Big Buck Tales

Pat Bates Buck

Pat Bates Buck

By Mike Handley

Pheromones and estrous doe scents might be akin to Cupid’s arrow, but whatever Pat Bates pours on bushes is more like Thor’s hammer. One whiff of the concoction will turn bucks into white-eyed defoliators, or, if they’re big and stupid enough to do battle with flora in front of Pat, into wall art. The retired firefighter from Al... READ MORE

Clay Tiringer Buck

Clay Tiringer Buck

By Clay Tiringer

Following the 2008 hunting season, I saw a great 9x7 whitetail that left me counting the days until the next one. All I could do was hope the buck survived the winter. Immediately prior to the 2009 season, I went back to the area where I’d spotted the 16-pointer and discovered a perfect funnel – a creek bottom connecting bedding areas t... READ MORE

Richard Pauli Buck

Richard Pauli Buck

By Klaus Lebrecht

Prior to the 1983 gun season, Richard Pauli of Peoria, Illinois, saw this huge-antlered buck twice while bowhunting and once at night when he drove into a pasture to attend to some cattle. His headlights illuminated the deer drinking from a pond. Richard headed out on opening morning with a particular stand in mind. En route, he crossed a fence and... READ MORE

Gary Fears Buck

Gary Fears Buck

By Mike Handley

Because of a foreboding weather forecast, heightened by bad luck at the onset of his planned weeklong hunt, Gary Fears headed afield on Nov. 24 with the resignation of killing the first decent buck dumb enough to wander into his crosshairs. Not even a doe was safe. Four days earlier, Gary had a spring in his step when he walked into the little hole... READ MORE

Cole Foglesong Buck

Cole Foglesong Buck

By Ed Waite

Nineteen-year-old Cole Foglesong of Astoria, Ill., a freshman biology student at McMurry College, has already made an impressive mark in the deer hunting world – thanks to an incredible 13-point buck he took during the Land of Lincoln’s 2003 season. While hunting on his family’s property in Fulton County in 2001, Cole found an inc... 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

Larry Reece Buck

Larry Reece Buck

By Mike Handley

Larry Reece was desperate. With shooting light quickly fading and a "decent" buck almost within range (at least it was before it disappeared into a pine plantation), he glanced at the grunt tube in his hand. The 57-year-old deer hunter from Benton, Miss., considered the little gadget long on hype and short on magic. He'd never had a deer respond to... READ MORE

Steve Binkley Buck

Steve Binkley Buck

By Mike Handley

It took a couple of nocks, literally, but Steve Binkley of Lamoni, Iowa, received his Halloween treat four days early in 2008. Even after Steve’s first arrow drove home, the buck he shot on Oct. 27 took only a few hops before watching the thoroughly discombobulated bowhunter nock another arrow and trip his release a second time. Moments later... READ MORE

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