The 2024 deer season is underway all across the country, and giant bucks are already falling fast. So, while you're plotting and planning your own encounter with big whitetail, we'll be providing inspiration all season long by updating this story with the latest and biggest bucks taken by your fellow hunters—for you to gawk at and think, Why not me?
We're kicking things off with the top early-season whitetails (and one muley) taken in September and early October, including a couple of 200-inch velvet monsters and one of the widest bucks you'll ever see. Here are 13 giants from the first month and half of the 2024 deer season.
1. 199-Inch Velvet Giant
Kentucky bowhunter Jacob Deaton arrowed this huge, velvet nontypical on September 7 after a three-year chase in the northern part of the Bluegrass State. According to his taxidermist, the buck's green score came in just shy of 200 inches. When Deaton recovered the buck, he was surprised that its rack was still in full velvet. "I thought for sure that his horns had hardened out when I was looking at him the night before," he told F&S. "I guess I was so focused on his body, and so full of adrenaline, that I didn't even notice the velvet." You can read the full story of Deaton's buck here.
2. Manitoba Monster
Manitoba hunter Evan Proctor arrowed this 218-inch giant nontypical on the evening of September 22—but not without a few close calls first. Proctor had the buck at 19 yards on the August 26th bow opener, but the deer spook before he could shoot. Then, three weeks later, the buck walked into bow range, looked directly at Proctor in his tree stand and bolted. “After that encounter, I was almost 100% certain there was no possible way of killing this buck with an arrow,” the hunter told F&S.
But Proctor wasn’t giving up and, on the evening of September 22, the huge buck gave him one more opportunity. “I’d sat in the stand for 22 days, and I knew the distance to every blade of grass in that field,” Proctor laughed. “He stopped at 30 yards, and I was ready and waiting and the arrow was on its way." The buck mule-kicked, ran off, and disappeared into some long grass. "I’d just shot the biggest buck I’d ever seen, and ever will see.” You can read the full story of Proctor's buck here.
3. Extra-Wide Load
When we first saw the photos of Tanner Stay's buck, we wondered the same thing some of you may be thinking now: Is this thing for real? The buck is certainly turning heads—and raising some eyebrows—on the internet. But based on our conversation with the hunter as well as additional trail-cam video and photos, it seems like the buck is both for real and one of the widest whitetail we've every profiled.
Stay took the giant whitetail during an evening archery hunt in Monroe County, Missouri on September 25. He unofficially measured its wide, typical rack at just over 185 inches. "He had 29-inch main beams and 25 inches of width," he told F&S. "I think he’s gonna go number one for typical 10-point in the state.” You can read the full story of Stay's huge buck here.
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4. Twenty-Acre 200-Incher
After spotting a colossal buck feeding in a beanfield last summer, Ohio County sheriff’s deputy Will Grodhaus found himself very excited about the upcoming archery season. “Trouble was, the beanfield was right next to a chunk of public ground," he told F&S. “The buck was so visible, I was sure others knew about him too.” Grodhaus did a little research and found a 20-acre private parcel nearby and got permission to hunt it from the landowner.
“I put out a mineral block and a wireless camera in August and, 46 minutes after I left, I got a picture on my phone of the same buck,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it.” Grodhaus knew he was close to the buck’s bedding area and set a stand on an oak flat near the camera. Only a few days into the opening week, Grodhaus had the buck at 25 yards and, and although it was legal shooting light, he couldn’t see well enough through his peep sight to make a good shot. “I let him go and prayed I’d get another chance, which I did on October 3.” That day there was plenty of light, and Grodhaus sent a lethal arrow through the Buckeye State giant, a main-frame 10-point that grossed 200-4/8 inches on the Buckmasters (BTR) scoring system.
5. Great 8
Kentucky bowhunter Brandon Burman took this incredibly tall-racked 8-pointer on the evening of September 23. Measured by BTR scorer Dale Weddle, the buck had only a 14-inch spread, but it's towering tines pushed it to an impressive 174-⅛-inch gross score. Not many 8-pointers crack the 170-inch barrier, but that's especially true with such a modest spread measurement. “Thanks to Deedee, Cecil, and Josh Newton,” Burman said. “We all worked hard for this buck, and I’m so grateful for them, as well as for my wife Alexis…and God.”
6. Teen Tank
Ava Kirtley was hunting with her father and a family friend during the Indiana youth season when this monster 12-pointer stepped out in front of their elevated box blind. "I think about 10 seconds passed from the time she saw him to the time she made the shot," her dad Kevin Kirtley told F&S. "I was worried that she might have missed him because she aimed and took the shot so quickly."
But Ava's shot was dead on. "It was a perfect heart shot," her dad said. "He didn't go more than 25 yards. I was so proud of her." The buck's unofficial green score came in at 184 inches B&C. You can read the full story of Kirtley's buck here.
7. Talk About a Headache
Anyone needing proof that mature bucks are tough as nails need only look at Noah Dresbach’s 2024 Ohio buck. Dresbach, owner of Elite Outfitters, had been following a buck he’d named “50 Cent” for several seasons. “Last fall I heard that a hunter on a neighboring property had made a bad shot on the buck,” he said. “We started getting pics of the deer with an arrow that went into his head but obviously didn’t kill him. I was sure he wouldn’t survive the winter, but last spring I found his sheds and was amazed to know he’d made it.” Dresbach kept track of the buck over the summer and, on the afternoon of October 2, caught up with him on a turnip-and-radish food plot. The 5X5 sported a 21-inch inside spread, 27-inch beams, 45 inches of mass, and gross-scored 171-⅜.
