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October 30, 2009 by
These photos have just come in—two giant bucks reportedly from Nebraska. Can't hardly believe the size of the buck's rack in the back of that pickup truck! It looks more like a moose. Details as they come in.
We're in the process of tracking down Mystery Buck No. 2 as well. Killer mass and brow tines.
[ Read Full Post ]October 29, 2009 by
Way back in 1962, when the world of trophy deer hunting was a far more innocent place, a Nebraska bowhunter by the name of Del Austin arrowed a buck that today still stands as the biggest non-typical ever taken with bow and arrow. Many giant non-typicals have come along over the years, but this huge whitetail just might give the Del Austin buck a run for its money.
Details are sketchy, but this is apparently an Ohio buck that rough scores somewhere north of 320. Whew! Stay tuned to the Big Buck Zone for more.
[ Read Full Post ] October 28, 2009 by
Reports of giant bucks are streaming in to the Big Buck Zone. We promise to post photos and stories at any hour of the day or night as we receive them. Here's a great story out of Kentucky.
Anyone who has ever picked up a bow or climbed into a treestand has dreamed about running into an absolute monster during deer season. All of us have envisioned a bruiser with heavy mass and super long tines. Unfortunately, for many hunters this type of buck only shows up during an occasional dream or distracting thought. However, sometimes things just magically fall into place and a distant dream suddenly becomes a reality. This is exactly what happened to a young hunter named Michaella Monroe during Kentucky’s 2009 youth season. Monroe was able to come face to face with a buck that would make any veteran deer hunter’s heart skip a few beats. This young lady kept her cool and was able to drop the hammer on a jaw-dropping giant that would green score around 230. How is that for jumpstarting your season?
It’s a safe bet that Paul and Sheridan Monroe are more than just a little proud of their 14-year old daughter. Paul Monroe took his daughter Michaella into the field during Kentucky’s annual 2-day youth season in Spencer County. This special season is setup as a tool for introducing and encouraging more young people to take up hunting across the Bluegrass State. During the hunt, Michaella came face to face with a true buck of a lifetime that has the entire state talking right now. Can you imagine squeezing the trigger on a 26-point trophy with well over 200 inches of antler? The picture of this unbelievable buck alone is enough to make you want to grab your bow and climb up a tree right now. Michaella is definitely starting her deer hunting career at the very top and it will be tough for her to ever match this season. Way to go girl!
All of us at the BBZ would like to congratulate Michaella Monroe on one heck of a buck. As hunters, we also appreciate her father and mother for taking the time to pass on the gift of hunting and the outdoors to their young daughter. I strongly believe that a family who hunts together has a better chance of staying together. In addition, I would like to know what all of you think about Michaella Monroe’s monster whitetail and this story? Also, what are your thoughts about a young hunter tagging a giant right off the bat?
[ Read Full Post ]October 27, 2009 by
A cool story from former OL contributor Chris Niskanen on the Pioneer Press’ twincities.com, but after finding a set of huge shed antlers early in 2007, Minnesota hunter Michael Versland became obsessed with hunting the deer.
The high school biology teacher set out to take the buck with bow and arrow, spotting it twice in 07 and then again the following year. Unfortunately, none of those encounters panned out. In that time, he managed to find the buck’s increasingly large sheds and even captured the monster a few times on his trail camera.
Finally, on Oct. 2, Versland connected. The 10-pointer green scored 210 1/8 gross inches with a width of 22 ¼ inches. Amazingly, the buck tipped the scales at a whopping 350 pounds.
For the complete story, check out Niskanen’s story at http://www.twincities.com/ci_13535184.
[ Read Full Post ] October 27, 2009 by I’m in the Sooner State this week going after a big Oklahoma whitetail with a Thompson/Center muzzleloader and so far while I’ve had some close calls, I’ve yet to seal the deal. It’s my first muzzleloader hunt in a couple of years and I have to admit to being excited about getting to trade out my bow for a few days here in October.
The weather has been what you would expect here—windy—with yesterday’s 40 mph blow threatening to turn our H.S. Boiler Room blinds into box kites. (The Balloon Boy would have had nothing on these rides.)
After three days of hunting, we have four bucks down including a wide 10-pointer taken on camera the first evening by Hunter’s Specialties’ Rick White and another wide-racked eight shot by T/C’s Craig Cushman.
Used to spending more deer season time in a treestand than anywhere else, the wide open terrain leased by Todd Rodger’s Rut-N-Strut Guide Service is open, hilly and has few tall, straight trees for a stand. This is an area tailor-made for blind hunting (or even spot-and-stalk), and I have to admit, after just a few days, I really like the concealment and portability these blinds provide.
There’s something to be said for being able to sit back, stretch out, spread your gear out and even scratch if you want to without being spotted. Properly brushed in and the deer hardly even notice them, too, quickly growing as used to their placement as a piece of parked farm equipment.
Stay tuned this week as I report from Oklahoma on how the hunt goes and what I learn that might help your hunt this season as well.
