Let hear about your best buck so far

I thought it would be cool to hear about everyones best buck to date and hear the story about him and see a picture.

My best would have to be my droptine buck from last fall. I killed him on 11-1 when he came in cruzing for does at 9:30. I made a less than perfect shot on him at 33 yrds but got inside the last rib. It was good enough to put him down with in site of the stand. With 14 scorable points he grossed 176 3/8" NT. Definantly the biggest rush of my hunting career.

Awesome buck Vic! Too bad he broke off that other drop tine but he is still an awesome deer. I shot my biggest buck the same year my dad killed his biggest deer. I was 13 and we were hunting a cornfield that had a river on 2 sides of it and a state park on another side. The deer were over populated big time and it was the same place I killed my first deer 10 days earlier. (I shot the first on november 12 and this one was on the 22nd). It was hot and windy so we weren't expecting the deer to be moving much and we were sitting right outside a barn because they moved some kind of equipment in it. We weren't there long when I seen a couple tines come past the side of the barn. A moment later the rest of the rack and the deer came out standing maybe 20 yards away. I really wasn't expecting anything to come from that side so he caught me off guard. He was staring at me while I eased the gun up and shot. I hit a little father back than I wanted but it was still fine. I didn't notice the busted G2 on the right side so I was expecting a 6-7 pointer. He ran down over the hill and we lost sight of him but we never seen him come across the other side so I knew he was down there somewhere. He tricked us and once he got to the bottom of the hill he turned right real sharp. We never found a drop of blood but I knew he was hit good. We had walked all over the bottoms when dad noticed his left side sticking up out of the grass. He was a 9 point with a busted G2 on his weak side. I can't remember for sure but I think he scored in the 110's.

This might get a little long, but oh well....

I shot my best buck during my senior year of high school, on November 17, 2001 at about 4:20PM on the opening day of gun season. The story starts a few weeks before that fateful day though. In early Novmeber I was bow hunting from one my favorite stands when I caught site of this guy about 100 yards down hill from me. I had just enough time to get the binoculars up and realize he was big before he walked into the brush. A couple days later I came home from school with a bum ankle thanks to noon hour basketball and could barely walk so I didn't go hunting. This guy came out of the woods and proceed to chase a doe around the field in front of my house for 2 hours. I saw him several more times in the coming weeks and even had him at 15 yards one afternoon on my way to the tree, but he was facing right at me and I didn't have a shot. Eventually bow season ended without my tag on his antlers but I was pretty confident with the upcoming gun season. At least that's what I told myself.

Opening day of gun season dawned warm and hazy for November. Around 7:00 A.M I heard 2 shots from where my dad was hunting and wondered if he'd just shot this buck that I'd been seeing over the past couple weeks. I had a slow morning and when I eventually met up with my dad, found out he'd shot a nice 10pt. During the middle part of the day the temps climbed to 65 degrees with a light north wind- not exactly ideal for November in Wisconsin and I didn't see a deer.

I got my stuff ready and headed out for the last 2 hours or so of the day. The plan was to set up on the ground in an area I'd seen the buck in and hopefully catch him heading to the corn field to eat just before it got dark. This area also happened to be about 100 yards from the house. Anyway, around 4:10 I caught movement to my right at about 70 yards. It was a deer coming into the woods from the field and completely downwind of me. When he finally stepped out from behind a downed tree I knew what deer it was right away without needing binoculars. Thinking back on it, I probably could have shot him right away, but I was shaking so bad it's a good thing I didn't. He continued downhill and got to a point where a couple ditches come together about 40 yards from me. He started to turn and go away from me but changed his mind in mid-step and turned around and started walking right at me. When he got to 17 yards he ripped a tree to shreds and then proceeded to make a scrape but due to the terrain, all I could see was his head and neck. He continued towards me and finally got to a point where I could see his body. He got to 11 yards and was quartering towards me when he finally noticed me sitting there shaking uncontrollably against a small tree on a folding stool with my gun up. I don't remember pushing the safety off, but all I remember seeing is a bright orange flash and the deer laying on his side right where he was standing.

