Indiana Saddle Hunter Kills 'Bully' Drop-Tine Buck

On October 2, the second day of Indiana’s archery season, Tyler Westell was at his wife Becca’s first ultrasound appointment. They have a baby due in February, and while Tyler was excited to see his baby, he was also anxious to get in a tree.

Becca knows what it’s like being married to a hunter. She hunts, too, and the couple often scrolls through trail camera photos together and calls dibs on certain deer. She wasn’t exactly surprised that Tyler was getting antsy.

Tyler had a date with a buck he’d been watching since 2024. He had a couple of encounters since then, but didn’t realize until recently that it was the same deer he’d be thinking about at that ultrasound appointment.

By 2025, the buck had turned into a big-bodied bruiser with thick bases who pushed the other bucks on the property around like he owned the place. The buck didn’t just show up on trail cameras, either. Tyler watched him through rifle season and noticed there was a chunk missing out of the deer’s left ear.

“If I would have had my pistol with me, I probably would have taken him,” Tyler tells MeatEater. “Because that would have been pretty cool. But I don’t have a lot of fun hunting with a rifle anymore. It just doesn’t seem like enough of a challenge.”

This year, the buck showed up on Tyler’s trail cameras with a drop tine, and he decided it was time to go after the bully with his bow. After the ultrasound appointment, Tyler grabbed his Mathews VXR and headed to his hunting property in Bargersville. He climbed into his saddle around 5:15 p.m., overlooking a creek bed and a grove of burr and chinkapin oaks.

When the buck reappeared on Tyler's Trail Camera it was sporting a drop tine.

Tyler is a saddle hunter who likes to stay mobile instead of relying on preset stands. He knew the buck regularly traveled along a creek bed to reach the oaks from a bedding area, so Tyler picked a tree close to a narrow strip of CRP. The thermals would typically pull his scent toward the opening instead of down into the creek bed.

“I just wanted to get a good look at him,” Tyler says. “Cameras can be very deceiving. I think we sometimes put too much clout on what we think we’re seeing on a trail camera.”

The buck dropped into the creek bed around 6:30 p.m., and Tyler watched him for around 20 minutes as it fed through the bottom. When the deer moved toward the chinkapin oaks, Tyler spotted the drop tine and the buck’s massive bases. That’s when he knew the trail camera photos weren’t lying.

As he watched the buck feed along the creek bed, a button buck entered the scene, bleating and running everywhere except downwind of Tyler’s stand. Tyler was relieved when the youngster finally headed back the way he came. Then he came back, only this time with a doe.

As the drop-tine buck climbed out of the creek bed and worked toward the oaks, the doe walked to the base of Tyler’s tree.

“Right before I drew my bow, I looked down, and the doe was extending her head to sniff my step on the tree,” Tyler says.

Figuring the doe was about to blow things up, Tyler drew his bow and held his pin low toward the heart.

“I knew as soon as I let that arrow go, she was going to flinch, and he was going to drop,” Tyler says.

The buck stepped broadside at 20 yards. Tyler released the arrow, shooting a Rage Hypodermic NC broadhead. Tyler said the shot felt good, but he could see about 12 inches of arrow sticking out of the buck’s side as he jumped back into the creek bed and ran toward the bedding area.

“That’s not good,” he thought. Like most bow hunters, Tyler wanted a pass-through shot. He called a buddy to help him and bring a light, then gave the deer about 20 minutes before climbing down to look for blood. He didn’t have to go far to find it. He walked maybe 40 yards and found blood everywhere.

He also found his arrow. There was gut material on it, which confused Tyler. He had seen the arrow sticking out of the buck's side, just behind the front shoulder.

Tyler and his buddy caught up with the buck later that evening. The deer ran about 150 yards from where it was standing when Tyler shot. The arrow apparently struck the buck’s heart but somehow exited farther back.

Tyler had a tough drag out but he was all smiles after finding the deer.

“I don't know how he did this with where the arrow hit right behind his shoulder,” Tyler says.

He said it was surreal to walk up on a buck he’d been watching mature over multiple years. Tyler’s buck had massive bases that measured almost 7 inches around, and he tipped the scales at 208 pounds.

The buck nearly had 7-inch bases.

Getting him out of the woods took some effort. Between the creek, the briars, the burrs, and the stinging nettle, the drag was miserable. Tyler had biceps surgery in April 2025, and getting back to shooting his bow had already been a challenge. Hauling a buck that big through that mess didn’t make things any easier, but I’m sure he’d say it was worth it.

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