Montana Hunter Harvests Monster Whitetail Buck From 482 Yards

Many of you hunters have memorable moments compiled from years of getting out in the great Montana outdoors.

One such moment finally arrived for Montanan Brett Pullman on his family's ranch. And while it was a chance encounter, hunter and deer had been casual acquaintances, shall we say, over an extended period of time.

Field and Stream shared the story of Brett's two-year tracking of the tremendous whitetail buck boasting a 20-inch inside spread, 23.5-inch main beams, and 17 scorable Boone and Crockett points. He says it showed up in the river bottoms on the ranch in 2023 and apparently took a liking to the surroundings. And while he had pursued the buck periodically over a couple of seasons, he was not expecting to get a shot at the same time he was in route to do some maintenance on the ranch's elk hunting cabin.

As he was driving to the cabin, Brett saw the giant whitetail bust out of the river bottom brush chasing does. He hopped out of the truck, threw his pack on the ground, and took the shot.

At hardly an easy distance, Brett was able to drop the animal from nearly 500 yards away. He later told Field and Stream, "We don’t normally have deer like that. I’ve never seen one that big in my life up there."

During the countless hours of glassing the mile-and-half stretch of river bottom from two separate bluffs on his family's property, he says he only managed to spot the buck in person one time, and that was early this fall before Montana's big game rifle season. season. But it had made some game camera appearances.

Our congratulations to an avid Montana hunter that made himself an incredible lifetime memory. You can get more details in Travis Hall's excellent Field and Stream article here.