By Dean Weimer

When you think of Midwest states renowned for producing record-class bucks, more than one begins with the letter "I" - but Indiana isn't on the list. Unlike Iowa and Illinois, which both turn out great numbers of impressive deer, Indiana has never been any closer than a distant third on the region's "I" list.

But that might be changing.

In 1995, the state's antlerless-tag allocation system was liberalized, because there were too many deer. Hunters responded by harvesting a lot of surplus does. This approach has continued, to a lesser degree, since then. As a result, some pressure has been taken off the male sector of the herd.

In 2002, another positive change occurred. At the request of a section of Indiana hunters, the DNR began a five-year trial of allowing each hunter to take only one antlered buck per year. This has further reduced pressure on the male segment of the herd, despite a continuation of the long (16 days) gun season during the peak of the November rut.

Another trend has started here that is also improving the age structure of our bucks. The philosophies of the modern Quality Deer Management (QDM) principles have taken hold. Many residents are slowly coming around to accept their roles as deer managers: managers who focus on, among other things, passing up young bucks and harvesting excess does. Hunters all over the state have begun to micro-manage the herds they hunt, with excellent results. The combination of these three factors has allowed more bucks to survive into maturity, causing many Indiana big-buck enthusiasts to get excited.

When the five-year single-buck experiment began, I predicted that one or more of our state records for bucks would be toppled in that period. I told anyone, and everyone, who would listen (most people try to avoid me if they can) that the most likely culprit would be Dwight Bates' and Stacy Winkler's 193 7/8-inch typical shotgun record.

Well, I was wrong about the weapon, but pretty close on the score - thanks to an avid 22-year-old resident whitetail hunter.

In recent years there have been some enormous bucks harvested throughout the entire Midwest, and consequently yet another trend has emerged: People have been giving these mega-bucks catchy nicknames.

World-class non-typicals such as Jerry Bryant's 304 3/8-inch "Bryant Giant" from Illinois and Tony Lovstuen's "Iowa Walking World Record" seem to merit such catchy monikers, because they're truly among the all-time greats. But it's time for them to share the spotlight with a great Indiana typical that came out of the 2003 season. Shaun Harvey is the hunter's name, and thus there can be only one nickname to fit his world-class whitetail: the "Harvey Wall-Hanger."

Shaun Harvey's buck has so much palmation that many folks ask if he's a moose! Their awe is understandable; the mass totals a shocking 61 7/8 inches of the buck's gross typical score of 197 7/8. Photo by Dean Weimer

"Dad is the one who got me involved with all of this," Shaun points out. "I've been fishing with him since I could walk."

Shaun also began his deer hunting career early. Kent would take his young son with him and set him up in his stands with him. Kent devised a rope with a ring on the end of it to help Shaun steady his gun when he was a boy. In fact, Shaun used this steadying device to kill his first deer, a doe, at the age of 9. Shaun shot his first buck, a nice 10-pointer, when he was 12.

Since then, the Harveys have enjoyed many fine days afield together. "If it had anything to do with the outdoors, I was doing it," Shaun explains. In fact, Kent and Shaun have become very successful fishermen and hunters. Their hunting interests include ducks, geese, coyotes, rabbits and deer. They have many fine bucks to their credit, as evidenced by the many large mounts on the walls of their home and racks on the walls of their family hunting "headquarters."

Shaun's passion for the outdoors also led him to pursue a career in Conservation Law Enforcement at the University of Evansville after graduating from North White High School in 2000. He completed a two-year course and received his degree. "I had a lot of courses in which we studied all aspects of wildlife," he says.

Shaun has also recently "graduated" to a higher level of deer hunting. Like many other hunters across the state, he's now passing up immature bucks in hopes of harvesting an older, larger one.

On the Harvey land sits a rustic, quaint building known as the "Harvey shabin" (a combination shack-cabin). This is the family's base for hunting. Every year some members of their family spend the night before the gun season opener in the shabin. Shawn's uncle Kevin and cousins Dusty and Kayle Harvey drive down from Wisconsin every year to participate in the family event.

"The rubs were bigger than normal and higher up on the trees than normal," states the hunter. In fact, while doing our photo shoot for this feature, Shaun and I found a telephone-pole-sized fence post that had been rubbed. It was actually one of the fence posts on which we hung the mounted rack for pictures! Was this rub made by the buck Shaun shot? That could have been the case, though, as Shaun says, "there were other good (bucks) in the area."

One other good one in particular was a wide 130-class 8-pointer Shaun had seen several times. In fact, on the day before the gun opener, he passed up a gimme bow shot at this Pope & Young-class deer.

"I saw three bucks that night, all within range," Shaun recalls. "You could tell it was a young deer." Shaun was holding out for something bigger, and it wouldn't take long for the wisdom of that decision to become obvious.

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