Two southwest Iowa farm boys had been monitoring a very special buck for the past three years on family land. The more they watched the deer on trail cameras, the more obsessed they became with the buck, which they nicknamed “Big P” (short for Big Pimpin’).
One of the obsessed young men, 20-year-old Dustin Shuler, says that earlier this year, they saw the buck’s rack had exploded with more points and antler mass than they ever thought possible. But Shuler says the deer would never daylight, and the only trail cam photos they got were at night.
The hardworking son of a farmer, Shuler was running a combine on Oct. 19. He’d gotten a notification on his cell phone before dawn that morning.
“At 1:59 I got a cellular trail cam photo of Big P working a scrape. He’d hit the scrape previously, and it was near one our bale blinds in a field,” Shuler says. “It was the first time we’d seen him in 17 days.”
Shuler had received another trail cam photo around 3 a.m. that showed a doe working the same scrape. He figured if there was ever a day to catch to the buck out in the daylight, it was then. But he’d have to get off work early if he wanted a chance to hunt.
“I begged my dad to take over for me running the combine so I could hunt that afternoon, and he did,” Shuler says. “As it turned out, it was the greatest gift a father could give his son.”
Shuler was out of the combine and ready to go by 4:30 p.m. He reached out to his hunting buddy Matthew Johnston, who’d been tracking Big P along with him. The two friends went to the same large field but sat in different stands about a half-mile apart.
“I was in the bale blind about 5 p.m.,” Shuler says. “Matthew had his bow and he got in another blind at the other end of the field. We were both watching an overgrown ditch-line along the field edge.”
Although he’s a bowhunter, Shuler brought a muzzleloader with him to the stand that afternoon. He’d borrowed the old CVA 50-caliber rifle from Johnston’s father, who runs Midwest Antler Company, a deer and turkey outfitter.
“That old muzzleloader has shot more deer than most people have seen,” the elder Johnston tells Outdoor Life.
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After settling into the bale blind, Shuler saw Big P around 6:45 p.m. The deer steeped out of the ditch along the field edge and headed straight for the scrape that was just 22 yards from his blind.
“I was shaking so bad when I put that scope behind Big P’s shoulder. I pulled the trigger and smoke went everywhere. I was in total shock,” Shuler recalls. “I thought I made a good shot, and before the smoke cleared, I heard him crash in the ditch out of sight.”
Shuler called his buddy Johnston right away.
“He never heard my shot, so he didn’t believe me at first. But I told him he better come over because I’d need help dragging him out.”
After about an hour, Johnston showed up and the two hunters went to the spot where Big P was standing when Shuler fired. The 250-grain Hornady bullet had done its job, and the buck was lying dead a short distance away.
After transporting the buck to a farm building, they put it on a scale where it weighed 255 pounds. But it’s the giant, non-typical rack that really stands out.
“Big P had 30 scoreable points, and three others that were broken off from fighting or rubbing trees,” Shuler says. “We figure he’s five or six years old.”
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Looking back on the hunt, the young man says has no regrets about taking the buck with the borrowed muzzleloader. But he still can’t get over how close Big P was when he finally got his opportunity.
“At 22 yards he was set up perfectly for my bow, and I’m still kicking myself for not having it with me,” Shuler says. “But I never dreamed Big P would be so close that evening.”
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