Ontario Hunter Wins Battle with Buck After Four Years

The multi-year quest for a very special southeastern Ontario whitetail known simply as the “Brow Tine Buck” began for Ian McCabe on April 29, 2022. He found both shed antlers from the buck while turkey hunting that day. McCabe remembered the buck from the 2021 season because of his long, distinctly-curving brow tines. In fact, he’d gotten plenty of trail camera pictures of the buck. He showed some of those pictures to a friend, Jay Roberts, and Roberts agreed that the buck could really grow into something special with time.

When he started to get his first images of the buck while he was growing his next rack, McCabe knew immediately which buck it was because of the tall-hooked brow tines and Ian decided the buck would be put on his personal hit list for the upcoming season. His brother, Eric, shot a big eight-pointer that fall and the Brow Tine Buck was standing 60 yards away when he killed it.

“My brother told me how impressive the buck looked standing out in the field,” Ian said.

The buck, however, didn’t follow the script that Ian hoped he would.

In January 2023 — after the ‘22 season had closed — McCabe watched the deer in the winter wheat field very close to his actual back yard.

“He looked like a giant — even at 4 1/2,” he said.

McCabe felt he’d find the buck’s sheds either in — or very close to — the wheat field, but he never found the set. The following spring and summer growing season, McCabe acquired plenty of trail camera pictures of the buck. He then had a few close calls with him during that season, but he just couldn’t seem to put all the puzzle pieces together to kill the big buck.

“It was almost like he vanished during the first two weeks of November,” he explained.

In fact, the last image he got of the buck on their property was November 1st. The McCabe’s were worried as the buck seemed to totally disappear from their property. Then during the third week of November the buck was showing up on his cameras again.

“We weren’t sure if he was dead, or just out breeding does on another property,” he stated.

By this time, the McCabe brothers decided they wanted to kill the buck with archery equipment, so McCabe then put up some new stands to try to intercept him the following November. His reasoning was that he may pull this same disappearing act in fall of ‘24.

After the ‘23 season, McCabe was again able to find both sheds of the buck. By now, the tell-tale long, curving brow tines were still evident, but the buck actually took on the look of a 5x5.  What would normally be the G2s & G3s seemed to share a common base on both sides. Although still rather typical-looking, a short sticker point had grown off the right base. It was at this time that Ian began to really see the overall picture of how and when the buck used their property. He also had learned where he thought the buck’s primary bedding area was.

Although Ian usually has his trail cameras out earlier in the summer, it wasn’t until August when he finally got his cameras out.

“When I got pictures of him for the first time in September (in velvet), I knew he was going to be the number one buck to shoot,” he said.

In the early part of the 2024 season, McCabe hunted in a couple areas separate from the main area he thought the big one was using. He was also biding his time and saving the stands he would later use to try to take the buck. McCabe placed one of his cameras close to a scrape line (close to his bedding area). He then got one image of the buck exiting the bedding area. This was the confirmation McCabe had looked for.

“I had just purchased a Quiet Kat electric bike the day before (Nov. 1) and was eager to get in the woods the next morning," he said. "So with the north wind the next morning, I had a feeling he would want to get down lower on the property to use the wind to go back to his bed.”

After carefully parking his bike, Ian slowly walked to his stand. As he got closer, he saw the flip of a deer’s tail and as he continued on he was overcome with the odor of a rutting buck.

“I had a bad feeling (that) I blew him out of there shortly after I got in my stand,” he said.

Then, Ian decided to rattle. Within moments of his rattling sequence, he heard leaves crunching and he was convinced that a buck was coming to investigate.

”I saw the giant stop at 50 yards and look right at me," he explained. "He came quickly into the 30 yard hole where I could shoot him trying to get down wind.”

The moment of truth had arrived. McCabe’s hunting instincts then kicked into overdrive, and he drew and let the arrow fly. The buck ran 25 yards and fell over dead.

“I believe I walked within 100 yards of him that morning," he said. "I believe what went through his mind when I rattled (was that) he thought two other bucks jumped him out. He came to show them he was the boss of that scrape line. He died within 15 yards of the rub and scrape he was working before I walked in. I had the wind in my face walking in.”

Although the most defining characteristic of the buck in the lead up to Ian getting an arrow in him was his super long G1s, the buck has some other very distinguishing attributes as well. For one, he’s exceptionally wide with an inside spread of 26 3/8 inches, and the typical portion of the buck is symmetrical in a mind-boggling way. For starters, both main beams are each 25 0/8 inches, and the G2s are both 10 0/8 inches. And it doesn’t stop with just tine length. There is only a 1 1/8-inch difference between those brows, and a scant 2/8-inch difference between its G3s. And if that isn’t some great symmetry, the mass measurements prove it even more so!

All four mass measurements are identical from side-to-side, ranging from the 6 4/8-inch H1 and H2 measurements, to the 5 3/8-inch H3 and H4s. So, if you’ve done the mental math, you’ve already figured out that there is a mere 1 3/8 inches of side to side deductions on the typical frame.

The right antler totals 74 7/8 inches, and the left side totals 76 2/8. When you factor in the inside spread, it adds up quickly to 177 4/8 gross inches, with a net on the typical portion of 176 1/8 inches. If it were a clean 4x4 typical, we’d be looking at an all-time B&C qualifying typical, which would put this buck in rarified air. But the buck had also added four more non-typical tines — in addition to the sticker off the right base — that total 15 6/8 inches, pushing the green net non-typical score to a very impressive 191 7/8” non-typical. If this score holds, it will likely put the buck into Ontario’s Top 10 Archery Non-Typicals at No. 7 all-time for the Foundation for the Recognition of Ontario Wildlife (FROW) record book.

This wouldn’t be the only buck ever killed by a McCabe on that property that would hold a high spot in the Ontario Provincial records either. Back in 1990, Ian’s father, Tim, arrowed a big typical on their farm that net scored 150 2/8 inches and held a spot in the top 10 of that category in Ontario’s first record book.

“After four years of history with a whitetail buck on my family farm, I finally sealed the deal," Ian recalled. "We are the 9th generation of farmers on the land and he (McCabe’s father) would’ve been so happy for me to kill him if he were still here. I always dreamed of getting a deer that size with my bow. I killed a 162 3/8-inch typical in the fall of 2020 on Wolf Island while my dad was alive and he got to be there for that. If he had been there the day I took this buck he would have been in his glory, because he got me into hunting.”