Be sure to share your big buck (or even fat doe) stories with me as well and I’ll do my best to share them with other Big Buck Zone fans. Email me at hunteditor@gmail.com.
[ Read Full Post ]October 23, 2009 by
I'm sure some of you have heard of hunting Indian reservations and maybe a few of you have tried it for turkeys or possibly prairie dogs. Have you thought about hunting them for big game? I just returned from a big game hunt in South Dakota where we hunted whitetails on tribal lands. The hunting was great and South Dakota, like several Great Plains states, has several reservations within its borders to choose from for deer action.
I was a guest there on a hunt sponsored by Traditions muzzleloaders (traditionsfirearms.com), Hornady bullets (hornady.com), Code Blue Scents (codebluescents.com) and Trijicon riflescopes (trijicon.com).
After tagging out on a great mule deer with my Mathews bow, I switched to a muzzleloader and on my first night out was presented an opportunity. Snow was falling and visibility was reduced by gusty winds, but it was the perfect recipe to get me into 100 yards of a great looking 5x5 buck. When the buck turned broadside I lit the powder and lost the buck in a blur of smoke. When it cleared I saw the buck bound off for two seconds. To make a long story short, I looked that night and most of the next morning, but could find no sign of a hit. I went back to camp and soon discovered my problem. I had sighted in my muzzleloader with an open container of pellets and opened a new one for the hunt. They were the same pellets, but for some reason the new pellets shot low.
I didn't get a buck, but two of my hunting partners, Lee Hetherington, vice president of consumer publishing for Grand View Media and Mike Mattly, public relations manager for Pradco Outdoor Brands faired better. They both tagged out on the same deer drive through a dense thicket of riparian cover. Mike made a great running shot on a 5x5 buck and Lee's buck stopped for standing shot to end his hunt.
If you're serious about looking for new hunting opportunities check out tribal options. You might find them in your backyard or across the country, but there are ample resources to research. Many of the larger reservations and tribal holdings are found in the West, but the East also holds a share of the tribal land wealth. The Bureau of Indian Affairs works with 562 federally recognized tribes with approximately 326 Indian land areas administered as Indian reservations, pueblos, missions, villages and other designations. Some are small holdings while others are massive consisting of millions of acres of land. All don't have whitetails, but those in the Heartland and the edge of the West hide a surprising number of whitetails.
As a native of South Dakota and a veteran of years of tribal hunting I can offer a few tips. First, do research the hunt thoroughly and do it early. License application deadlines are often early in the year and can be complicated. You also need to order maps and get clarification on where you can hunt and can't hunt. Inquire whether a tribal guide is required and if not; ask if any are available for a consulting fee to get you started. I'd also suggest a summer trip to cement your scouting. You can combine that with a prairie dog shoot or even a tourist vacation.
Tribal hunting is definitely an option for a trophy whitetail. I've taken several great bucks on tribal hunts and on deeded lands adjoining tribal plots so I know the potential is definitely available on America's Indian reservations.
[ Read Full Post ] October 20, 2009 by
These photos are flying across the Internet this week and if they haven’t landed on your screen yet your friends are holding out. This monster whitetail buck was bowkilled last week in central Minnesota, more specifically on the Camp Ripley military facility (www.minnesotanationalguard.org). Information is sketchy, but the buck supposedly has 32 points (all may not be scoreable) and weighed 192 pounds.
The lucky bowhunter associated with the buck is Scott Okenek who hails from the Minnesota town of South Haven. According to some notes I’ve read on Internet posts the buck has also been estimated to be 5 ½ years old and looking at the buck’s antler mass and body, I’d have to agree.
To hunt the 53,000-acre Camp Ripley facility you need to apply in a lottery-style process. According to some acquaintances I know who have hunted the facility, you need to know the land, find a funnel, set a stand up and wait. Hunting pressure is moderate and you won’t be popular if you wander around under other hunter’s stands.
Not only does the facility serve to train America’s finest, it also is managed as a conservation property with environmental stewardship as a main goal. That said, the results could be outstanding and I’m sure Mr. Okenek would agree. This buck has it all and then some, especially in the brow tine department. What do you think this buck would score? I’d bet my truck it’s a Boone and Crockett contender. Congratulations!
[ Read Full Post ]October 20, 2009 by >>SEE ALL PICTURES FROM TODAY HERE!<<
Have you ever taken a road trip down Interstate 90 across South Dakota? If you have I’m sure one of your first thoughts is that South Dakota has a whole lot of nothing. There are oceans of grass for as far as you can see with little change in the topography except for the hiccup of the occasional river or creek bottom. Heck, it’s where Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her experiences to create the “Little House on the Prairie” series of books. It’s also the reason South Dakota is the undisputed title holder of “Pheasant Capitol of the World.” As a side note, it’s going to be another barn burner of a year in pheasant country. Don’t miss it.
In the pheasant country east of the capital of Pierre you’ll find much of the same. Grass and agriculture as far as you can see. You’ll also find big bucks hidden in the fields and swales of this monotonous landscape. I was reminded of this with two E-mails sent to me in the past few days, both from central South Dakota and both bucks were taken in locations minutes apart according to the notes I received.
