Midwest Whitetail Hunting Records 2026–2027: Every State Record, Who’s Trending, and What’s Coming This Season
If you’re chasing giant whitetails this fall, this is the only Midwest record roundup you need. Below, you’ll find the verified Boone and Crockett (B&C) state records for all 12 Midwestern states — typical and non-typical — plus the all-time monsters that define the region (including the world’s biggest buck ever taken by a hunter), the scoring minimums that get a buck into the books, and a state-by-state outlook on what 2026–2027 could produce. The short version: Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa still anchor the record books, Missouri owns the single biggest antler set ever recorded, and a handful of 2026 regulation changes (Iowa’s new two-zone setup, Michigan’s shortened muzzleloader season) could quietly shift where the next giant falls.
📋 Midwest State Record Whitetails: Typical and Non-Typical
The table below compiles official state-record whitetail scores as tracked by the record keepers. Scores are net inches with deductions applied. Note that some records were picked up (found dead) rather than hunter-harvested — those are the ones with a “found” flag, and they count just the same in the B&C book.
| State | Typical Record | Hunter / Year / County | Non-Typical Record | Hunter / Year / County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | 206 1/8″ | James Jordan, 1914, Burnett County | 253″ | Elmer Gotz, 1973, Buffalo County |
| Missouri | 205″ | Larry Gibson, 1971, Randolph County | 333 7/8″ ⚑ | Found 1981, St. Louis County (“Missouri Monarch”) |
| Illinois | 204 4/8″ | Melvin Johnson, 1965, Peoria County | 327 7/8″ | Luke Brewster, 2018, Edgar County |
| Iowa | 202″ | David Brenigar, 1969, Wapello County | 307 5/8″ | Tony Lovstuen, 2003, Monroe County |
| Minnesota | 202″ | John Breen, 1918, Beltrami County | 268 5/8″ | Mitchell Vakoch, 1974, Norman County |
| Ohio | 201 1/8″ | Bradley Jerman, 2004, Warren County | 328 2/8″ ⚑ | Found 1940, Portage County (“Hole in the Horn”) |
| Kansas | 199 2/8″ ⚑ | Found 1999 | 295″ ⚑ | Found 2012, Marshall County |
| Nebraska | 199 2/8″ | Vernon Virka, 1983, Saunders County | 284″ | Wesley O’Brien, 2009, Richardson County |
| Michigan | 198″ | Troy Stephens, 1996, Jackson County | 246 2/8″ ⚑ | Found 2010, Lenawee County |
| North Dakota | 195 2/8″ | Kevin Bruner, 1994, Pierce County | 254 6/8″ | Roger Ritchie, 1968, Stanley County |
| South Dakota | 194 1/8″ | Michael Mettler, 2014, McPherson County | 256 1/8″ | Frances Fink, 1948, Marshall County |
| Indiana | 195 5/8″* | Dave Roberts, 1985 | 303 7/8″ | Timothy Beck, 2012, Huntington County |
*Indiana’s typical crown has a wrinkle: Dustin Huff’s Decatur County giant, arrowed on November 4, 2021 at an official 211 4/8″, now stands as the state’s typical record and ranks second all-time worldwide behind only Milo Hanson’s Saskatchewan buck Field & Stream.
⚑ = picked up / found, not hunter-killed.
🏆 The Bucks That Built the Midwest Legend
These aren’t just numbers on a page. Each one changed how hunters think about their state:
- The Brewster Buck (Illinois, 327 7/8″) — Luke Brewster arrowed this 39-point monster in Edgar County in 2018. It’s the biggest free-ranging whitetail ever killed by a hunter anywhere in North America, and it dethroned the previous archery world record by a wide margin Boone and Crockett Club.
- The Missouri Monarch (333 7/8″) — Forty-four scorable points, found dead in St. Louis County in 1981. It remains the largest non-typical whitetail ever recorded in the books, even though no hunter ever laid hands on it.
- The Jordan Buck (Wisconsin, 206 1/8″) — Killed in 1914 in Burnett County, it stood as the world typical record for decades and is still the Midwestern benchmark for clean, symmetrical racks.
- The Hole in the Horn (Ohio, 328 2/8″) — Picked up in Portage County in 1940, this mass-heavy giant was the world non-typical record for 41 years until the Monarch surfaced.
- The Breen Buck (Minnesota, 202″) — John Breen’s 1918 Beltrami County 10-pointer has been the Gopher State’s typical record for over a century. That durability tells you something about Minnesota’s north woods.
- The Huff Buck (Indiana, 211 4/8″) — Dustin Huff’s 2021 kill rewrote the Hoosier record book and proved Indiana’s north-central farm country can hang with the traditional giants.
Notice a pattern? Three of the top five typical bucks in the world and four of the top five non-typicals came out of the Midwest — a dominance no other region can match Realtree.
🥇 The All-Time Record Picture: Where the Midwest Stands
Here’s the world-record context every hunter should know, straight from the record books:
| Category | Record | Buck / Location / Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical, all-time (world) | 213 5/8″ | Milo Hanson, Saskatchewan, 1993 | Hunter-killed |
| Typical, all-time (U.S.) | 211 4/8″ | Dustin Huff, Indiana, 2021 | Hunter-killed |
| Non-typical, all-time (world) | 333 7/8″ | Missouri Monarch, Missouri, 1981 | Picked up |
| Non-typical, killed by hunter (world) | 327 7/8″ | Brewster Buck, Illinois, 2018 | Hunter-killed |
The takeaway: if a world-record whitetail is killed in the coming years, the Midwest is the odds-on location. The region owns four of the six biggest racks on Earth.
