NEW FEATURE: To keep us dreaming big at what this fall might hold, I’ll post a huge buck from the BIG DEER archives every Friday for the next few months: Just before 8:00 a.m. on November 22, 2005, Jack Keihn looked up and saw a monster coming. The buck dropped off a food plot on top of a ridge, traveled down a logging road and dipped into a ravine, his nose to the ground in search of a hot doe. The rut was winding down, and the old boy was looking for one last fling. The buck ambled close to Jack’s big, wooden “hut stand,” and he fired his 20-gauge shotgun. The slug hit high and the deer bounded off. Jack got [...]

Let’s end the week with the story of a 200-inch buck from the Big Deer archives. In November 2011, high-school welding instructor and assistant football coach Paul Hein shot the awesome beast:  Got to my ladder stand at 3:25 pm. Hunting 30 yards from an unpicked corn field and 70 to 100 yards from some bedding areas. Wind was from the NW 10-15 mph and temp was about 40 degrees. I started rattling, grunting and bleating and repeated that every 20-30 minutes. About 4:50 I called again. The wind had calmed down by then. I heard movement a bit to my right and noticed a small buck heading in my direction from the NW. He looked very nervous and kept looking over [...]