Brennan Buck

Brenan Buck

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 first 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 confirm 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 confirmed 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 first gun season passed and Rob heard nothing of another hunter taking a buck of this caliber. He had high hopes of finding 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 filed 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.