A quick chat with Dustin Hoff: Big-buck slayer and musician

Greensburg, Ind. — Dustin Huff, 28, of Greensburg, Ind., went deer hunting the afternoon of Nov. 4, 2021, on a hog farm in the state’s southeastern region where he’s hunted since age 10.

As daylight faded, a giant white-tailed buck stepped out and walked within 40 yards of Huff’s treestand. He made the shot with his second-hand crossbow, and the extraordinary buck – which Huff calls “Moose” – fell within sight after running about 55 yards. Huff’s buck now ranks as the second-highest-scoring typical whitetail in the Boone and Crockett Club’s record books. The rack officially will be scored in 2025 at the club’s 32nd Big Game Awards.

Huff, a singer-songwriter who regularly works in Nashville and tours with country-music stars like Luke Combs, remains modest about his buck’s No. 2 ranking. Certified B&C scorers recorded Huff’s buck as a 211 4⁄8-inch typical, just 2 inches smaller than the world-record 213 5⁄8-inch whitetail that Milo Hanson, of Biggar, Saskatchewan, shot with his .308 Model 88 Winchester lever-action on Nov. 23, 1993.

Much like Hanson, Huff considers himself an everyday hunter, and doesn’t pretend to be a big-buck guru. That is, he doesn’t obsessively scout year-round, or geek out over the nuances of antler scoring.

In fact, Huff has seldom used trail cameras since high school, and he can count all of his buck kills on two hands. Still, he’s a serious hunter and venison eater who considers deer hunting his No. 1 recreation. He killed his first squirrel at age 10, and his first deer at age 12. He also estimates he’s killed 75 does, mostly while hunting the 185-acre farm where he killed his record-setting buck.

Huff sat down with Outdoor News to discuss his buck, and how it began changing his life within hours of it hitting the ground. His answers were edited for length.

ON: What gear did you use to get your buck?

Huff: I shot him with a Stryker crossbow from BowTech. I bought it from my buddy for $300. I’ve shot that bow over four years now. BowTech doesn’t even make it anymore. It probably needs a new bowstring, but I wax the string nearly every time I shoot it.

The broadhead was a two-blade Rage expandable. My scope has three range dots. I practice to 70 yards, but my farthest shot on a deer was a doe at 46 yards.

ON: How much did your buck weigh?

Huff: We never got an official weight, but based off deer we’ve killed in the past, we figured he was 300 pounds on the hoof, and 230 to 240 pounds dressed. It helped to have six buddies help me drag him out. I learned how bad of shape I’m in.

ON: How many deer did you see that night before shooting your buck?

Huff: He was the only deer I saw. I was about to quit. I have four stands on the farm. I went back and forth between them, hunting most of each day after Oct. 29. I saw a lot of deer the morning of Nov. 4. I was thinking about going back to that spot, but then I took a climber for the afternoon hunt and walked about 400 yards to an oak flat I hunted in high school.

I didn’t see a deer for 3½ hours. I was doubting myself, and wondering what I was doing there. My dad and my girlfriend were texting to ask how it was going. I was just about to text back to say there’s no deer and I’m climbing down. And then I saw movement and this huge buck 70 yards away. I never heard him before he stepped out. He was so big that he looked like a moose.

ON: Were you holding out for a buck of a certain antler size or score?

Huff: No, I just wanted to beat my previous best, which was a 134-inch 10-pointer my buddy scored for me in 2020. I’d heard of the Boone and Crockett Club and Pope and Young Club, but I knew next to nothing about their scoring systems. I didn’t know what a G-2 was, or any other tine. After I got him, I just knew it was the biggest buck ever on the property. My dad killed a really big one 13 years ago when I was 15. That one scored 153, so I thought mine might score 170 to 180.

ON: Did you know that specific buck, or a buck that size, was in your area?

Huff: No. During high school I had three or four trail cams going all the time. Later, I might have put one out for 10 days or so, but I haven’t done that for years. After I shot “Moose” and word got out, everybody in the area started showing up with trail-cam photos. The farthest came from eight miles away two days later. The guy said he’d been after that buck nearly into the next county.

ON: Are you catching grief for shooting your buck with a crossbow?

Huff: I get a lot of crap about that. Some people won’t even talk to me because I used a crossbow. It’s funny to me, because I didn’t realize it was a thing to be “anti-crossbow.” That makes me smile. Why it matters to anyone makes no sense. Unless you’re hunting with a rock or stick, you don’t have room to talk.

I’ve killed a lot of deer with my compound bow, but a lot of people assume I picked up a crossbow one day last year and shot this giant buck. I just like deer hunting, whether I use a compound, crossbow, or .30-30.

ON: Are you getting rich off your buck?

Huff: I don’t know about “rich,” but it’s changed my life. More opportunities keep coming in. I bought a new guitar I’ve always wanted – a Gibson J-45. And I knew my dad needed stem-cell therapy, and that isn’t cheap.

But at first I wasn’t interested in selling the rack. I ignored some people who reached out early on. I didn’t know that some people would actually pay for deer antlers (from a buck harvested by someone else), or that other people ran deer shows and booked appearances. That was all new to me. I knew nothing about deer shows, trade shows, and national banquets, and now I’ll probably do 15 next year and maybe even more.

It’s also the big break I prayed for with my music. When people hear about my buck, they often check out my music.

ON: Did you sell the buck’s antlers?

Huff: An antler collector in Ohio now owns the rack. I had people hitting me up with questions about buying the rack, but only two made actual offers to purchase.

The collector who bought it (Keith Snider) is a good guy. He’s friendly and easy to work with. I’ve had two replicas made of the antlers, and there’ll probably be three or four soon.

I’d like to get a full-body mount, so I’ll need a replica for that, too.