Tyler Hunter poses with his 216 1/8-inch Wisconsin non-typical taken after an all-night rain.
January 22, 2026
By Clifford Neames
“After I saw the forecast, I decided to take off work and go hunting,” Tyler Hunter began.
That sounds like the dream of every deer hunter, right?
Throw in a first of the season hunt, a giant stroke of luck, and an equally huge whitetail and you have the story of a lifetime.
It all began when Tyler discovered the largest deer he had ever seen was frequenting a parcel of land he has permission to hunt in Wisconsin. Although it was mostly nocturnal, he noted the buck seemed to move better right after a rain.
“He daylighted after a drizzly night and I started watching the weather much closer,” he said. “When the forecast showed an all-night rain coming, I decided to go after him.”
Trail-camera intel revealed the buck’s tendency to move shortly after rain events. Tyler entered the property right before daylight and spotted a deer crossing the lane in front of his truck. Since he faced a quarter-mile hike down the edge of the field to his stand, he decided to wait on better light to avoid possibly spooking anything else.
“The ground was really wet, so I was moving along quietly and almost made it to the cut in trail,” he recalled. “Then the big one stepped out into the field from my entry lane just 30 yards away!”
As Tyler stood there wondering what would happen next, an intense staredown began. The giant non-typical looked him over for a few seconds, then turned his head and began walking away. This allowed Tyler to get his bow up and draw.
The sudden movement drew the buck’s attention once more and he moved into the trees, but his next move turned out to be a fatal mistake.
“I was holding on an opening as he stepped in where I could shoot,” Tyler explained. “I couldn’t really see the hit very well and he took off.”
A steady rain helped pull this reclusive Wisconsin giant into daylight movement. Tyler located his blood-covered arrow, but with the wet ground there really wasn’t much sign to track. So, he called his wife to tell her of his good fortune, then phoned a buddy to see if he would help him with the recovery. When David told him he had planned to do yard work, Tyler said, “we have a really big deer to find!”
That was enough to get the ball rolling and soon the pair were back at the property.
The blood was spotty at the impact site, so Tyler checked the last place he had seen the buck. Thirty yards later they found his heart-shot trophy.
A true non-typical, the dark rack features splits, heavy mass and extra points that add up to 216 1/8 inches of bone!
