king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated Magazine Dec/Jan 2008 - Coyote Crazy! - Index

It was the summer of 2005 and Rob Brennan
had just set up another trail camera.
Within a week the camera had captured
some photos of a spectacular buck. When
Rob’s children saw the pictures and the rack
the deer carried, their fi rst words were, “Big
and nasty!” The name stuck and so began the
pursuit of one of the greatest whitetails ever
taken with a muzzleloader.
Waiting for the season to begin was
grueling, but with the help of Rob’s dad Tom,
friend Mark Grites and son Tyler, Rob had
plenty of support. Bow season began and Rob
was still getting photos from his trail cam of
this great monster. However, fear of over
hunting the buck lead Rob to pursue another
great buck and leave Big Nasty for the gun
season. Rob’s luck continued as he tagged a
trophy 172-inch buck (Rob’s best-to-date at
that time) with his bow.
Late into the gun season, Rob was
in his stand when he caught movement to his
left. Rob froze and cast a sideways glance at
none other than Big Nasty. However, this
buck was not in the mood to stick around and
he disappeared just as quickly as he had come.
This would be the last time Rob saw the deer
for the rest of the year. The good news was
that Tom had got a glimpse of the trophy buck
in early 2006 while shed hunting and was able
to confi rm that the buck was alive and had
made it through the season. However, this
made for a very long summer for Rob.
The beginning of the 2006 bow season
began with high expectations. More trail cam photos confi rmed that Big Nasty was alive and doing
well, and getting bigger. Early on during the bow season, Rob and Tyler were leaving for the night
from their stand when, sure enough, the buck sprang from a clover patch. All they could do was
marvel at his enormous rack as he bounced along the horizon out of sight. The bow season passed
and Rob was anxious to hunt with his gun to secure his greatest advantage of taking this buck
that was now consuming his every thought. The fi rst gun season passed and Rob heard nothing of
another hunter taking a buck of this caliber. He had high hopes of fi nding Big Nasty still alive as
the second season began.
Due to work commitments, Tom decided to hunt the mornings while Rob hunted the
evenings after work. The second day of the hunt began as usual and Rob arrived at his stand about
12:30. It was a cold 22-degrees with a 25-mph wind. About 2:00 p.m., eleven does fi led past and
headed for a thicket. Rob hoped that if they came back past his stand that there would be some
bucks following. As the afternoon wore on, a few deer continued to funnel back and forth, but
nothing tempting enough to pull the trigger on. By 3:30 p.m., more deer had appeared. Suddenly,
something spooked the does and they jumped the fence right towards Rob’s stand. It was then that
Big Nasty slid out of the trees. Chasing the does, the big buck was heading right towards Rob.
Without skipping a beat, Rob shouldered the T/C Encore and was looking down the barrel at a
buck of a lifetime - a buck that Rob had been dreaming about for over a year. At seventy yards, the
buck turned broadside and Rob made true on the shot.
Rob immediately made calls to his dad, his wife Tina, and his kids. He was holding a buck
that carried a rack beyond description. With an outside spread spanning 35-inches, the Brennan
buck scores 270 4/8 BTR with an incredible composite score of 290 3/8.
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