Man Takes Remarkable Manitoba Buck With Unbelievably Heavy Mass

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In trophy whitetail hunting, one truth reigns supreme: the presence of a true giant antlered buck is as rare as it is awe-inspiring. With their magnificent antlers, these incredible animals are considered the pinnacle of trophy whitetail hunting.

But their rarity cannot be overstated. The odds of crossing paths with a true giant antlered buck are staggering. Consider the vast expanses of North American land mass where these elusive creatures roam, each buck with its personal territory and secretive hideout. The odds of crossing paths with a giant buck are minuscule, akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

If a hunter can see such a buck in the wild, they are not simply glimpsing a trophy-class animal; they are witnessing the culmination of years of survival, adaptation and natural selection. Genetics, nutrition and specific environmental conditions shape the growth and development of all the antlered game animals, but even more so with the giants of the species. Every hunter’s heart pounds with anticipation, knowing that the opportunity of just seeing such a monumental creature is a privilege granted to few.

The rarity of these majestic bucks and the insatiable hope of seeing one is what amplifies every heartbeat, every rustle of leaves, and every sound of the forest. Few hunters realize when taking on this challenge they are not simply chasing a trophy, but sometimes a fable, and possibly a true living legend. In trophy whitetail hunting, the ultimate goal is to be in the right place at the right time. Understanding the importance of timing and location is paramount to one’s success.

Manitoba resident Curtis Wiebe knows the importance of being in the right place and being there at the right time. It all began during the late summer of 2020 with a chance sighting of a heavy-antlered buck. It takes a reasonably large buck to get the attention of the Wiebe family, and the buck they spotted in 2020 did just that. “He was tall and wide and had good mass. Even though he was a younger deer, it was easy to see his potential. We decided to keep an eye on the buck but only for future consideration,” says Curtis.

Throughout the fall and during the hunting season, Curtis looked for the buck at every opportunity. He was hoping to gather as much information about the buck as possible. However, as with most big deer, the buck proved hard to find. If it wasn’t for a few trail camera photos of the buck, Curtis would not have seen anything of it.

By the following year, the Wiebe’s knew this buck would be on their radar for the upcoming hunting season. However, after countless hours of scouting and watching their hunting area, the buck was rarely seen. Despite the hunters seeing the deer three times during the 2021 hunting season when an opportunity could have knocked, they needed to be in the right place at the right time. “We didn’t have much to go on, so we didn’t have him figured out. I could only set my blind on the property where I could hunt,” explains Curtis. According to trail camera photos, the buck rarely traveled through their hunting area. The few times he did, there wasn’t a hunter nearby. A few trail camera photos of the buck showed him near Curtis’ ground blind. Unfortunately for the hunter, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

By the summer of 2022, Wiebe was sure he had seen the buck occasionally while it fed within the agricultural fields above the large valley where he spent most of his hunting time. “Around here, the deer don’t have to go far to find quality food. They can bed and feed in a small area and don’t have to travel much. They can be fairly easy to fi nd once they lock onto a food source,” says Curtis. As the summer progressed and Curtis watched the buck grow his rack, it soon became apparent that this one was developing into something extraordinary. He named the buck “Coke Cans” due to the mass at the base of its antlers. “Dad saw the buck in early September, and he got excited.

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That told me something because Dad has taken some good ones,” Curtis continues. “I saw the buck on Sept. 20, and I couldn’t help but notice his mass. I was impressed, but I thought he was a 160-inch deer. Dad saw him again about a month later; he got a good look at him as the buck stood within 10 yards of my ground blind. Dad thought the antlers were in the 170- to 180-inch range.”

The Wiebe family from Rivers, Manitoba, have taken their share of trophy-caliber whitetails over the years. “My dad is a hunter with several large bucks on the wall. My grandfather has taken some big ones as well. I grew up with deer hunting in our family and a wall full of big bucks to look at daily. I can remember as a kid that I couldn’t wait to start doing it, and I tagged along with Dad or Grandpa every chance I got,” Curtis remembers. The Weibes hunt the ravine country of south-central Manitoba. It is a beautiful, game-rich area known for its brush-covered hills, deep valleys, and steep ravines. Most agriculture is grown above the valleys in flatter terrain where woodlots of varying sizes intersperse and break up the farm fields. Within the valley, you can find wildlife havens where whitetails can use heavy bedding cover, accessible escape routes, and unhunted sanctuaries to live out their years. Deer densities are low in the area, making rutting bucks travel great distances to find doe groups.