The next couple minutes were a complete blur and I was on the highest of highs. I picked up his head, counted 11 points and remember saying "holy s***". I hadn't shot a buck since my first (a basket racked 8pt) in 7th grade. I took off towards the house to tell my parents that I'd just got the buck I was after and had been seeing. I was on a dead run when I hit the corn field and proceeded to trip and fall over the first row of corn stalks I got up and made it across another 10 rows or so before I took another digger. When I looked up, here was my dad standing on the edge of the field with a big smile on his face. He'd heard the shot from the house and through an excited voice I tried to tell him I'd gotten the 11pt that we'd been seeing. As it turns out, my dad was in the house when this particular buck walked across the field and in front of the house at less than 150 yards as he headed in my general direction. Once the deer was out of sight behind some farm buildings, my dad walked outside and stood there hoping to hear a shot. He said it seemed like forever, but in reality it wasn't all that long and he finally heard me shoot. He couldn't contain his anxiousness any more and about a minute after the shot, he started heading in my direction, hoping I'd gotten the buck he'd just watched walk across the field.

It's definetly a day and night that I think about a lot, and it never gets old reliving that hunt and story. He ended up having 11pts with a 20 1/2" inside spread and 4 tines over 11" and dressed out at a thin 177 lbs after chasing does for a few weeks. He grossed 151 and change. I don't care what he nets, because nets are for fishing.

I don't have any good harvest photos thanks to my dad's horrible vision and thinking his manual focus camera was "in focus" on me and my deer. Every single one of the photos in the field are blurry and as a result the old back of the truck shot from the check in station will have to do.

Those are some awesome looking deer there guys! Congrats to you all and great stories behind each and every one.

Like I have mentioned before I am still looking to bag my first P&Y. That has been my goal since I harvested my first buck, which is now going on 5 years ago. It was no monster, but that first buck will always be a morning I never forget. I remember like it was yesterday and I couldn’t of been more proud when I shot him and to do it with my bow was another feet in itself.

The story starts with me and Derek hunting one day together with his dad. We were hunting more towards the back side of the property while his pop was hunting the front side. We hadn’t seen a deer all morning long when we got a call from his dad letting us know he is watching a nice buck tending a doe in the neighbor’s field. We had a second set up not far from his dad and he suggested we slip up to that stand. So that’s what we decided to do and we got set up while his dad watched the deer and keeps us posted on the movement. Well we made it to the stand and got to watch this buck bird dog this doe, stand over her for 20+ minutes, stomping at her and do everything he could to get her back to her feet. This went on for a good while until we watched him chase her back into the timber. Neither one of us ending getting a shot, but it was an awesome hunt.

The next morning I got out early and decided to set up in the same stand Derek’s dad had the day before. It wasn’t more than a half hour after day break and out walked two doe. They walk across the field and came right to the base of my stand. I could have shot either of them, but with the encounter we had the day before I opted not to shot one in hopes of seeing a buck. Sure enough no more than the does walked in the woods, here comes my buck. He was walking the same trail the Does’ had previously. I got my bow ready and as he walked in range I drew back and released my first arrow and smoked my first buck! I was stoked and called my dad and grandpa right away. The excitement of finally getting that first buck was the beginning stages of my addiction. My buck was a basket 5pt that had damaged his rack during velvet. He was no monster but like I said, that first buck will always be a memory I am proud of.

I have had a couple chances to better my buck, but since I harvested buck one, I have been waiting to take a mature deer for number two. I have been asked numerous times why I don’t just try to take a second buck that is a 2.5 and better than my first, but it’s my goal to take a P&Y and if you don’t let the young ones go, they won’t grow. Bring on 10’ baby and hopefully I can update this thread later on this year with my first P&Y! I'll try to scan and upload a picture later...

