Indiana Hunter Nails Crazy 21-Point Buck with Lever Gun

It might have taken Indiana’s Michael Meehan several years to connect with this whacky non-typical buck, but the wait just made the story that much better. Images courtesy of Michael Meehan

Back in 2021, Michael Meehan learned of a funky-racked buck that was roaming his 50 acres of rural Indiana land, a place he’d purchased from his grandparents. The buck’s rack has varied from year to year, but it has always been a wild non-typical.

Before continuing the story, let’s briefly rewind. Many years ago, Meehan had the unfortunate experience of losing a 6-point buck that he’d shot with a muzzleloader. The deer appeared to have expired, but when Meehan returned with his grandfather to retrieve it, the buck was gone. They tracked the deer a long way before losing the blood trail. It affected Meehan so much that he didn’t deer hunt for 20 years.

But Meehan was slowly getting back into hunting, about the time he and his family were moving to their newly purchased 50 acres. Although he had lots of experience with the property and the area around it, he hadn’t put a lot of effort into deer hunting the place. But he put out some trail cameras and caught pictures of a few nice bucks, and so he began to get a little more serious about it.

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That brings us back to 2021 and the funky non-typical. Meehan said that he put in time hunting for the cagey buck from 2021 through 2024, but he didn’t see it. The deer was, by and large, a night roamer, especially during the hunting season. In 2024, he didn’t get any trail camera pictures of it at all, and he wondered if the buck had been killed. But then he saw the animal while driving home one evening in 2024, and so he knew he still had a chance.

The buck’s rack changed from year to year. In this example, the buck has definitive main beams and drop tines.

One day in mid-November this past fall, the buck appeared on one of Meehan’s trail cameras at 10 a.m. A few days later, it appeared at 10:30 a.m. A third time, the buck showed up at 11 a.m.

“I finally put up a couple of treestands in that area,” Meehan said. “During rifle season, I hunted several times, but the only bucks I saw were a small 7-pointer and a spike. On Nov. 29, I looked out the bedroom window around 8 a.m. to see what the weather was doing because it was supposed to snow that afternoon. I noticed a big-bodied deer in a field across the road. I got my binoculars out and confirmed that it was him.”

Meehan said he considered going onto his neighbor’s property because he has permission to hunt there. However, he had an inkling the buck would wind up on his property around late morning, as it had recently done three different times. After the buck moved on, Meehan was drinking a cup of coffee when he heard a couple of gunshots, which prompted him to grab his Henry lever gun and head for the woods.

“I had walked up a ridge and was standing there debating whether I should head for one of my stands or just sit next to a tree on the ground,” he said. “I decided to stay put right where I was. I was there only 15 minutes when I heard something running through the woods. Two little does and a large doe ran through. I said, ‘OK. They’re running from something. Maybe he’s chasing them.’”

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Meehan was right. He turned his head just a little bit and spotted the buck wrapping around the hill. It stopped and looked directly at him, but continued chasing the does.

“He put his head down and took off after the does,” Meehan said. “When he got behind a beech tree, I quickly swung my gun around and got it ready. He entered a small thicket, and when he came out the other side, I barked at him. He stopped about 60 yards out, and I shot him. He jumped, kicked, and took off running. He made it about 30 yards and disappeared.”

The buck was sometimes visible during daylight, but during hunting season, it became a night mover.

Meehan held tight for a few moments, and a 4-pointer came walking along the same general route the whacky buck had been on. Once it moved off, Meehan began walking toward where his buck had been standing when he shot. He saw a deer moving in the direction his buck had run. Then it bedded down. Meehan thought that it couldn’t be his buck, so he proceeded to where his bullet had connected with the animal, and he saw lung matter on the leaves.

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“I looked where I had just seen that other deer bed down,” Meehan told, “and I saw some more movements.” Meehan realized it was his buck, and so he waited at the ready for a few more minutes. But the trophy animal was down for the count, hit through the lungs and top of the heart.

The buck’s whacky rack has 21 blades, hooks and points over one inch long. There are additional spurs that are less than one inch long.

Meehan was so excited about finally putting the elusive buck on the ground that he did a little dance. The buck’s rack has bladed tines, curled points, and stuff jutting in every direction. In all, it has 21 points that are over an inch and a bunch more spurs that are less than an inch.

“I don’t even know how to go about scoring something like this,” he said. “This isn’t the best rack he’s had. I wish I could’ve gotten him sooner. One year, he had two great big drop tines on one side and one on the other. Another year, he had one drop tine on each side. In 2024, he had one drop tine, and then in 2025, he had no drop tines. Regardless, I’m thrilled that I finally got him.”