After Three Years, Nebraska Hunter Tags Big 199-Inch Buck

• Hunter: Matt Williams
• Buck: 199 5/8 inches (gross)
• Date of Harvest: November 16, 2024
• Location of Harvest: Nebraska
• Weapon of Harvest: Gun

Matt Williams followed a massive deer he calls “Splitz” for several years. Year after year, he watched the buck pack on more inches.

“In 2022, he was a main frame 5x4 with split G2s,” Williams said. “So, we started calling him ‘Splitz.’”

In 2023, the deer added a lot of mass. It also added deeper forks in the G2s.

“He stayed on our farm the previous season and was holding true to his same patterns, which was fortunate for us, because that kept him safe from the neighbors,” Williams said.

In 2024, he exploded. The buck had an abnormal eye guard that was almost 11 inches. He added even more mass and tine length. The deer was near 200 inches.

Due to a busy work schedule, he hunted the buck minimally during Nebraska’s 2024 archery season. September and October came and went. He didn’t connect then, but during the rut, that changed.

The deer was still around, but his patterns were different from the past. Williams worked diligently to figure it out.

On November 7, he spotted the buck with an estrus doe. After they disappeared, he slipped downwind of them, hung a treestand, and posted some cams.

On November 14, he spotted the deer again. As before, the buck was locked down with a doe in a CRP field. The buck and doe pair worked down the fencerow along the brush. Unfortunately, the deer turned and went into cover.

The next day, with a southwest wind, Williams set up on the north end of the buck’s bedding area. Deer shifted in and out of view, including several 3-year-old bucks. At 11 a.m., the deer appeared in the CRP with a doe.

The pair fed on legumes and slowly worked toward Williams’ position. Both deer made it to 75 yards but didn’t offer a shot. They turned south and followed a waterway out of sight into a bedding area.

Around lunchtime, Williams climbed down, got something to eat, and returned to the farm. He moved to a different spot. Around 4:30 P.M., he spotted the buck in a drainage and it was walking toward him.

The buck enters the cornfield below his blind. It passed through the first shooting lane at 65 yards — too far. It hit the last shooting lane at 45 yards, but limbs covered the vitals. So, Williams hit the grunt call, and the deer turned and marched straight toward him. The buck started circling downwind and stopped at 19 yards. Just as Williams drew and anchored, the buck smelled him, snorted, and busted out of there.

Williams grabbed his gear and hit the road. Once back home, he checked his cell cams, and the buck was back in the middle of the farm.

November 16, 2024, brought opening day of gun season. He set up overlooking the CRP field where he’d seen the buck numerous times.

“I sat until 2 P.M. and then moved back deeper into the farm where I could see a few small cornfields next to his bedding. At 4:30 P.M., I noticed two deer in the corn stubble to my east. I grabbed my binoculars, and it was him. My heart was racing. He was about 500 yards out and I needed to make a move.”

Williams got down, crawled over to a brushy fence line, and then slowly headed east. He kept eyes on the buck while gradually shaving off the distance. When he ran out of cover, only 125 yards separated him and the buck, which was feeding with a doe.

“The moment seemed so surreal,” Williams said. “The sunset behind me to the west was gorgeous. The deer I’d been watching for three years was right in front of me in one of his favorite inside corners locked down with another doe. I watched them for a few minutes, admiring him and trying to stay calm.”

Eventually, Williams put the crosshairs on the buck, steadied them over the vitals, and squeezed off the shot. The buck dropped in his tracks.

“There was so much joy and excitement, but then it was almost bittersweet, in a way,” Williams said. “The final chapter was written, and the incredible story of Splitz was over.”

The 5 ½ year-old-deer scored 199 5/8 gross inches.

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