Big Buck Tales

Bo Middleton Buck

Bo Middleton Buck

By Mike Handley

When Bo Middleton’s grandfather, the late Floyd “Cooney” Sanders, told him he’d seen a great big buck while looking out his kitchen window, Bo humored him. But the more the 28-year-old thought about it, he could not dismiss the possibility. “He was getting on (in years), and he could not see that well,” Bo said ... READ MORE

Brad Heuvelmann Buck

Brad Heuvelmann Buck

By Brad Heuvelmann

While hunting after a heavy snowfall about 10 years ago, I ran into an older gentleman dragging out a once-in-a-lifetime whitetail. He had taken the buck early that morning and had been struggling to get the huge deer to his truck. It was about lunchtime, and he was only halfway to his vehicle. I was happy to give him a hand, just for the opportuni... READ MORE

Jeff Ralls Buck

Jeff Ralls Buck

By Derrick Schreiber

Unaccustomed to shooting at bucks with a rifle, Jeff Ralls was almost certain he'd shot over the deer he saw as Kansas' 2009 firearms season came to a close. There was no sign whatsoever - neither in the animal's reaction, nor on the ground -- to indicate that bullet had met flesh. Before going home, he stopped at the local locker to compare notes ... READ MORE

Mikell Fries Buck

Mikell Fries Buck

By Mike Handley

Mature bucks’ antlers might grow a half-inch or more a day during the spring and summer months, but that doesn’t mean they’ll double in size from one year to the next. After all, unless they’re on the downswing, whitetails have to regrow what was shed (or something similar) before adding mass, length or extra points.That was... READ MORE

Michael Rothman Buck

Michael Rothman Buck

By Mike Handley

Michael Rothman knows cold. So convinced that, no matter how early his arrival, he was spooking deer out of a cornfield en route to his shooting house, the deer hunter from Bonnieville, Ky., decided to just spend the night in the box blind. It wasn’t as if there were a Scotty, a Samantha or a Jeannie who could beam, nose-wrinkle or head-bob h... READ MORE

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

Kevin Fitch Buck

Kevin Fitch Buck

By Ed Waite

It was as if the ground opened up and swallowed Kevin Fitch’s buck. One minute, it was on the receiving end of a shotgun slug (he hoped). The next, it was gone. Not fall-down-dead gone. Not running-with-the-wind-and-leaving-a-blood-trail gone. Just gone, leaving the hunter from Norwalk, Ohio, with Rodney Dangerfield eyes and a mouth full of... 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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Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd