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A gigantic buck shot Dec. 10, 2025, in Dane County could rank among the top whitetail deer of its kind ever killed in Wisconsin.
Steven Loomans of Madison shot the buck on the final day of the metro gun season using a rifle he borrowed from his grandfather, he told Outdoor Life, which first reported the story.
A month earlier, the 22-year-old Loomans said he shot the biggest buck of his life with a bow and thought it could be the peak of his hunting career.
But he had also seen another, even larger deer so he continued hunting through sub-freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions to chase a buck that "felt like he belonged in a different category … a deer you might see in a magazine or hear about in a story someone’s uncle tells," Loomans said.
He said he'd seen that bigger buck earlier in the season but couldn't get a good angle for a shot. Loomans kept after the buck with a bow until he switched to his grandfather's .30-06 rifle during the metro gun season.
"When I finally laid eyes on him, everything stopped," he wrote in an Instagram post. "A taxidermist with 50 years of experience told me bucks like this are 1 in 10 million."
Continue reading...
Steven Loomans of Madison shot the buck on the final day of the metro gun season using a rifle he borrowed from his grandfather, he told Outdoor Life, which first reported the story.
A month earlier, the 22-year-old Loomans said he shot the biggest buck of his life with a bow and thought it could be the peak of his hunting career.
But he had also seen another, even larger deer so he continued hunting through sub-freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions to chase a buck that "felt like he belonged in a different category … a deer you might see in a magazine or hear about in a story someone’s uncle tells," Loomans said.
He said he'd seen that bigger buck earlier in the season but couldn't get a good angle for a shot. Loomans kept after the buck with a bow until he switched to his grandfather's .30-06 rifle during the metro gun season.
"When I finally laid eyes on him, everything stopped," he wrote in an Instagram post. "A taxidermist with 50 years of experience told me bucks like this are 1 in 10 million."
Continue reading...