So far my best buck taken was a 122" . I shot him at about 50 yards, on the ground. The morning was kinda slow so I decided to walk behind mine stand and was only planning on walking back about 50 yards, just enough to stretch my legs a little and stay out of the bedding areas. I heard a noise out of ahead and saw a squirrel running around and as he came closer I noticed movement back in the woods. I saw 3 deer standing there, got down on one knee, looked thru the scope and saw the 3 deer were all doe. Just to make sure I cranked the scope up to 9 and looked again to make sure none were spikes. Just as I was about to take the biggest one, she stepped behind a huge oak tree and when she came out the other side she had some bone on her head !! Needless to say I came out of the timber without a doe !! Here is the end result.

I have had the chance at 2 bigger bucks, one time I had a friend spook one ( had is the key word ) away from me at 7 yards. He was around a 140 inch 13 point. Then a couple years ago I was after one buck for two seasons. I had hime dead at less than 20 yards BUT my bow was laying on the ground as I was getting ready to climb down for the night. Then the next year I figured he was gone, not one sighting of him until just before gun season. He was walking thru the woods about the same place I killed my 122 inch buck. Sad to say but he was shot during gun season, on the next property over by some guys putting on a drive. The 1st shot knocked the 9 inch droptine off and the 2nd shot killed him . He ended up scoring 188 and change .
To tell the truth, NO buck I have killed or will kill will compare to these two, these are "my" best bucks ever !!!!!
Kasey's 1st


Cody's 1st

AWESOME stories and pics fellas! I never get tired about reading stories and seing pics like those... I am sure that most have already heard or seen mine but for those who havent here is the story.

It was Oct 26, 2005 back in Montgomery County Indiana. My buddy Nate Hunt decided he wanted to start learning more about deer hunting so he said he wanted to come along and bring his camera. Well we went to my best farm in Parke county in the morning and did not see a frickin deer. He had class that evening so I was actually driving him home nearly an hour from the farm and was not going to hunt that afternoon. Just as we were getting close to his house he asked if I had any ground close by as he wanted another crack at it and skip his class. Certain enough I had a very small narrow farm that runs along the highway that I rarely hunted.

As we were pulling into the farm the farmers were out in the fields harvesting the beans along the narrow wood draw but we decided to go ahead and give it a whirl. After about an hour I decided to make a few doe bleets and then I turn to see my buddy and his pale white face trying to catch my attention from a tree about 8 yards away. I could not see this deer for a few minutes as he was in some very thick cover. I figured it was a small buck or some does never would I have imagined it would of been the narliest buck I have ever personally seen in the wild. We got 26 minutes of footage of this buck before I let the arrow rip as he ended up bedding down not but 35 yards away. He ended up grossing 149 3/8.

Here is the video

Picture - Sorry for the truckbed pic I did not have a camera until my father and cousin showed up at the check station.

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Man, those are some nice deer and stories to boot. My best buck to date I took last year during rifle season at my new hunting grounds. My buddy Merl was nice enough to invite me out to hunt one of his stands being he'd tagged out and we hadn't seen much over at our lease. My neighbor's son, Paul and I drove out and got in our stands at around 2:30 in the afternoon the weekend after Thanksgiving. He dropped me off at Merl's personal stand where they had been seeing a couple of decent bucks cruzing in the evenings. I got set up and let Paul take my 4 wheeler on down to one of the other stands in the bottom. I got situated and at about I guess 4 or 4:30 I started hitting the Brawler and the bleat can, and doing a little rattling with the bag. Off to my right I hear what sounds like a buck grunting so I hit the bleat again and about 4 or 5 minutes of this going back and forth he walks out in front of me broadside and stops, looking straight ahead. I ease the gun up, get him in the scope and first things first, I have to check out his rack width due to our antler width limit here. He's just outside the ears and I felt comfortable with him, so I eased the scope down to his shoulder and down he goes. He was a 9 point with an exactly 13" spread. At the time, I didn't know what sizes of bucks were in there so I took my chances with this guy. I was happy with him, but I'm looking from now on into shooting more mature, bigger deer if at all possible.

