Brandon Burman, right, poses with his hunting friends after tagging "Meathead" — a massive Kentucky 8-point that the trio had been watching for three seasons.
April 14, 2025
By Clifford Neames
When Brandon Burman called his buddy, Dee Dee, and said “BINGO,” there was no question about what that meant. Brandon was telling him that the biggest 8-point he had ever seen was lying dead just 65 yards from the excited hunter’s stand! Incredibly, “Meathead” had fallen on Brandon’s very first hunt for the giant buck, but the story actually began two years earlier.
In 2022, a good looking 2 ½-year-old showed up on the Kentucky tract Brandon hunts with his two buddies. His mass set him apart from others of that year, so he became one to watch.
He blossomed the following year, but still didn’t make it into the shooter category. Brandon had multiple opportunities to tag him that season, but held off knowing he would be much bigger next season.
He and his wife were expecting their first child then, an event highly anticipated by his Nana. Sadly, she passed just before the baby arrived, an event that threw a big damper on Brandon’s time in the woods. He struggled with the roller coaster of emotions and finished that season without tagging a deer.
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By the bow opener in 2024, however, he was ready to go again, and Meathead had become a world-class typical 8-point. Brandon had scheduled the whole first week away from work, but a bad wind knocked out any chance of hunting the first afternoon.
“I was extremely anxious, but knew that I was only going to have one chance,” he said. “If I blew it then, it was likely I would never see him again.”
To gain a further edge on the mega-eight, Brandon borrowed his brother-in-law’s HECS suit for the next day’s hunt.
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“I’m not sure if it works on deer, but I have had some amazing results on turkey hunts,” he explained. “My stand had plenty of cover with the leaves still on the trees, but I wasn’t taking any chances."
After sitting for nearly three hours that next afternoon without seeing anything, he saw a cardinal land just a few feet away. That brought Brandon to thinking about his Nana again, so he decided to go over how much she had meant to him, addressing her silently for a few minutes. Then he reached out to our Creator, thanking him for his son and the opportunity to hunt.
“After that I was feeling a lot better, and almost immediately noticed a deer headed my way across the field,” he continued. “My first thought was what deer is that? Then I said, oh — that’s him!”
The next few minutes were tense, as the monster moved into a position where Brandon could take a shot with his bow.
“I was convinced I would have to shoot him at 50, then he got right under me,” he recalled. “Then he moved out into the open and stopped right on top of a turkey feather I had ranged at 27 yards earlier.”
The arrow caught the big buck right in the vitals and his death run began.
“I watched him jump the fence and heard a big crash,” Brandon finished. “Then, I grabbed my phone!”
Under examination, the first thing you notice about the antlers is how tall they are, especially the brow tines. Then you realize you're looking at 40-plus inches of mass. Add in two 25 4/8-inch beams and the 16 2/8-inch inside spread, and you quickly get to 174 inches — lofty territory for an 8-point!
