The Wake-Up Call Buck of a Lifetime!

In October 2022, central Indiana’s Brandon Scott was finally able to make a lifelong dream come true; he purchased a beautiful piece of land (along with a country home) that he and his family could call their own. Perhaps the coolest thing for the Scotts is that they’d get to harvest lots of venison there, a they all prefer it to store-bought beef.

While the property wasn’t huge, at a bit over 23 acres total, Brandon says it was “an overgrown mess” and a “jungle.” Although roughly half of the property is wooded, the other portion was an overgrown CRP field that hadn’t been tended to in quite a while. Perhaps an eyesore to look at for some, but it was great whitetail habitat. In addition, it was surrounded by several hundred acres of prime farm ground and a mixture of wooded habitat and brush.

The Scotts did hunt some during that first season, but more of their time was spent clearing things out, mowing paths and slowly getting it ready to hunt. Brandon and his son, Jackson, would be able to hunt it more during the 2023 season. Alysha Scott, Brandon’s wife, although not a hunter herself, would occasionally tag along and sit with Brandon to enjoy some time together.

On Nov. 10, 2023, Brandon went out to pick up Jackson, who’d been hunting all morning, for a lunch break. The duo then drove into town to eat at a favorite Chinese restaurant. Midway through enjoying their General Tso’s chicken, Brandon’s phone buzzed as one of their trail cameras captured a mystery buck cruising through with his tongue hanging out.

The Scotts were actually after a big 5x4 typical that they’d gotten plenty of pictures of, and there were a couple other good ones that they’d gotten a few images of as well. The 2023 season came and went without either of the Scotts killing any big bucks, and they never laid eyes on the mystery non-typical again. However, although the season was a bit disappointing, they were getting their personal paradise slowly ready during the offseason, hoping that the 2024 season would be better. 

The 2024 archery season arrived, and the Scotts were fully anticipating a great hunting season. They hadn’t gotten any images of the non-typical during the summer, and they weren’t sure if he was around or not.

“Up to early November, we’d seen a lot of deer, but nothing giant. I knew (or hoped) we had a few big guys from previous years though,” Brandon 
explains. “So I would say we were kind of hoping for them, but also we are still figuring out the land.”

Then on November 6th, as they were heading out on one of the mowed trails to their stands, a doe came from the neighbor’s property to the east and streaked across their CRP field to the west side of their strip. A big buck was in hot pursuit, but neither of them got a good enough look to know for sure if it was the big boy. 

On Saturday November 9th, Brandon and Alysha headed out at about 3:30 p.m. and sat together in a ladder stand. It didn’t take long before things got interesting.

Brandon explains: “We had a little buck come out and cross the field. I was watching him when Alysha began tapping me on the arm.”

She’d noticed a buck acting very strange across the field. They couldn’t really figure out what was going on with him, as his behavior was very erratic. To add to the confusion, another mature buck was right behind the big one that was acting strange. 

Then Brandon got a look at him with his binoculars, and he realized that the buck’s rack was caught in something. Meanwhile, Alysha had the presence of mind to grab her phone and start videoing the action. Brandon then realized he was looking at a giant buck.

He thought to himself, Do I get down and try to stalk this deer? However, realizing the buck was caught up in a single strand from the adjacent fence, he quickly nixed that thought as he knew that wouldn’t be ethical. As big as he was, Brandon absolutely respected him and would never take one in such a manner. After that, Brandon thought to himself, He’s going to pass by us. All the other deer we’ve seen passed us. Then, after just over a minute of being tangled up, the buck violently shook his head and rack to free himself.

The buck then trotted out closer toward them and stopped. At that point Alysha had stopped videoing the buck, but then she thought maybe she should turn it back on in case Brandon got a shot at the deer. In all the mayhem, they hadn’t paid much attention to the fact that the other big buck came out in the field in the same spot as the big non-typical. At that point it was chaos, as that buck was running around in circles with his nose to the ground like he was trailing a hot doe. The big non-typical then ran out of sight across the field. At about that same moment, three fawns popped out right next to the Scotts.

Eventually, all the action subsided, and Brandon had a moment to take it all in. He told his wife, “That was the biggest deer I’ve ever seen, and I’ll probably never see him again.”

On the walk back, they were both like two kids on Christmas morning as they replayed the events over and over to one another. Brandon then started to send the video clip to some of his closest hunting buddies. It was after seeing the reactions he received when it finally set in that this buck wasn’t just big; he was really big!