I took my best buck on Nov. 8th 2003. I had a stand set up in a transition area between the food source and bedding area. I arrived at my stand well before first light and got settled in. While it was still too dark to see I had a buck come through chasing a doe. Soon after that I had deer after deer keep coming through, but it was still too dark to see. Finally the daylight arrived and soon after another group of deer came my way. Eventually I had three or four doe directly under the stand then I saw this one coming. He stayed in the thick stuff about 50 yards away for quite a while. It was kind of funny, it was like he knew I was there. I had these doe standing right under me, one of whom he wanted to be with very badly, but he would not budge. Finally all of the doe wandered off towards him. As soon as they got close he chased all of the other deer away until he had singled out his girlfriend. They started in the opposite direction but for no reason at all the doe came back right past the stand. He soon followed and offered me a perfect 16 yard shot. I ended up hitting him a little bit back as he stepped forward just as I released the arrow. But he laid down within 50 yards. I snuck out of the tree and went back home for a few hours. When I returned he was right where I had left him. He only scores around 105", but he is a great trophy to me!

Dec 13,2007............ My Birthday!!!
I picked up the kids from school, got home around 3:30...I had about 2 hours to hunt max.
I said heck...it's my birthday, I'm going hunting. The wife and kids we to take me out for dinner. But it could wait.
I hunt in behind my house about 1/2 mile. I got off the ATV, walked about ¼ mile or so, to a place I had never hunted….it’s a small drainage, maybe 3 feet deep. My land is totally flat otherwise.
So I get setup in my climber. No deer at all the first hour. Just a cold foggy still December day.
I’m standing in my stand because Primetime is here. My T/C Encore is hanging over my left shoulder.

Right about 4:55pm I look over my left shoulder, and see a very good buck at about 30 yards standing there. Now I need to figure out how to get my Encore off the hook over my left shoulder. As I reach for my Encore, he walks in my direction, He closes to 10 yards. I’m finally about got my muzzleloader off the hook, now I see 3 does coming in also. I'm thinking there no way I pull this off.

He continued to stand there at 10 yards, with his vitals covered, head and rack on one side the tree his rear on the other.
Then one of the does moved in the leaves and the jumped about 10 yards…… I put the scope on him and fired.
Since it was foggy, it took several seconds for the smoke to clear, once it did, I couldn’t see him. And I didn’t hear him running off. I finally saw his head moving in the brush about 40 yards away.

I sat down in my stand, still shaking from the adrenaline rush. I texted my wife and told her dinner would have to wait, that I had just shot my biggest buck, at least a big 10 pointer. I then waited about 30 minutes then got down to check him out. Once I got my hands on him he had 16 scorable points. Gross 187” What a great birthday present!!!


it snowed over night

That's a nice buck, Mark. Long time no see.

That is a Great buck there Mark, what a birthday present!

