MikeHanback.com

Indiana Roadkill: Giant NT Buck (w/drop tine!)

Thanks to Dean for sending this one: Mike, this buck was killed by a car in southern Indiana last November. What a shame! 

3 comments: I wonder how many 180- to 190-class monsters like this one are killed by cars/trucks that we never know about? A buck gets slammed, runs 70 to 100 yards into a thicket off the road and dies. How many are never found? TIP: When you're out shed-hunting, walk parallel to roads and check thickets and ditches for roadkill.

Yes, I love the drop, but check out the double split brows, very cool.

I gotta get out to Indiana to hunt me a giant on Versus TV. Since I started this blog 4 months ago, I've posted an incredible number of 2006 and 2007 Hoosier monsters. But, I'll wait till after the Democratic primary on Tuesday to come visit you guys :( Have a good one!

Medusa Buck (huge velvet drop tines!)

Over at mossyoak.com this forum teaser caught my eye: Holy castrated buck Batman! I clicked on it and up popped this monster with the message: This is from the Prairie State Outdoors site.

I went there and read this from Jeff Lampe: This cool-looking buck picture just arrived with no details other than to be called “The Medusa Buck.” Where? When? Who? We don’t know ... yet.

Head in the bucket doesn't do this incredible animal justice, but look at that gnarly rack and 5 huge velvet clubs! If this buck is legit and wild, it is (was) one of the top velvet non-typicals in the world, if not the biggest one ever! Somebody tell us more.   

Coolest Drop-Tine Buck--Ever!

Haven’t had a drop-tine on the blog for a while so I dug up and posted this vintage monster below. It is not the highest-scoring drop ever, but you show me one with more character. The 197-inch with 3 clubs was shot in 1946 by a fellow named Sam Henry near the Oak River in Manitoba. Like I have said, I’d give my left you know what to see that sucker marching toward my stand one day this fall :) Could you handle it? BTW, photo came from the B&C book A Whitetail Retrospective. People are not buying many hunting books anymore, which is a shame and why I don't write them anymore. But if you want a good one buy this one, it’s packed with awesome old buck-hunting photos and stories like Triple Drop-Club. Amazing rack!

Monster MN Bow Buck (w/new drop tine!)

Thanks to Bucky for sending this:

Hey Mike: My friend Lance out of Brainerd, Minnesota got a picture of this buck on his trail camera a week before the end of the 06 MN archery season. Last spring he looked for the buck’s shed in the thick underbrush, and he ended up finding one—the buck was a perfect typical with NO drop tine. In the fall of 07 Lance had this one buck on his mind, but he didn’t see him at all during the rut, he didn't know what to think. Then again in December he got another cam pic of the huge whitetail, and this year he had an awesome drop! Lance got in his stand one December day and shot the buck 20 minutes before dark with his Mathews MQ32. A true giant of the North woods--this one does have a drop!

Wow, beauty, great job Lance. Lesson: The spot where Lance had his cams and hunted for 2 years was somewhere in the giant’s late-season and winter core area (why the shed dropped there). Oftentimes a monster moves around from October through December, based primarily on changing food sources, but also hunting pressure. Lance’s buck was probably using another core area maybe only 50 to 100 acres away during the Nov. rut (that’s why he did not see him) but hopped over to Lance’s joint for a new bed-feed pattern in December, like he had done the year before. To kill a big buck is important to know WHEN he is using your spot the most, then max out your time there, like Lance did after getting trail-cam pics for 2 years.

BTW, as a typical hawg ages from 4 to 5 to 6, it is not uncommon at all for him to put a on lovely drop (lol) or other stickers/junk like Lance’s buck did.

Amazing King Ranch Buck

Mike: Maurice Bledsoe shot this amazing buck this past season on the legendary King Ranch. Shows what ole South Texas can do with rain (in the antler-growing season)! I don’t think a deer can get any prettier. Mark

Mark thanks, I don’t think so either :)

Vintage Drop-Club Bucks

Just got home on the red eye from Vegas SHOT show and found more drop-tine bucks in my inbox. Love it! I am building by design the largest collection of old and recent drop bucks shot across N.A. Keep sending please. These 2 monsters came from fellow blogger Doug:

Mike: I thought you might like these bucks for your blog. The first one (black and white photo) was killed in New Jersey's bow season in 1996 or 1997, not quite sure. I remember at the time they were talking about it challenging for the non-typical state record, but the hunter never entered it. Score was around 185.

The mount of the non-typical is the current state record at 203 plus. It was killed in 2001. He was aged at only 3.5 years old. He has 3 drops and a few more kickers off the beams for good measure. My brother has the sheds from this deer the year before he was killed, and he was only a 130ish non-typical. He grew a tremendous amount in one season. I've seen trail camera pictures of another buck near the same area that has some crazy massive drops, and would conservatively beat this one by 20 inches...but he was never killed. Great blog you have going, thanks for providing the entertainment. Doug

OMG, look at the drop club on that first mother, awesome!

BTW, at SHOT they were running cool video loops of Whitetail Revolution on big screens at the VERSUS booth, and which Hanback show did they choose—that giant 170-drop club that gave me the slip out in Iowa in 2006. I bet I watched that sucker walk in and then get away 20 more times at the booth—go to Vegas, trapped inside a convention hall for 4 days and still can’t get away from the drops, LOL.

BTW, did bet the Giants straight up, but chickened out on laying down the serious cash. Won $500, not too bad, huh?

Another IN Giant Buck: 213 6/8, Split Drop!

Hi Mike: I was checking out your post about Mark Hughes and his birthday buck. Mark is a good friend of mine, and he scored this deer that I killed with my bow on November 4, 2006, also in Indiana.

As I was reading thru your site I realized you are on a quest for a drop-tine buck of your own. So I thought I would share this picture with you.

I never dreamt that I would ever see a drop tine in the woods, let alone harvest one with a split drop. But I did. My deer netted 213 6/8; according to Indiana Game and Fish Magazine it is first in archery in the Hoosier record-buck program. I believe it ranks #2 overall in the state for archery. 

Regardless of where it ranks, I was able to share the experience with a good friend of mine, Brad Shepherd (right in the picture). He’s the guy who introduced me to hunting. Pretty ironic that I was with him when I shot this buck, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Good luck, Mike, hope you get that drop-tine you are after. If I remember correctly, you were very close to a shot at a big drop tine in Iowa on your TV show. The shot was a little too far, and you chose to take a nice 10-pointer. Maybe this fall. Thanks, Chris Robbins

Chris, great email and fantastic buck, thanks for letting me post him.

I am seeing them all-—double-drops, drop clubs and now Chris’ split drop--love it! What’s next? In this great IN buck’s honor, I am starting a new category on the blog, “Drop-Tine Bucks.” We will assemble and enjoy all the drops I get in one place. Please send more…it will only make it sweeter when I finally get him.

Update: Kansas Eye-Socket Antler Buck

Wrong: A couple of months ago on my old blog I posted that this tremendous KS buck, having been gored in the eye by another bruiser in one hellacious fight for does, got p-----, ripped the tine off the other buck’s rack and carried it around until this bowhunter killed him on October 23.

Right: Boone and Crockett reports that while it appears the eye antler was broken off another buck in battle, it is in fact a rare third antler that grew out of his own eye socket.

Weird! I guess you’d call it a drop tine, one of the strangest I’ve ever seen. Ha, now I want one of those too :) Imagine what a kick-ass mount that is going to be.