5 Giant Full-Rut Bucks From Last Fall

With the entire rut ahead of us, these big-buck stories should get you pumped up to be in the woods this November. Image courtesy of Gavin Glance

Some hunters love the early-season, when big bucks are easy to pattern as they amble out into beanfields late in the evening. Others look forward to the late season, when snow blankets the landscape and deer can pile into crop fields by the dozens. But in between are all stages of the rut. From the time the scrape lines get heavy until the final doe is bred, there’s nothing quite like this spectacle of nature, and most deer hunters live to experience it.

During the rut, anything can happen. You can go for hours without seeing a deer, and then bam, out pops the buck of a lifetime. If that prospect doesn’t get you out of bed this November, maybe the stories behind these monster bucks taken during the 2024 rut will.

Bryan Potter’s Maryland Double-Dropper

You’d expect a buck like this to have been killed in the Midwest, but Bryan Potter outlived this beast in Maryland. Image courtesy of Bryan Potter

Few deer hunters think of Maryland as a hotspot for big rutting whitetails. But Bryan Potter does. On Nov. 21, he headed out with high hopes of encountering a mature buck. During the morning hunt, he saw one, and it bred a doe not too far from his stand. Potter didn’t get a shot and decided to head in for a quick lunch at around 11 a.m. Then he quickly got back into his stand.

He was checking trail camera pictures on his phone when he came across an image of a buck that he hadn’t encountered or captured on trail camera since 2022. The deer was unreal, sporting kickers and double drop tines. Little did Potter know he’d kill the monarch only hours later.

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That afternoon he saw some does, which acted nervous due to the high winds and probably the rutting bucks cruising around the area. An 8-pointer appeared after Potter completed a grunting and rattling sequence, and then the giant drop-tine buck revealed itself 150 yards away. As the buck approached, Potter tracked it in his crossbow scope. When it walked into the open 30 yards away, he anchored the 211-inch buck right where it stood.

Potter’s success was the product of a few things. First, he’d passed up some nice bucks throughout the season. Second, he hunted a lot, logging about 80 sits. Spicing things up with a little grunting and rattling didn’t hurt, either.

Brandon Sheets’s 3-Year Quest for a 214-Incher

Brandon Sheets sneaked in tight to a doe bedding area and caught this buck chasing a doe one afternoon. Image courtesy of Brandon Sheets

Most deer hunters never see a 200-class whitetail, and only a handful get to put one on the ground. If there’s a place to try for Club 200, it’s Ohio, especially during November, as Brandon Sheets’s 2024 monster proved.

Sheets had known of the huge buck since 2022 and in 2023, he ramped up his trail camera strategy. The animal was truly elusive, and despite Sheets’s efforts, the buck only walked in front of his trail cameras twice.

In 2024, EHD hit the area relatively hard, and Sheets worried the disease had claimed the massive buck. But lo and behold, the giant appeared on one of his trail cameras in October, and it was game on.

Just as dusk fell on Nov. 8, Sheets saw a big-bodied buck, but couldn’t distinguish the antlers. He was pretty certain it was the buck that had been ghosting him. After giving the buck time to move on before climbing down from his stand, a nearby trail camera alerted his phone. The photo corroborated his suspicion. It was indeed the huge buck.

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The following evening, Sheets slipped in tight to a doe bedding area with his climbing stand, ready to roll by 1 p.m. Two hours later, a 140-class buck and two does came and bedded right beneath him. The three deer suddenly bolted, and soon after, a doe came running onto the scene from directly downwind. Loud, guttural grunts got Sheets’s attention, and before he knew it, he had plugged the 214-inch buck with his crossbow.

World-class bucks don’t often make mistakes, but this one finally did after three tough seasons. Getting in tight to the doe bedding area was the key to success on this one.

James Harden’s Giant Kentucky Typical

A typical whitetail doesn’t get much prettier than this. Young James Harden missed the buck, but connected on his second attempt. Image courtesy of Harden family

You know the saying, “too big for your britches?” Some might think that of an 11-year-old lad who had the goal of shooting a 200-inch buck. But Kentucky’s James Harden has determination beyond his years, and that’s a big deal when hunting big deer. Plus, he’d already killed two bucks that scored 160 or better in previous seasons. As it turned out, he came very close to taking his 200-inch buck last fall.

