Recurve Hunter Takes Giant Indiana Buck After 3-Year Quest

Darron Giancola likes to do things the old way. He rarely runs trail cameras and he hunts exclusively with traditional archery equipment. Two years ago, he saw a monster buck early in the season. That one sighting was all he had, and he assumed another hunter had harvested the buck because he didn’t see it again.

After getting a fleeting glance at a monster buck in 2023, Indiana hunter Darron Giancola wasn’t sure if he would ever see the deer again, much less get a shot with his recurve. Images courtesy of Darron Giancola

For most of the 2024 season, Giancola, a sheriff’s deputy, was working a big case that consumed most of his time. Even with minimal free time, he managed to take a nice buck on his second sit of the season. But he never saw the big buck that he had encountered the previous year.

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In 2025, Giancola was hunting his favorite farm, the same property where he had encountered the big buck two seasons prior. The farm is mostly cropland and runs along a river corridor. The steep banks offer cover and travel routes for the deer to move from one field to another.

In late October, he was in a stand when a giant buck stepped out just 20 yards behind him. Giancola turned around and started to draw.

Giancola had the buck in range on an October hunt, but wasn’t able to get a shot.

“You know how it goes,” Giancola explained. “The buck took a few steps, and I didn’t have a clear shot. He stood there teasing me for what felt like an eternity with branches covering his vitals, then he turned and walked away. I was so shook up just from seeing him that I thought to myself, ‘How am I ever going to make a shot on this buck if he gives me another chance?’”

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Thinking back on the encounter, he quickly realized it was the same buck that he had seen in 2023.

That encounter fueled Giancola’s jets, and it was game on. He vowed that it would be that deer or no deer at all. He knew the buck was using the cover along the river, so he concentrated on that area. In three years, he had only seen the buck twice during daylight, so the odds were certainly against him.

In three years, Giancola had only seen the buck during daylight hours two times.

On Nov. 7, Giancola headed to his stand, which is nestled about 12 feet up in a large maple tree. He hadn’t been there long when a small fork-horned buck stepped out. The little buck stayed nearby, getting dangerously close to catching the hunter’s scent.

“He was acting strangely, almost as if he was nervous, but I didn’t think he knew I was there,” Giancola said.

Suddenly, the woods near the young buck seemed to explode. The giant buck erupted from the cover and charged the four-pointer, bringing him within range of the waiting hunter. Unfortunately, the buck was moving too quickly for a shot.

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The big buck pursued the four-point, trying to gore it as he went out into the nearby field. The young buck slipped around the larger buck and returned to the cover. Minutes later, the old buck came back into view. Instead of taking the steep trail the younger buck had chosen, the big buck made its way through a low spot along the berm.

That trail led the deer right by the waiting hunter. When he stopped broadside 21 yards away, Giancola drew back the TTT Custom String on his Stalker Stickbow recurve and released an arrow. His aim was true, and he watched the Magnus Stinger sink into the buck right where he’d aimed.

“The arrow fully penetrated and slammed into the offside shoulder. It sounded like I’d hit a two-by-four,” Giancola said.

The giant buck chased a young four-point within bow range of Giancola, offering him a broadside shot in the process.

At the shot, the buck kicked and lurched forward to the riverbank. He was just 20 yards away, and Giancola could see the deer spitting blood. He thought the animal was about to go down, but he prepared to take another shot when a doe suddenly stepped out of the nearby cover. The buck immediately homed in on her and followed her out into the nearby field. The hot doe had been the reason the older buck was so intent on keeping the four-pointer at bay.

Giancola watched the old warrior follow the doe, wobbling from side to side as it went another 60 yards out into the open field, where it fell.

“Even mortally wounded, he was still trying to get to that doe,” Giancola said. “That is the power of the rut.”

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He knew the buck was big, but as he walked up to the fallen giant, Giancola marveled at the size of the antlers.

“I’ve taken some nice bucks, but this one easily tops them all,” he detailed. “No one up here hunts with traditional equipment, and most hunters don’t understand just how much commitment it takes to hunt this way. To see it all wrap up in that moment was incredible. I can’t really describe the emotions I felt.”

Giancola hasn’t had the buck scored, but estimates the heavy five-by-five frame with a split brow tine will tape out somewhere in the mid 170s. “I’m not one to get hung up on scores,” he admitted. “It’s about the hunt and the challenge of going after mature deer with traditional equipment that makes me happy.”

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