Curtis had his ground blind at the bottom of a large valley. He chose a natural pinch-point along a windrow of trees where any weary buck could travel but remain relatively obscure. He could see a reasonable distance in every direction, giving him confidence in the location. “One-quarter of a mile north of my blind, there is a large area nobody has hunted in 40 years,” Curtis explains. “I knew the buck was crossing back and forth through this pinch-point, and I hoped to be there the next time he came through. He wasn’t coming through very often, but this was the only place we had seen him on this property. I hoped to cut him off before he got to his bedding area.”

In the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 12, Curtis Weibe followed his flashlight beam as he slowly made his way to the valley floor and the door of his hunting blind. After closing the door behind him, he added a firing cap to his dad’s muzzleloader, then quietly leaned the barrel against the wall of the blind where he let it rest. He sat down and adjusted his gear, ensuring each item sat securely and quietly. Before he knew it, the darkness gave way to the rising sun. It was a quiet morning, and nature took a while to warm up. It wasn’t until 8:30 a.m. when Curtis spotted his first deer; it was a doe, and two bucks were pursuing her. Curtis kept his focus on the area of the windrow where the other deer had stepped out from.

About 20 minutes later, the hunter spotted a doe as she jumped a fence. He looked closer through his binoculars and saw four does in the group. They were headed straight to the pinch-point where he was waiting, and right behind the does, following their every step, was a massive buck! “I first thought it was a big four-by-four that I had seen a few times. But within a split second, I knew it was for sure Coke Cans. He still had a ways to go before he got within range, but he was following the does and they were almost to me already,” Curtis recounts.

A moment later, Curtis was staring down the barrel of his dad’s Thompson Center muzzleloader while trying to align the sights on the vitals of the passing buck. Taking a deep breath, he began slowly releasing the air while simultaneously and slowly squeezing the trigger. At the discharge of the shot, the resulting plume of smoke caused Curtis to lose sight of the buck. A few seconds later, he saw the buck lying still, 100 yards away from the blind.

The muzzleloader had done its job, dropping the buck in its tracks and killing it instantly. “I tried to hold myself together, but when I saw he was dead, the adrenaline really kicked in. I remember shaking like crazy. When I walked up to him, I could hardly hold my phone when calling Dad. He didn’t believe me, so I sent him a picture. I was almost crying at one point. My emotions got the better of me,” says Curtis.

The buck was 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 years old, and Wiebe noted that the deer’s grey coat and saggy, deep chest were prominent features. Its oversized, dressed-out carcass pulled the scale to 230 pounds. “With all that adrenaline running through me, I lifted and loaded him up and got him home,” Curtis chuckles.

There are big antlered bucks, and then there are antlers that stack significant numbers within all the measuring columns; the Wiebe buck is one of the few that is genuinely huge in all areas. The buck has an incredible typical frame that measures nearly 200 inches. After more than 12 inches of deductions, the antlers still net score well into the 180s typical. The mass on this rack is what sets it apart from others. The antlers carry 47 inches of mass from the eight official mass measurements. It’s wide, tall and massive. It carries almost everything desired in a typical set of antlers. The rich chocolate color is the icing on the cake.

Once Curtis arrived home, he started calling family and friends. It didn’t take long before photos of the deer made their way onto social media, which drew much attention. Wiebe soon found out that he wasn’t the only person aware of and hunting the buck. He learned that at least four other hunters were also after the deer. His neighbor also had trail camera photos of the buck.

According to Curtis, the buck was only in the area because of the few does living there. The does were the reason he was there, and those same does are what led to his demise. However, just as Curtis Wiebe learned in 2021, you must be in the right place at the right time.