The story began when the young fellow picked up the buck’s sheds in the spring; he was sure the deer would grow into a monster. And it did. All summer, the Hardens watched the buck grow and grow.

James put in his time bowhunting, and while the buck was consistent on the trail cameras, it didn’t show up when he was bowhunting. Gun season was another story. Hunting under his father’s supervision, James got a crack at the buck when it came out to check on four does, but his shot missed.

Bewildered, the buck only lifted its head, then focused on the does. James’s second shot connected, and the buck ran only 50 yards. James’s 190-inch typical didn’t quite meet his 200-inch goal, but that gives him something to work toward this season!

Cory Arbogast And the Buck That Passed Some Gas

Cory Arbogast knew this 187-inch buck was getting close to his stand because it ripped off a loud fart just before it came into view. Image courtesy of Cory Arbogast

Most successful big-buck hunters use trail cameras to identify target bucks and create hunting plans. But Cory Arbogast didn’t have any cameras on the small property where he killed a giant last year. He knew a huge deer was in the area, though, and several neighbors confirmed it.

He wasn’t hunting that specific buck when he hit the Ohio timber on Oct. 26. He knows that mature bucks regularly pass through the property and was keeping his options open. Just 20 minutes into the morning, he heard what he described as the “longest and loudest fart I have maybe ever heard.” He turned his attention in that direction. Next, he heard a couple of deep grunts, so he grunted back.

In seconds, a huge buck emerged from the cover less than 20 yards away, and as Arbogast shifted into position, his shirt rubbed against his stand, making just enough noise to alert the buck. The deer made one bound, then stopped to assess the noise. That’s when the hunter found the buck’s shoulder in his crossbow scope and took his shot.

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The hit was great, but the buck managed to run off the property. Fortunately, Arbogast already had permission to the next property, and the blood trail ended in a huge thicket where his buck expired. The buck had 16 scorable points and grossed 187 inches.

Arbogast’s success was likely the product of his ability to find small parcels that aren’t hunted, then getting permission to hunt on them. The property that produced this outstanding buck is hardly 50 yards wide in some places, but it is hedged by a neighborhood on one side and a large farm that no one hunts on the other. You have to hunt where big bucks roam to kill one, and Arbogast did just that.

Gavin Glance’s Freakish 24-Point North Carolina Nontypical

Gavin Glance bought a property in spring 2024. He started getting trail camera pictures of this phenomenal buck. He missed the deer with his muzzleloader and then got another chance at it later that same day. That’s the rut for you. Image courtesy of Gavin Glance

Can you imagine getting a crack at an elusive 190-class whitetail and missing? Gavin Glance’s head was in his hands once the smoke from his muzzleloader cleared on Nov. 9, 2024. He watched the buck leave his property and stop in front of a neighbor’s blind. Apparently, the neighbor should’ve been hunting that morning, but wasn’t for some reason.

Glance’s shot was 250 yards, and he’d practiced enough to be confident in taking it. The missed opportunity hurt. The buck had been very sporadic on Glance’s trail cameras, sometimes coming by once every 10 to 12 days. And bucks this huge aren’t very common in North Carolina, either.

After checking the muzzleloader, the hunter learned that something was wrong. It was shooting accurately out to 120 yards but high at longer distances. After missing the 250-yard shot on the buck and now seeing that his gun had an issue, he simply cleaned the barrel and vowed not to shoot beyond 120 yards. And he jumped right back in the saddle for the afternoon hunt.

Lo and behold, the same thicket that the buck had disappeared into that morning produced the monster again, just out of range. The buck was coming Glance’s way, but faded into the brush. Five minutes later, the nontypical reappeared and was 120 yards away and closing. When it stopped 100 yards away, the gun barked, and this time, the buck dropped in his tracks. The 24-pointer had 25-inch main beams and scored 194 inches.

Glance’s opportunity to hunt the North Carolina super buck was the culmination of a dream come true. He’d always dreamed of owning a property where he could both live and hunt, and he settled on one earlier in 2024. It seems to have been in the right spot.