This is the kind of deer that most of can only daydream about seeing.
Michigan's firearm deer season is a magical time of year where anything can happen and big bucks can and do often fall in that 15-day window every year.
For the big bucks that fall, it often does not take long for them to start going viral. That was the case with this beast taken by John Hatt in 2017. John started off hunting in Kansas before returning because he had a monster showing up on cam regularly back at home! The buck green-scored an astonishing 195 3/8 and quickly took the Internet by storm.
You can hear the story of this buck of a lifetime from the man who shot it in the video below.
What a great story and an amazing deer. Michigan isn't exactly well known as a big-buck state, but John's story proves some trophy bucks do show up here every year. Unfortunately, deductions to this animal ended up costing him. It made Boone and Crockett's record books, but just barely. It ended up netting somewhere in the low 170s. Still the buck of a lifetime and one that any hunter would be proud to put up on their wall. The mass and giant brow tines are enough for any hunter to do a double-take!
This buck actually only fell only about 15 miles from where I hunt. I know firsthand how hard it is to get a buck after Nov. 15, much less a buck of this caliber, especially 10 days into the season! For perspective, I've only shot a buck over 2.5 years old twice in 20 years of hunting past November 20th. That's just how extreme the hunting pressure is. From one Van Buren County hunter to another, congratulations on a once-in-a-lifetime animal, John!
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For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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