Big Bucks Lurking in 2019
Opening weekend of the Texas 2019-20 General “Gun” Season is just days away and it’s time to get pumped about white-tailed deer hunting. As if you weren’t already, right? General indicators suggests good age structure and exceptional antler quality in whitetail bucks in Texas this year. Yes!!!
Talking big bucks is a tried-and-true way to work whitetail hunters into a frenzy, so let’s take a look at a couple big bucks already shot during the 2019 season. The good news is that neither of these monsters were shot in Texas, so that big buck you’re after may still be hanging around your stand.
Big Buck Down in Oklahoma
Oklahoma is OK, but the state has produced some exceptional wall hangers over the years. They found a big nontypical buck in 2017. Now, a new all-time, big buck leader may have emerged in 2019. Oklahoma teenager, Guner Womack, could soon hold the record for harvesting Oklahoma’s largest typical whitetail buck.
Source: Guner says the 8×8 initially came out into the field at 40 yards. Guner didn’t have a shot, and the buck jogged off. Not long after, he showed back up pushing younger bucks around and chasing does. This time he stopped broadside at 25 yards out from Guner’s stand, and Guner took a perfect shot.
Guner has hunted since he was a little boy, but this is his first season to hunt with a bow, and the bruiser buck is the first deer he’s ever taken with his bow. Beginners luck!
Guner’s family had a history with the free-ranging whitetail, they’d watched him grow up on their land in Pawnee County and estimate he was 4.5 years old. He also showed up on their trail cameras. Guner says last season the buck’s antlers were “all broke up,” likely from fighting. They knew he’d turn into a quality deer, they just didn’t anticipated a world-class buck.
Wisconsin Hunter Arrows Big Buck Too
If you like big bucks and cannot lie then Wisconsin is a great place to hunt monster whitetails. The Badger State grows big-bodied deer and big-bodied deer produced big, heavy antlers.
Source: When Matt Wachowiak, 23, of eastern Wisconsin arrowed this giant whitetail last month, he did a lot more than fill his 2019 buck tag—he put an exclamation point at the end of a three-year campaign to ultimately take this particular animal. Wachowiak’s monster whitetail, which he killed on September 28th, sported 15 scorable points and grossed 200-2/8 inches non-typical and netted 194-4/8 typical.
“I walked in there well before light on opening morning and bumped what sounded like a big deer off the food plot. When I checked the camera later, I had pics of “The Prince” staring at me, then running off as I walked into the stand.
I was just sick. I was afraid he wouldn’t come back to the plot after that.”
Wachowiak decided to rest the farm in the wake of the encounter. “Ten days went by before I started getting pics of The Prince and Mr. Great, another buck, on that same food plot in the evening on my wireless camera,” he says. “I checked the weather, and there was a cold front coming in that weekend. The wind wasn’t right for the plot on Friday, so I decided to wait until Saturday to try him on an afternoon hunt.”
Wachowiak climbed into his stand and started seeing deer right way. “By 6:00 p.m. I’d seen 14 different deer, but no sign of the two big ones,” he says. “At 6:35 I stood up, and about five minutes later I saw Mr. Great approaching the food plot. I knew The Prince would be right behind him.
Prince stepped into the plot and was already in bow range. “I drew as The Prince stepped into the plot. He was already in bow range. I settled in, took the shot, and everything felt perfect,” Wachowiak says. “He just tore off the plot like crazy. I backed out and decided to call the neighbors, because they’d been a big part of this.
One question though: If he shot The Prince, then where is the buck they call The King? Perhaps there is another, bigger buck running around out there or they really are saving that name for something special. Now wouldn’t that be something?