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8. The Ups and Downs of Bowhunting
Tommy Gliatta had his eye on this Ohio buck all during the 2023 season. “But I was actually hunting a bigger deer, so I didn't go after this one very hard,” Gliatta told us. “After he disappeared from my cameras, I figured he was dead. But this summer he was the first buck that I got on camera, so the chase was on.”
Unfortunately, on his first opportunity to hunt, Gliatta had to move his stand to accommodate an unusual wind, and the stand come out from under him. Gliatta fell more than 20 feet and landed on his head and shoulder. “After an ambulance ride to the ER, I laid in the trauma bay that evening and watched the buck come past my camera right on cue,” he recalled.
“I had no broken bones, but I did have a small tear in my windpipe and a partially torn rotator cuff, which kept me holed up in the hospital for several days so they could make sure my windpipe was healing on its own. Finally I got discharged early one afternoon, got a ride home, gathered all my gear, and headed straight for the woods. I ended up sitting on the ground in a makeshift blind in a log pile. Shortly before dark, I scanned the woods and there he was, just inside the wood line. He stopped with his head behind a tree at 50 yards, so I settled in with my 50 yard crosshair—I was hunting with a crossbow due to my banged up shoulder—and let it fly.” Gliatta’s buck has 11 scorable points and an unofficial score of 165 inches B&C. The buck was 5-½ years old.
9. Missouri Public-Land Stud
We profiled Allen two falls ago, when he arrowed a giant buck on public ground in Kentucky. Well Allen was back at it this year, on the hunt for a Missouri buck he’d encountered in 2022. “The buck busted me that fall, but I scouted that tract over and over and knew it so well I thought I had a good shot at him this fall, if he was still alive,” Allen said. Well the buck was alive and well and using an oak flat that had been part of Allen’s 2024 scouting plan. “The evening of October 4th I hung my mobile set on a drain head that led up to the oak flat from a creek,” he said. “ At 5:45 in the evening I heard a deer walking in the leaves about 70 yards away, and 15 minutes later I heard a deer cough in the same spot. He stayed there for 45 minutes so I was starting to get fearful that he would just stay put for the entire evening. I decided to be aggressive and I let out a snort wheeze and I spotted a deer headed my way. As soon as I put my binos on him, I knew it was a buck that I had called ‘The 9’, a buck I’d been hunting for 3 years. He closed the distance to 17 yards and I went to full draw for 3-½ minutes before he stepped out into a clear shooting lane. I lined up my top pin behind his shoulder and put an end to the story on the buck of a lifetime for me.” Allen’s gorgeous 10-point grossed 168-4/8 B&C.
10. 200-Inch Spot-and-Stalk Muley
Yes, we know the title says "Biggest Whitetail Bucks," but we didn't want to deprive you of this giant velvet muley. When Keaton Artherton started getting pics of the buck last June, he knew the buck had potential. Then the buck disappeared for over a month, and when it reappeared at the end of July, the buck’s rack had positively exploded. “Right then, I knew that he was a 200-inch buck, and he still had some growing to do,” Artherton said. “I saw him once on a scouting trip before the season, and he was hanging out in one saddle with six other bucks.” When the season opened, Artherton had to sift through several other bucks before he could locate this one. When he finally found the tall-racked giant, it took a couple days of observation and oh-so-close stalks before he finally snuck within bow range.
Early on the morning of the final hunt, Atherton glassed the muley on a hillside with four other bucks and watch until they bedded down. It took him two hours to stalk within 28 yards and deliver a fatal arrow when the buck finally stood. The velvet muley grossed 217-4/8 inches B&C.
11. Great 8, No. 2
Many of us avoid hunting in the morning during early season, nervous that we'll spook a mature buck as he heads back to bed. But Kentuckian Jason Taylor used cameras to prove that the buck he was after—a towering 8-pointer still in velvet—had abandoned his evening daylight feeding sessions and switched to mornings. Using wind and cover, Taylor was able to sneak into a shooting house overlooking a food plot well before dawn. “As daylight came, I could see multiple deer feeding, and one of them was ‘Amigo’, the buck I was after,” Taylor told F&S. “He was about 65 yards out when all the deer suddenly went on high alert, and then a single doe stomped and blew, causing the deer to trot toward me and Amigo followed.” Soon the spooked deer–Taylor assumed a coyote spooked them–were relaxed and feeding again. Amigo finally fed to within bow range, and Taylor made good on the 40-yard shot.
12. Bluff Country Booner
When she’s not busy teaching middle school, Lisa Boyum hunts the deer-rich bluff country of southeast Minnesota. As the Gopher State archery season opened in mid-September, Boyum had her sights set on a buck she and her husband, Brady, had known for three seasons. Boyum had two close-but-not-close-enough encounters with the buck from a Maverick blind that the couple had mounted on a platform they’d attached to a mobile gravity wagon, which they moved to take advantage of the buck’s favorite travel route along a hayfield and timber edge that led to a beanfield. On the evening of October 1, the buck finally walked within range of Boyum’s crossbow, and she made good on the shot. The 15-point buck had a gross B&C score of 176 inches and field dressed 223 pounds. The buck was Boyum’s second whitetail that scored 160 B&C or better.
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