Great guest blog on one of the coolest deer from the 2024 season from Big Deer field reporter Dean Weimer.

On the evening of October 4, 2023, Danny Jestes watched a couple of does and a small buck feed in an open grass field for the better part of an hour. Then, as if shot out of a cannon, all three deer skedaddled into a nearby thicket. At the edge of the woods stood what Jestes assumed was the reason for their abrupt exit. “When I turned and looked over at the edge of the woods, there stood a magnificent buck with all kinds of headgear,” he says. “The buck was looking straight toward me.”

After a few minutes the big, unique-racked buck ran back into the thicket. Jestes spotted the drop tine off the buck’s left side, hence the deer’s equally unique nickname—”MacDroopy.” That would be the first and last time that Danny spotted the big non-typical that 2023 season. Jestes wondered if anyone had either seen or perhaps gotten a shot at the buck. He never heard any of the local hunters mention anything about such a tremendous deer, so that was good. As the months passes, he wondered if the buck might’ve been hit by a car, or succumbed to the winter weather.

As good luck would have, it MacDroopy starting showing up again on Jestes’ trail camera on a fairly regular basis last August. With high hopes he waited for the 2024 Indiana archery season opener on October 1st.

Danny hunted pretty regularly every morning and evening the first couple weeks of October, but never laid eyes on the big buck. He was seeing plenty of deer and a couple of pretty good 8-pointers, but no sign of the buck that had occupied much of his thoughts since the previous October. He decided to take a couple days off during the third week of the season, due to the warmer weather, opting instead to get some things done around the house.

“On October 24 I was having one of those days around the house doing chores, nothing seemed to be going right,” Danny says. “Then the weather man seemed to oblige, as the temperature dropped 15 degrees.” Danny didn’t need much convincing that spending time in his tree stand would trump working fruitlessly at the house.

About an hour into his sit, he began to see movement when two separate doe groups entered the grass field and began feeding. A bit later a 6-point buck and another doe came out and joined them. Right behind was a very respectable 8-pointer. Things were beginning to get interesting, but still no sign of his target buck.

“About a half hour later a big buck walked along the edge of the wood line and I told my inner self ‘that’s him, that’s him!’ “, Danny says. He raised glasses to confirm what he subconsciously already knew: MacDroopy!

The big buck exited the woods 80 yards away and began to close the distance towards Danny. When the giant was approximately 50 yards away, he stopped and grazed for several tense minutes. By then, Jestes had slowly gotten his crossbow up into position while keeping a close eye on the big deer. After browsing awhile, MacDroopy lifted his head and walked 20 yards closer.  

“At 30 yards and facing toward me, he began to graze again,” recalls Danny. I was thinking, ‘He needs to turn one way or another to give me a shot!’ Then he finally raised his head and quartered to me. I knew it was now, or never.  I let my arrow fly.  I heard it hit and watched the deer run off into the woods. Feeling good about the shot, I took my time getting my gear together and climbed down.”

When I went to the spot where MacDroopy was standing, I saw nothing,” Danny says. “No arrow, no hair, no blood. I began to second guess myself. All of a sudden, I heard an awful thrashing sound ahead of me. Thinking I jumped the buck, I decided to back out and walked back to where the deer was standing at the shot. There it was—under tall grass—my arrow covered in bright red blood. I went home to give the deer time in case he bedded down.”

Danny called his neighbor, Pat Walsh, for help. They went back to the woods and after about an hour decided to start tracking the buck. It didn’t take long to find evidence of a great hit. “When we got to the last spot where I had seen the deer, we found drops of blood, and then we saw more blood everywhere,” says Danny.

Twenty yards farther into the woods they found him!

“We looked at this large deer with all kinds of funk on his antlers, celebrated with high fives and decided we were going to need more help getting him out the woods,” says Danny. “I called another hunting buddy, Dan Brubaker, and he was more than happy to come over and give us a hand.  After a rough 20-minute drag out to the edge of the field, we loaded MacDroopy on the tractor forks and headed back to the barn. We could not believe our eyes, what a magnificent buck!”

After years of close calls, Danny Jestes was finally able to seal the deal on his buck-of-a-lifetime.  MacDroopy field-dressed at 211 pounds, and the rack has 21 scoreable points. Jestes perhaps best explains the buck’s unusual look: “I identified him mostly from the drop tine and how the rest of his antlers look like they are dropping down, kind of like a melting effect.”

Tony Wright, Program Coordinator for the Hoosier Record Buck Program (HRBP) made a special trip to green score the Jestes buck. The rack has massive bases, which really jump out at you. Few deer are really approaching “Coke can” mass at the bases, but this one certainly does; especially the left side which measures at 7 ⅜”, while its mate on the right comes in at 6 ⅝”. The buck is actually a mainframe 5×4 with a 19 ⅛” inside spread. All of the non-typical tines add up to 63 0/8” and when added to the typical frame, net green score at 209⅞”.

The happy hunter sums it all up, “I would like to give special thanks to Pat Walsh and Dan Brubaker for all their help,” says Danny. “And most of all, thank God for the opportunity to allow me and others to enjoy the outdoors hunting and fishing.”—D.W.