Big Buck Tales

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies

By Mike Handley

’Twas a tiny female fly — not a bullet, broadhead or Buick — that brought down the largest antlered (wild) whitetail in North America last year. And it might have gone undiscovered had a Kansas man not taken a stroll along a creek bank in search of the buck that had dropped off his nephew’s radar. The deer, while alive, was ... 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 e... READ MORE

Kody Skinner Buck

Kody Skinner Buck

By Kody Skinner

My girlfriend, Chelsey Keylor, and I spent the evening of Oct. 30, 2010, in an elevated box blind, watching a food plot. We’d barely settled in when three does came onto the field and began browsing. "Do you want me to record them?" asked Chelsey, who was operating the camcorder on her very first time in the deer woods. "No, that’s ok... READ MORE

Audrey Sharp Buck

Audrey Sharp Buck

By Audrey Sharp

I didn’t sleep well on the Friday night before Indiana’s 2011 firearms opener. My husband, Jerry, had agreed to stay home with our daughters so I could go hunting with my dad, Tim Ostrander, and I was excited. I awoke at 4:30 a.m., got ready and was at my parents’ home an hour later. Dad asked me if I wanted to skip hunting and j... 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

Brandon Alday Buck

Brandon Alday Buck

By Mike Handley

Brandon Alday's 4-year-old son, Hayes, nearly choked him when the yelling commenced. The boy was getting a free ride on his father's shoulders when Brandon’s flashlight beam fell across the buck he was convinced he’d either missed or maimed. "I started screaming like a little girl, which scared my son half to death," Brandon laughs. "H... READ MORE

Bob Decker Buck

Bob Decker Buck

By Bob Decker

My 2008 hunting season started as soon as Wisconsin’s ’07 season ended. My hunting partner, Paul Olson, and I made numerous trips from Eau Claire to our hunting lease in Buffalo County in January and February to check trail cameras and fine-tune stand locations. Trail cameras revealed that several good bucks had survived the hunting se... READ MORE

John Rolfe Buck

John Rolfe Buck

By Brady Smith

Nobody can accuse John Rolfe of being a fair-weather bowhunter. On Nov. 18, 2003, the hunter from Sabina, Ohio, not only braved freezing temperatures and gale-force winds to indulge his passion, but he also stood his ground in a rainstorm – even as the rain flew sideways. “At first, I thought I was an idiot for doing it,” John adm... READ MORE

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Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd