breakfast of Champions?

Breakfast of Champions?

By Mike Handley

If Kellogg’s takes a page from Wheaties’ playbook, you’ll soon see Bree Wade’s smiling face on boxes of blueberry Pop-Tarts. That’s what the 17-year-old high school senior had for breakfast on the morning of Oct. 20, 2018, the day she took down one of Oklahoma’s most impressive public-land whitetails. As is often... READ MORE

Have I Got Your Attention?

Have I Got Your Attention?

By Mike Handley

When Bill Hoover’s father-in-law, Gerry, told him about a great big deer he’d seen in his yard near Cape Vincent, New York, he wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. “What does it mean when one of the antlers is hanging straight down?” he asked. DROP TINE, Bill thought. The next Saturday morning, Nov. 24, Bill woke earl... READ MORE

Proactive

Proactive

By Mike Handley

Longtime Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda once quipped there are three kinds of people in this world: people who make it happen, people who watch what happens, and people who wonder what happened. As of last deer season, Jared Thill is all three. After years of playing cat-doesn’t-catch-mouse, the agricultural loan officer from Pleasantville, Io... READ MORE

Series of Fortunate Events

Series of Fortunate Events

By Mike Handley

Alan Flanders would rather count points than what-ifs. Not that it matters now, but the events of Oct. 22, 2018, might’ve never happened if Alan’s buddy hadn’t botched a shot at a monstrous buck in 2017. He might still have an unpunched tag in his pocket if he hadn’t taken his little girl hunting, or if he hadn’t left ... READ MORE

Public Land Giant in Illinois

Public Land Giant in Illinois

By Mike Handley

One of the finest whitetails Illinois taxidermist Matt Cheek will mount this year will be the one he almost didn’t shoot on Nov. 1. If the archery permits allotted for the 8,050-acre Pere Marquette State Park hadn’t been so few and coveted, Matt might’ve stayed home during the downpour. He almost did anyway. After sleeping in and ... READ MORE

Handlebars

Handlebars

By Mike Handley

Three times in 2017, windows of opportunity slammed shut before Randall Oliver could even attempt shooting at the drop-tined buck he desperately wanted. He had much better luck in 2018, however, and he didn’t have to give away his eyeteeth. The 52-year-old heavy equipment operator has prowled the same land in Miami County, Kansas, since 2000,... READ MORE

Forked Eyeguards, Plural

Forked Eyeguards, Plural

By Mike Handley

If you don’t believe a completely run-of-the-mill whitetail can become a centerfold buck in a mere two years, just ask Scott Meyer. The 38-year-old from Crystal City, Missouri, will soon screw a hanger into the back of all the proof he’ll ever need. Scott’s father bought a Clark County farm – in the state’s northeaster... READ MORE

Father-Son Double

Father-Son Double

By Mike Handley

While turkey hunting in the spring of 2018, Shawn Durben saw a buck with huge velvet-covered knobs. Trail cam photos documented the deer’s meteoric growth throughout the summer months, and Shawn also got a glimpse of it while bush-hogging a dense crabapple thicket. With that deer in mind, Shawn brushed-in a new double blind beside a food plo... READ MORE

Coyotes vs. Deranged Deer Hunter

Coyotes vs. Deranged Deer Hunter

By Mike Handley

When Ohio bowhunter Jeremy Conrad began trailing the giant, opening-day whitetail he’d arrowed 45 minutes earlier, he soon realized he wasn’t alone. Jeremy heard them before he saw the four coyotes fighting – more like arguing – over his dead deer. So busy trying to establish who was at the top of the food chain, they paid t... READ MORE

Fringe Benefits

Fringe Benefits

By Mike Handley

Nolan Johnson can thank his buddy and fellow weed-killing, crop-fertilizing co-worker, Earl, for telling him about the monstrous whitetail he wound up arrowing in 2018. He can also tip his hat to a farmer who gave him a key to a seldom-used gate. “Earl jumped a really big buck while spraying soybeans in the spring,” Nolan told John Phil... READ MORE

Yellow is the New Camo

Yellow is the New Camo

By Mike Handley

Hunter Hastings has not disclosed whether having a backyard playhouse that doubles as a deer stand affects the value of real estate in Chanute, Kansas. The 46-year-old manager of a specialty welding company used to lay his hat in a home with 10 huntable acres. He could see his stand from the kitchen window. The 2018 season was his last to hunt deer... READ MORE

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