4 Years of History Ends With a 207-Inch Illinois Monster

Back in 2021, Jordan Bair took note of an up-and-coming 3.5-year-old buck on his trail cameras. Then, the buck already sported a kicker point on the inside of its left main beam, and Jordan dubbed the buck “Extra.” He put the deer on his watchlist.

Illinois bowhunter Jordan Bair and his family had a rollercoaster of events while hunting this buck, which Bair finally connected with this October. Image by Jordan Bair

In 2022, the buck made a big jump on the antler front. Still sporting the kicker point responsible for its name, Extra was now a trophy that just about any hunter would be proud to take.

Don’t Miss: 5 GIANT FULL-RUT BUCKS FROM LAST FALL

“I knew he still had loads of potential,” Jordan said. “He was on a regular pattern. If I had gone in there, I feel like I would have gotten a shot. I didn’t want to be tempted, so I didn’t hunt him at all that year.”

Jordan purposely didn’t hunt the buck in 2022, hoping he would continue to pack on antler. Image by Jordan Bair

The following year, Jordan’s patience paid off. The 5 1/2-year-old buck blew up to around 185 inches. He and his father, Ronnie, both decided it was time. They hunted hard, and on Halloween night, Ronnie was in the stand overlooking a buck decoy. The big buck came in, giving him a shot. Unfortunately, the arrow hit high in the shoulder, and the buck ran away. After searching for a while with no luck, the Bairs called for a tracking dog. Even then, they were unable to find the buck.

In 2024, following the high shoulder hit, the buck lost considerable antler, but gained it all back and then some this year. Image by Jordan Bair

That’s because the buck had survived. Two days later, it even showed back up on a trail camera. Jordan worried that, if it made it through winter, the buck would shrink the coming year as it recovered from the wound.

Don’t Miss: BOWHUNTER ARROWS 22-POINT BUCK FROM THE GROUND

His fears were founded. The following year, the buck showed up, still with his trademark inside kicker point, but much smaller all the way around. Jordan estimated him to be in the mid-150s. Even though he was smaller than the previous season, the buck was now 6.5 years old and on the list. In October, Jordan’s wife, Kayla, got a chance at the buck but shot just beneath it — a clean miss. On Thanksgiving Day, Jordan also missed the buck clean. Did the buck have nine lives? Time would tell.

This September, Jordan got a trail camera photo that immediately caught his attention. It was the buck, now 7 years old, and it was massive. “It was the first velvet photo I’d ever gotten of him,” he said. “He usually didn’t show until later in the year.”

The giant buck had packed on what appeared to be 50-60 additional inches of antler over the previous year.

“Besides showing up in velvet, the big buck was doing other things he had never done before,” Jordan said. “I noticed a pattern. After every rain, he would show up in the evening at a small clover plot next to a creek.”

The old buck was doing things this year that he had never done before, including several daylight photos and showing up for the first time in velvet. Image by Jordan Bair

With rain in the forecast, then a cold front on Oct. 6 and 7, Jordan knew where he needed to be.

“I needed a north wind to hunt the clover plot, and that is what they were calling for on the seventh. I was pretty confident that I’d at least see the buck and maybe get a shot that evening.”

Don’t Miss: BOWHUNTER CHANCES BAD WIND, ARROWS MONSTER BUCK ON 90-DEGREE DAY

After climbing into his stand around 3 in the afternoon, the action started early with a group of does around 4 o’clock. The deer fed around for about an hour, eventually moving out of view.

“Around 6, I was starting to get a little worried that he wasn’t going to show,” Jordan said. “Then I looked up and saw antlers coming down the trail.”

The buck was 65 yards away and closing. Self-filming the hunt, Jordan followed along with his camera. The buck stopped to feed at just 26 yards, but some limbs prevented an open shot. It fed around for nearly 12 minutes, never offering a shot. Then, it happened. A walnut fell behind the buck, striking a rock in the creek with a loud smack.

Startled, the big buck lurched forward into one of Jordan’s shooting lanes. Noticing the buck wasn’t in his camera’s viewfinder, he came to full draw and gently nudged the camera with his bow limb until the buck appeared on screen. He took a deep breath, settled his pin, and released the arrow.

The broadhead hit exactly where he was aiming, the arrow disappearing just behind the buck’s shoulder. The giant deer took off on a dead run, head down and tail helicoptering in circles as he fled.

Jordan heard the buck crash, then all was silent.

“I sat down and thought about what had just happened,” he recounted. “We’d been watching and chasing this buck for years now. Our farm isn’t a giant tract of land, and the surrounding neighbors all hunt. I was sure the buck would slip up during shotgun season, and a neighbor would tag him. It’s really remarkable how the big ones just seem to know how to survive.”

The remarkable buck featured 19 scorable points and taped out at over 207 inches. Image by Jordan Bair

The blood trail was short and easy. When Jordan finally put his hands on the world-class rack, he counted up 19 scorable points. He was shell-shocked by how monstrous the buck had become. All told, the rack taped out at a mind-blowing 207 4/8 inches. Missing a buck is usually a bad thing, but when all was said and done, Jordan is thrilled that he missed the buck last year.

Don’t Miss: MONSTER BUCK GIVES SON THE SLIP, DAD KILLS IT INSTEAD