Two Big 200-inchers In Single Season For This Lucky Man

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In the fall of 2022, Illinois deer hunter Matt Lippoldt had an amazing hunting season. Matt, a veteran deer hunter of over 40 years, had been watching and hunting two different bucks on a family friend’s farm for the past three years, but he had yet to connect with either buck.

Matt takes a week off during early November each season to hunt hard. With time running out on his vacation, it came down to the last day.

“I knew where he was bedding,” Matt says. “There was an old, abandoned farmhouse with thick brush grown up around it where the buck called home. Honestly, I was more concerned that he was going to be shot from the road or get hit on the road. It was a hard spot to hunt, but on Sunday November 6th, I decided to go in there after him.”

While sitting in his ladder stand in the thick brush, Matt saw the big buck running does just as it was beginning to get light. The buck actually brushed against the stand’s ladder while chasing the does. Eventually daylight broke, but the big buck was now out in a picked cornfield running the does.

With nothing to lose, Matt threw out a few deep grunts from his call. Incredibly, the buck left his does and began walking to Matt’s location, coming to a mere 10 yards. Matt had to bend around his tree stand to make a good shot on the giant. The shot was good, and Matt watched the buck pile up within 40 yards!

Elated the quest for this buck was over, Matt walked up to the buck and was surprised it was bigger in person than he had thought. His 16-point Illinois bow buck officially gross scores 207 1/8 and nets 198 B&C.

“I was pretty satisfied with my season at that point,” Matt says.

Being an avid duck hunter, Matt was more focused on waterfowl than hunting the Illinois gun season for whitetails.

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“I knew there was another big buck still on the farm, because I had one of his sheds from the year before,” Matt explains. “I got a call from my daughter, Kayla, the night before, asking if I wanted to join her and her sister for the last day of the first gun season. Coincidently, it was a Sunday. Arriving at our spot that morning, we all split and were situated before the sun was up.”

Kayla was hunting just 65 yards from Matt, and Chelsie was in her stand across the road. A little after daylight, Kayla had a big buck come close to her, but she couldn’t get a shot. The buck skirted her and was heading toward Matt.

“I looked up and saw him 25 yards away,” Matt says. “I didn’t get a good look at him, because he was facing me. But I knew he was pretty nice.” Matt dropped the buck in his tracks, and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the trophy. Matt thought the buck could score 200 inches, but the giant officially grosses 222 6/8 and nets 217 1/8 B&C.

Not many hunters will ever see a 200-inch deer, let alone kill one in the wild. Yet Matt Lippoldt beat the odds last fall in a big way and took two of these bucks off the same farm.

Unbelievably, both of Matt’s bucks were taken just 70 yards apart during a 28-day span. What an incredible season!