For Mark Peterson, choosing between a possible world-class caribou and a definite one-of-a-kind whitetail is a no-brainer. The TV show host and outfitter left his passport at home when he struck out for Kentucky in September 2024.
The Michigan outdoorsman-turned-businessman spends two-thirds of his year on the road, and the Bluegrass State has been a favorite destination for a decade. He knows it offers one of North America’s best chances at a record-book buck because it’s a one-buck state, has mild winters, lots of food and good genetics.
His name is on two deeds there.
He was supposed to go on a barren ground caribou hunt, a tag for which he’d been applying for 12 years. But he’s also a whitetail fanatic, and big ones rarely put down roots.
“I completely changed my schedule when this deer showed up on camera,” he says of the giant buck he nicknamed Freak Show. “Sometimes, the hunt you’ve been waiting for finds you. I knew I couldn’t miss this opportunity.”
Before Mark arrived in Kentucky on Monday, Sept. 10, the deer had been photographed six of seven days in a row on a Henry County farm he had never hunted. The newly leased 175-acre tract, about 43 miles northeast of Louisville, is one of many managed by his Salt River Outfitters.
A bad north wind the first evening kept him out of the best possible stand for an ambush. He wound up reconnoitering a large soybean field. The buck appeared on camera around 11 p.m. that day, probably late because of the activity on a neighboring farm where a barn fire drew firetrucks.
The predominant wind there blows out of the southeast, and most stands are set with that in mind, to be able to approach the setups with the wind in one’s face. Mark felt the best time to hunt the deer would be during evening hours, lessening the chances of spooking animals en route to the stand.
“Leading up to this, I was a nervous wreck over wind direction,” he admitted. “The trip was planned based on the projected wind, but it flipped.
“I was also worried the deer would leave as soon as he shed his velvet,” he added.
The following day, he dialed-in his crossbow, shooting at 20, 30, 40 and even 50 yards. About 3:30 that afternoon, he and a cameraman hiked the 250 yards to a stand in some trees flanking a bean field. That’s the farthest anyone had traveled to reach a stand there.
The neighboring land was in standing corn. They suspected the deer was bedding in a swale between the two food sources.
The spot had been sweetened with corn and Buck Bourbon attractant.
The beans were tall, and does’ heads looked like shark fins coursing through them. The larger bucks were a little easier to spot, the tops of their backs and rumps visible.
He wound up passing a 150-inch 10-pointer at last light, something he’d never done, something that’s almost never done when a camera is rolling. The delay kept him and his cameraman in the tree until 45 minutes after dark.
The third evening, Sept. 12, mirrored the first, only there was a little stronger wind. He saw a couple of small deer, a mature doe and some medium-sized bucks in the beans. When a doe’s and a 10-pointer’s attentions were diverted to the direction of the corn, Mark knew something was coming.
When Freak Show arrived, just as they had imagined, Mark was busy glassing the other whitetails. When he focused on the big one, his breathing became labored.
“I saw only the antler tips, at first. When he emerged, it looked like he was staring into our souls. I was shaking like crazy,” he said. “That’s the biggest deer I’d ever seen, hands down.
“After I knew it was Freak Show, I didn’t look at the antlers at all,” he added. “He’s just funky; has stuff everywhere.”
The shot was easy, and the deer ran only 50 yards to the south.
“I didn’t know what to say,” he admitted.
The short video, filmed by his cameraman Adam, who was sitting behind and to Mark’s right, has since been posted on Youtube’s Mark V. Peterson Hunting channel.
Hunter Schmittou scored for the deer for Buckmasters at 262 4/8 inches — more than 100 inches bigger than Mark’s previous best whitetail from Kansas. Its a mainframe 7x6 with 23 irregular points worth nearly 85 inches of its score. Mass accounts for 50 4/8 inches. The giant body looked small underneath the deer’s rack.
Under Buckmasters’ system, it’s a state record among crossbow harvests.
“I guess the lesson here is if it’s the wrong wind, just wait until it’s better,” he said. “Ten years ago, I would’ve been impatient.”
News spread quickly. He woke up to 350 messages on his phone, and that was before he’d posted photos of the buck on social media.
He shoots a crossbow because of a rotator cuff tear in need of surgery. Meanwhile, he carries a doctor’s excuse.
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