Big Deer Stories Archives

29 08, 2025

Daniel Nelson’s 2024 Illinois Giant Buck, 200 2/8 Gross NT

Clay Hanback2025-08-26T11:27:03-04:00August 29th, 2025|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, whitetail deer|0 Comments

Todays' great guest blog from BIG DEER field reporter Dean Weimer: In the lead up to last year’s deer season, Daniel Nelson’s cousin Lance sent some images of a bucks he was seeing on his new hunting property. Daniel thought that one buck in particular might be in the 145-150-class. A few days later Daniel received a better picture of the deer, and realized he was looking at a buck that was more likely in the 170s. That is when both Daniel and Lance, who have hunted together for 23 years, became more interested in the buck. And with each new image of the buck that the guys got, Daniel thought he might like to hunt him. The only issue [...]

30 03, 2025

Indiana: Giant Helbert Non-Typical Buck, 181 5/8”

Clay Hanback2025-03-30T11:37:32-04:00March 30th, 2025|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Deer Guns & Loads, Deer Hunting, sportsman channel, whitetail deer|Comments Off on Indiana: Giant Helbert Non-Typical Buck, 181 5/8”

Today's blog on Don Helbert's buck of a lifetime is from Big Deer reporter Dean Weimer. Cool story and testament to two things: To get a 180-buck takes perseverance and creative thinking.--M.H. In the summer of 2023, a very cool 6x4 buck showed up on Don Helbert’s trail cameras, and while Don pegged the deer to be only 3 years old, he had the Indiana hunter’s attention. “I was on the fence about shooting him,” he says. That year the early October archery season proved uneventful. But on Oct. 23, Helbert got another, and better, look at the mystery buck. He was on his way home after work and caught the buck chasing a doe in his headlights. [...]

21 01, 2025

Giant Indiana Jestes Buck, 209 7/8 Inches NT

Clay Hanback2025-01-21T15:35:54-05:00January 21st, 2025|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Hunting News, Shed Hunting, whitetail deer|1 Comment

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 [...]

9 01, 2025

The Rescue: Bowhunter Saves Puppy

Clay Hanback2025-01-09T10:24:35-05:00January 9th, 2025|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, Deer Hunting, Deer Management, Hunting News, Shed Hunting|Comments Off on The Rescue: Bowhunter Saves Puppy

Thomas Barr, who goes by T-Barr, drove 14 hours from his home in Pennsylvania to bowhunt southern Illinois. It was early November, the rut was ready to rock and a cold front was on the way. The next afternoon he one of those classic Midwest funnels you read about. It was a narrow strip of timber and brush bordered on either side by a cornfield and a clover plot. A deep creek with steep, nearly vertical banks cut the middle of the cover. His stand was in a tree that swept up and out over the water. An old, crumbling barbed-wire fence ran hard along the creek and beneath the tree stand. “I climbed up and was pumped,” says T-Bar. [...]

1 11, 2024

BREAKING: Scott John’s Giant Kansas Bow Buck, 229 7/8”

Clay Hanback2024-11-01T10:01:03-04:00November 1st, 2024|Big Deer Stories, Big Deer TV, BigDeer, Bowhunting, whitetail deer|Comments Off on BREAKING: Scott John’s Giant Kansas Bow Buck, 229 7/8”

Big Deer blogger Dean Weimer reports on this Kansas giant shot last month: High school teacher and multi-sport coach Scott John is a dedicated family man and avid outdoorsman. He is a consummate hunter who absolutely loves bowhunting whitetails in his home area of eastern Kansas. Scott had been after a dandy non-typical buck for the last two seasons. But as they so often do, the giant had eluded Scott’s best efforts. In fact, he’d only ever laid eyes on the buck once while in a stand. That was in early November 2023. On Tuesday October 22, 2024, the temperature was a balmy 92 degrees–less than ideal hunting conditions to say the least. Scott, like practically every other sane bowhunter [...]