The first photo is of an impressive 5x6 buck taken on September 30th by a lucky bowhunter approximately one hour east of Pierre. The mature buck reportedly scored 174 1/8 points and this was only this hunter’s second year of bowhunting. What makes the story even more remarkable is the fact this novice bowhunter tagged a whitetail his first year that scored 171 3/8 points. At some point he’s going to have to come down from that cloud, but for now he deserves to enjoy the adrenalin.
This second photo is also from the same region, likely within 30 minutes of where the 174 1/8-point was taken. From the date on the photo it appears the buck was taken around the 11th of October. That’s all I have on this buck, but from the looks of the antlers this is a mature buck, especially when you scrutinize the mass this tall-tined brute sports. And if you like tall brow tines, you’ll be memorized by the giants on this dude.
South Dakota is no sleeper for whitetails. In fact when you analyze the data provided by Boone and Crockett, South Dakota was in the top 10 of states for trophy bucks from 1830 through 1979. That status is coming back as more and more hunters manage property for trophy bucks. For whitetails you have numerous options to choose from for trophy potential. The two highest Boone and Crockett producing counties include Gregory County and Brown County. Gregory’s rugged terrain choked with draws of bur oak, ash and juniper creates ideal escape cover. Brown County lies in the midst of the prairie pothole region and bucks grow big there by hiding in cattail sloughs and wetland habitat when hunting pressure picks up.
Of course the great grasslands where these two brutes hid out also can help a buck escape until maturity. I’m a native of South Dakota so I’m somewhat biased, but the state has more to offer than cackling pheasants and these photos prove it.
>>SEE ALL PICTURES FROM TODAY HERE!<<
[ Read Full Post ]October 14, 2009 by
Last season, my son James Travis Faulkner, almost shot the biggest buck he had ever encountered in the woods during our state’s two day youth season. However, the sneaky old veteran was able to slip through the thick cover without offering my boy an ethical shot. For the next few months, this particular buck was the main topic of discussion at my house. James stuck with that deer for the remainder of the season, but the buck went into stealth mode and was not seen again.
I explained to James that he had done the right thing by not taking a questionable shot and that he may actually cross paths with the buck again. As fate would have it, we returned to the same area this past weekend for another youth season hunt. The first morning it poured rain and a few does were all that showed up. Later that evening, we found ourselves sitting in the exact spot where the first encounter had occurred the year before. I caught a quick glimpse of a tail flickering deep inside a thick entanglement of weeds and underbrush. After quickly glassing the area, I found the deer and there was no doubt this was the same buck. James already had his .270 rifle aimed toward a small clearing along the edge of the thicket. Within seconds, the buck stepped into the opening and momentarily paused. A loud echoing boom broke the evening silence and sent the long-tined trophy into a short death run that ended not 20 yards from our setup. I had smoked a nice buck in Illinois just before the youth season, but I wouldn’t trade 10 heavy-racked giants for this hunt with my son. James is on top of the world right now and all he can say is that redemption is sweet! Congratulations son.
[ Read Full Post ] October 12, 2009 by
Over the past few months, I’ve been suffering from withdrawal as a diehard deer hunter. The spring turkey season was great, but there is still nothing that gets my heart pumping more than the sight of a heavy-racked buck during the fall of the year. Recently, I hit the road for an early-season bowhunt in Illinois with an admittedly itchy trigger finger. During the first evening of my hunt, the wind just about blew my cameraman and me out of the tree. However, before dark the wind died off enough to make the deer start moving a little. I was hunting a patch of white oaks that bordered the edge of a soybean field surrounded by a lot of thick cover. The area was hot with fresh sign, which really made my heart rate jump up a few notches.
About an hour before dark, I heard the old familiar sound of a deer trotting through the dry leaves just behind my stand. A high-racked buck with long tines and a crab-claw at the end of its main beam stepped out of the thicket. The buck was angling away from my stand toward the bean field and things were not looking good. There were only a handful of openings along the buck’s route and pulling off a shot was going to be tough. Finally, I was able to lean between the forks of a tree and thread an arrow through a small opening of the leafy canopy. A loud smack echoed across the bean field when my arrow collided with the buck causing a quick serge of adrenalin to take over my entire body.
Unfortunately, a severe thunderstorm blew in before I was able to recover my first deer of the season. We reviewed the video footage back at camp and knew the shot was good, but I still was unable to sleep a wink that night. By the next morning, the blood trail had practically disappeared after the strong rain. However, the buck was last seen running toward a creek that cut through the heart of the thicket. It looked like the Amazon Jungle, which made tracking the deer extremely tough. Finally, after combing through the thick entanglement of briars, downed tree limbs, and weeds we were able to reach the creek. Within a few yards, we spotted the buck’s tines sticking just above an old brush pile in the creek bed. It was a great feeling to strike first blood and get my hands around the rack of a good early-season buck. However, this hunt only fueled my addiction and has made going to work this week even harder.
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