Exceptionally long tine lengths, up to 14 4/8 inches, plus an outside spread of 21 4/8, makes for one very impressive rack on Brad Calvert’s big buck. Photo by Bill Cooper.

While hunting in Casey County during the early muzzleloading season of 2004, Brad Calvert of Lexington directed another hunter, who was unfamiliar with the property, to a specific section of woods. The hunter had little luck sighting deer that day, but he did give Brad an impressive pair of shed antlers he had picked up in the area. Although the matching sheds (comprising a basic 5x4 typical frame) were heavily damaged by rodents, the antlers exhibited exceptional tine and beam length.

“Knowing the buck was another year older at the time the sheds were found really staggered my imagination with regard to estimating how much bigger the deer’s present rack might be,” Calvert said. “Unless the animal had sustained some type of injury, I felt reasonably sure there was a record-book deer walking around somewhere on the property.”

Unfortunately, after hunting at every opportunity during the remainder of the 2004 gun, muzzleloading and bow seasons, Calvert found that “somewhere” was apparently a mythical location where big whitetails vanish without a trace. Not only did he never encounter the buck while hunting, but also several trail cameras were also unsuccessful at capturing the big deer, even after dark.

“Considering the amount of time I had spent in the woods, not to mention the trail cameras, I couldn’t help but believe something had happened to the buck,” Calvert remarked. “After the season, when I saw two Casey County bucks listed on the state’s 2004 summary of big deer taken, I wondered if one of them might have been the buck I was hunting.”

In late August 2005, Brad began positioning trail cameras along travel corridors and near strategic food source locations on the property. As the weeks slowly passed, the cameras recorded a number of deer sightings. However, the one buck he was hoping to see in the photographs remained as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster.

By the end of September, with no further evidence that the phantom whitetail still existed, Calvert began concentrating his hunting efforts on another very good buck he had sighted. However, in mid-October, while checking a group of recent photos from one of the trail cameras, those efforts came to a screeching halt.

“Incredibly, after a year of hunting and searching, I suddenly had six photos of the giant buck I had been looking for!” Calvert exclaimed. “There was absolutely no doubt it was the same buck that had dropped the sheds. The beams and tines had the same unique shape and incredible length. The only difference was the rack now had a matching 5x5 typical frame and was noticeably bigger. Amazingly, the buck was photographed within 200 yards of where the sheds were found. Where the deer had been during the past year is still a mystery to me.”

It would be an understatement to say the hunter felt energized by this sudden development. For two weeks, he hunted from daylight until dark, utilizing several different stand locations in the hills and hollows surrounding the camera location. Unfortunately, the results were the same as before. Calvert’s only guess was that the buck was moving primarily at night.