Brandon figured someone else would get to kill the buck, as the general firearms season would begin that next Saturday, November 16th. He felt good 
about at least getting to witness the giant in person, even if he was tangled up for a bit. The Scotts would be ready for the gun season.

For all the anticipation that opening weekend brings to so many folks, it turned out to be a bit of a bust for the Scotts.

“My son and I spent a lot of time in the stands that weekend,” Brandon recalls. “We were a little disappointed to see only a few small bucks and some does. It sure wasn’t the weekend we had hyped ourselves up for.”

Brandon then had to reckon with some remodel work on their house that next Monday.

“I got up early to spend the day working on the farmhouse. At 3:00 p.m., I called my son to see if he would like to go hunting. He was frustrated from not seeing much the previous weekend, and I was exhausted from hanging drywall all day. I was hoping he didn’t want to go so I could rest. He wanted to go, so I made the trip to pick him up and we were in the stands by 4:00. He decided that instead of sitting in his normal stand, he would go into the woods and sit over a scrape line,” Brandon says.

Brandon opted to sit in his son’s stand. “There is a natural funnel on our land that could either help push them toward where I sat, or into the woods where he sat,” Brandon explains. “As I said, I was worn out from hanging drywall; I dozed off in the stand. My son texted me at about 5:00 to see if I had seen anything. I told him I hadn’t because I fell asleep. I was really glad his text woke me up, because about 15 minutes later, I saw a good-sized buck come out from the corner of the woods, heading my way.”

The buck stopped broadside from Brandon at just under 100 yards. He took a look at the buck and almost immediately saw a drop tine and realized he was looking at the giant. He was actually quite calm, as he was able to watch the buck saunter a bit closer from across the field toward him. 
From there it was purely instinctual.

“I took a deep breath, put the crosshairs on him and pulled the trigger. I shot. It was like everything was in slow motion,” Brandon says. “I could hear the impact of the bullet and knew I hit him. He stumbled forward maybe 30 yards, almost falling over. I could see him go down in the tall thicket of the field. My phone immediately rang with my son asking, ‘Did you get one?’ I said, ‘Yes! I think I just killed the giant we have on camera.’ He said he was on his way, and I waited for him to meet me at my stand.”

Brandon remembers calling his wife while waiting on Jackson to tell her he had just killed the big buck from the prior week. “I couldn’t hardly get the words out to her. The adrenaline had kicked in and my voice was shaky telling her. Jackson got to the stand quickly, as he ran the entire way. We walked over to the area where I had seen him go down. I walked in circles, as I thought he had to be right where I was, then I heard my son exclaim, ‘Oh my God, Dad!’ I walked over to him and saw the giant with points everywhere. It was quite unbelievable at the time to me. I’m not sure I realized how big it was or what I had just shot until later that evening.”

Brandon then began making calls and sending texts with images to his hunting buddies. Practically all of them reacted the same stunned way. Then, Brandon contacted an old work mate who used to score for Pope and Young. After sending him images, the guy agreed to come over in the morning to have a look.

“Just by looking and without a tape, he said he guessed it would score 240-260,” Brandon remembers. “I thought he was way high on the estimate, but as I looked at record books, I realized that could put it at two or three all-time in Indiana, which got me very excited.” 

At first glance, when looking at the buck straight on, you see the Brandon Scott buck isn’t a tall buck. To illustrate this point, consider that the longest typical tine is the 9-inch left G-3; while respectable, it’s not considered an unusually long tine. However, what the buck may lack in overall height, it certainly makes up for in nearly every other area.

The rack has an inside spread of 22 1/8, good symmetry on the typical frame, along with 35 total measurable points. The buck has a great typical frame. Before factoring in any non-typical growth, it gross scores 171 7/8 with a net of 165 3/8 typical.

All the non-typical tines — many of them that shoot back and seemingly away from the main body of the rack — total 91 1/8 of extra growth. When you see the rack from the side, the true impressiveness of the antlers is apparent, revealing its freakish size. When you add it all up, you get a final 
net non-typical score of 256 4/8. Now, when you consider that Brandon’s buck ranks No. 4 all-time for the Hoosier State, and that the three bucks ahead of him in the record book have all been taken since 2012, that’s saying something.

Brandon sums up the experience nicely: “I’m just blessed. To get a shot at a top five buck was incredible, especially after a couple years of owning 
the land.”

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