For many deer hunters, it's a tradition to set up trail cameras to monitor buck activity throughout the day. Often, a buck will show up repeatedly in the photos and earn himself a target on his broadside—and a nifty nickname.
Why Do Hunters Give Bucks Nicknames?
While the idea of giving a wild deer a nickname might feel silly, there's some practicality to it. For one, it helps keep tabs on a particular buck that's the target for hunting season. It allows hunters to be able to easily reference a specific buck without having to describe it every single time. In other words, giving a buck a name is so much simpler than saying something along the lines of, "That 10-point buck that keeps showing up on the hill with the uneven brow tines and that downturned tip on the right side..."
How Deer Nicknames Come to Be
Because bucks' antlers can grow in interesting and unique ways, a buck's headgear alone can earns him a nickname. For example, an eight-pointer with four points on each side could be named "4x4," or a buck with uncharacteristically dark-hued antlers could be named "Dark Horn."
Or maybe the buck spotted on trail cameras has some nice kickers, a one-of-a-kind crab claw, or an insanely wide frame—all of these physical attributes provide great fodder for deer nicknames.
Other ideas might have to do with the location of a trail camera where a buck repeatedly appears; one that hangs out in a swampy area might become "Swamp Buck."
Still others might be nods to movie characters or pop-culture references that hunters themselves enjoy.
No matter how the name comes to be, christening a buck is a fun way to kick off a long game of cat and mouse that hunters remember long after the season comes to an end.
100 Awesome Deer Nicknames for Shooter Bucks
A deer nickname should be epic. No matter the characteristics that set the buck apart from the rest, his nickname should be something that will endure for all the years of jokes and storytelling to come.
Not sure how to narrow it down? Consult our starter list of buck nicknames to get your creative juices flowing.
- The Machine
- Tex
- Dark Horn
- Buster
- High Tower
- Bullwinkle
- Big Nasty
- Lotto
- Powerball
- Mr. Crabs
- Moose
- Great 8
- Monarch
- Smoke Stacks
- Sticks
- Stubby
- Patches
- Ghost
- The Spy
- Dozer
- Mr. Miyagi
- Old Timer
- Swamp Donkey
- Corkscrew
- Max
- Rambo
- Smokeshow
- Y2K
- BC
- Booner
- Brutus
- Captain
- Buckzilla
- Zeus
- Tank
- Shrek
- Pretty Boy
- Outlaw
- Pig
- MacDaddy
- King Kong
- John Deere
- Goliath
- Empire
- Bull Buck
- Dreamer
- Splitter
- Bruiser
- Mr. October
- The Tank
- 4 x 4
- Uncle Buck
- Stickers
- The Pope
- Big Pine
- Velvet
- Casper
- Buster
- Rogue
- Secret Agent
- El Diablo
- Chupacabra
- Bull Dozer
- Ninja
- Funky Buck
- Tall Tines
- TNT
- Slash
- Genetic Perfection
- Hollywood
- Nightwalker
- Bucky
- Bubba
- November
- 007
- Tall, Dark and Handsome
- King
- Storm
- Dinner
- Big Guy
- Thrasher
- Daemon
- Longhorn
- Lone Star
- Ceasar
- Stealth
- Trash
- Swisher
- Clark
- Baelon
- Megatron
- Hulk
- Maven
- Target
- Shooter
- Diesel
- Dump Truck
- Snarls
- Basket
- Beefcake
These 100 deer names cover a lot of the bases, but it's just a start. There are so many different ways to go with giving bucks a nickname. Have fun with it!
READ MORE: Listen: Every Sound a Deer Makes and What Each Means