I killed my biggest buck on November 7th, 1996. I was just returning from our annual bow camp in Cherry Creek NY. I was still muttering choice vulgar words under my breath for missing a giant NT that was bigger than any buck I had ever seen in the wild. I was set up along an inside corner where a corn field connected a 5-7 year old clearcut. I was sitting on the ground in front of a pile of vines pretty much out in the open when a monster came around the edge of the corn field at 10:00 in the morning. He never saw me as I came to full draw. in perfect timing he turned broadside to head down into a creek bottom at the same time my thumb found it's anchor point. I settled my 30 yard pin on the biggest buck of my life. with a squeeze of my fore finger the arrow was flying thru the air at my target.
In one continuous dreamlike sequence I watch helplessly as my arrow flies high and right! I remember letting out a moan as that buck trotted safely away. Could I have really missed that bad? was it buck fever? Did I really connect and my mind was just playing tricks on me? Did I mis judge his distance? I got up after 15 minutes and looked where the buck stood when I shot and there was nothing! 31 paces from where I sat (I had my 30 yard pin on him)! I found my arrow and nothing! I followed the trail into the creek bottom where the buck had left on. Nothing!
I was sick and went back to camp with buckets of tears rolling down my cheeks. I told the guys at camp what had happened. after some cooling down I went to the target I had setup at camp and paced off 30 yards. One of my buddies was standing right behind me when I let the arrow fly...HIGH AND WAY RIGHT AGAIN! I figured my sight must have been bumped so I got about 10 yards from the target and came to full draw. To my astonishment the arrow fell thru my arrow rest! I missed the biggest buck of my life due to one loose allen nut!!!!!
Fast forward a week to my favorite stand...Swampland Dreams. Again it is November 7th and one year and one day earlier I had killed my very first buck ever out of this exact same funnel. I got to the stand well before pink light. with so much time I was able to lay out a good scent trail and doctored up my mock scrapes. The rest of the deer pee I had I poured into my scrape dripper. happy with my pre morning work I quietly climbed into Swampland Dreams.
I had seen some decent buck movement thru out the morning but decided it was time to make things happen. I started a rattling sequence that lasted about a minute and ended the mock fight with a few drawn out grunts. I giggled a bit to myself when I realized I had broken one of the tines on my rattling antlers! I waited quietly without moving a muscle except my eyes going back and forth scanning the woods for movement. After about 20 minutes I figured nothing was going to come in. I was getting hungry and decided to have my lunch.
Wouldn't it figure I dropped my glove and it landed drop dead center of the deer trail that was below my stand! I himmed and hawed as to whether or not to climb down but I didn't. I finished my sandwich and opened up a can of Pepsi all the while kicking myself for dropping that stupid glove onto that well used deer trail! After a few sips of pop I convinced myself that I need to get that glove before a doe being chased by a buck would run into it and spook off by the scent.
Ok this is where it gets good!!!
I prop my Pepsi between two limbs and unhook my safety belt. I hang my bow onto the top rung of my ladder and proceed to try and strattle the bow as I descend down to retrieve my glove. After a couple tries to get around my bow with out making that fall the 18 feet to my glove I have second thoughts. I get back onto my stand and grab the bow from the rung of the ladder. I decided it would be safer to lay the bow across the pine branches. After fiddling with the bow so it wouldn't fall I again step onto the first rung of the ladder. As I actually had one foot on the ladder and one foot still on my stand IT HAPPENS!
A great wide buck comes prancing from the big woods around the corner into the funnel where I am! Mind you one foot on the ladder and one foot on the stand! It was something like "oh S*@T!" I quickly hop back on the stand and garb my bow off the pine branches in one swift awkward movement that the buck never noticed. I regain my composure somewhat as the boss buck hits my scent trail. With nose to the ground he literally ran into my main mock scrape. He tore that thing up first one leg then the other he pawed the earth away. I lucidly remember the dirt flying back behind him. I come to full draw but he is quartering toward very hard at 12 yards. I lean forward trying to get a better angle when my fletchings from my arrows slip across the tree where my ladder was. The buck shifted just enough when he heard the noise to give me the shot I had hoped for.
I sent the arrow flying and it hit the great buck hard! He spun around and his chest immediately hit the ground. But he kept going looking like a bulldozer. He got back up onto his feet and went maybe 75 yards before going down for good!
I sat back into my stand and tried to piece together the past few minutes. If I would not have put that bow on the ladder at first I would have been half way down the ladder when that buck came prancing into my life...can you imagine missing this opportunity coupled with the missed shot at the giant NT from a week ago! I was shaking uncontrollable by this time when I remembered the half full Pepsi I still had. So I sat back and drank down my pop like I was in slow motion. When it was finally time to get down and take a look I reached for my safety belt and realized that I had unhooked it to get my glove!
The blood was sprayed everywhere around my mock scrape and I immediately knew he was down for good just around the bend. I ran home and dad could tell I had something good down on the ground the second he saw my face. I only said, "I got a good buck!" Dad wanted to come with me the retrieve the buck even thou he was recovering from cancer that took his one lung and a portion of his other. Not being able to walk out to the mailbox with out loosing his breath he was almost defiant in his decision...mom said only if she could come too! So there I was driving my mom and dad back to my favorite place in this world. I drove back as far as my little Ford Ranger would get us then we slowly walked thru the muck. A father, son and his mother together as we walked up to my 9 point buck with a 20 1/2" inside spread, 13" tines and a gross frame that would have went 150" if 7 of his 9 points weren't ground down to black caps.
The best part of my whole affair with Swampland Dreams II was being able to share that buck with my Mom and Dad!
God rest your beautiful sole Dad.