📊 Which States Dominate the B&C Book?
Boone and Crockett’s sixth edition of Records of North American Whitetail Deer ranks states by total record-book entries, and the Midwest swept the podium:
| Rank | State | Total B&C Entries |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wisconsin | 1,822 |
| 2 | Illinois | 1,445 |
| 3 | Iowa | 1,330 |
| 4 | Minnesota | 1,194 |
| 5 | Ohio | 1,049 |
| 6 | Kentucky | 1,048 |
| 7 | Missouri | 896 |
| 8 | Kansas | 867 |
What jumps out: Wisconsin’s lead is substantial, but Illinois and Iowa produce more giants per square mile than anywhere else. Meanwhile, Michigan quietly holds nearly 350 B&C book bucks despite ranking near the bottom of this list relative to its deer harvest — proof that volume and quality don’t always move together.
📏 How a Buck Makes the Record Books
Records don’t exist in a vacuum; you need to know the entry gates before you start celebrating a photo with a tape measure.
Minimum qualifying scores:
| Record Keeping Organization | Typical Whitetail (min. score) | Non-Typical Whitetail (min. score) |
|---|---|---|
| Boone and Crockett (all-time) | 170″ | 195″ |
| Pope & Young (archery) | 125″ | 145″ |
A few scoring realities worth internalizing:
- Net vs. gross: The books use net score — deductions for asymmetry and abnormal points are subtracted. A 190″ gross typical can net out under the 170″ line if the rack is lopsided.
- Drying period: B&C requires a 60-day drying period after harvest before official measurement; a perfectly fresh rack will read slightly higher than its final entry score.
- Picked-up racks count: Dead finds qualify for B&C entry, which is why the Monarch and Hole in the Horn hold their places.
- Panel verification: World-record-level scores go before an official panel — the Brewster Buck actually grew by over seven inches between its first public score and its final 327 7/8″ panel confirmation.
🗓️ 2026–2027 Season Outlook: What’s Changing in the Midwest
At the time of writing, final season dates have not yet been released for every state. The information below is based on the latest available official announcements and proposals — treat all windows as projected until your state’s DNR confirms them.
| State | 2026–2027 Highlights | Record-Book Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | Archery opens Sept. 12, 2026, running into Jan. 3, 2027; youth/disabled gun Oct. 3–11; gun season runs through the November rut | Still the volume king |
| Missouri | MDC has already set 2026–2027 deer and turkey dates; nonresidents capped at one buck per season | Northern counties remain the hotbed |
| Iowa | Two resident hunting zones take effect for 2026–27; northwest herd down over 50% in 20 years | Fewer deer, but age structure improving |
| Michigan | Muzzleloader season cut from 10 days to 3 for 2026 after tough winters | Harvest stays top-3 nationally |
| Ohio | EHD hit southeast counties hard in 2025 (~9,281 reported deer); unaffected counties should be loaded | Top-tier trophy potential |
| Minnesota | Firearms season aligns with peak rut; Driftless Area pressure remains heavy | Quiet giant producer |
| Kansas | Nonresident tags remain an every-other-year grind | Spreading entry map |
| Illinois | Seasons sit late in the rut, protecting mature bucks | Still a record factory |
| Indiana | One-buck state, three straight months of archery | “The new Illinois” buzz |
| Nebraska | Tag numbers reduced to give the herd a break | Rebounding within 2–3 years |
| North Dakota | Herd recovering from the brutal 2022–23 winter; limited firearms tags | Low pressure, hidden pockets |
| South Dakota | Watch CWD transport rules; Black Hills numbers down | Best in the Missouri River breaks |
Season data for Wisconsin verified against Wisconsin DNR’s official 2026 deer season dates; state-by-state outlook from Realtree’s 2026 Midwest forecast.
🔭 Five Storylines to Watch in 2026–2027
- Indiana’s rise continues. With the Huff buck rewriting the typical record and outsiders now calling the Hoosier State “the new Illinois,” expect more 180+ class bucks to surface — especially from the northwest and southeast counties that dominate B&C entries.
- A 207 7/8″ typical sitting in storage? Boone and Crockett recently flagged a Midwest typical that went undocumented for 30 years and could rank as the third-biggest typical ever recorded. That’s a reminder that unscored freighters are still out there.
- Missouri’s nonresident one-buck rule. Capping nonresident bucks should push more show-me giants into the 4.5+ age class over the next two seasons.
- Ohio’s EHD bounce-back. Counties spared in 2025 should hold strong buck numbers — historically, Ohio rebounds with a vengeance one year after a disease crash.
- Minnesota’s record shakeup. A 277 3/8″ non-typical surfaced in 2023, and if it clears official panel review, it replaces the 268 5/8″ standard that has held since 1974 Outdoor News.
🌽 Where I’d Put My Money for a New Record
If you’re asking which state breaks a record next season, here’s my honest ranking of the most likely candidates:
- Indiana — the momentum is real; one-buck limits and heavy bow pressure mean more mature bucks.
- Ohio — post-EHD counties routinely produce 180s; the state’s farm country is loaded with age.
- Iowa — fewer tags mean fewer mistakes; the surviving age class is elite.
- Illinois — the heyday may be past, but the frequency of record-book entries hasn’t stopped.
- Wisconsin — a numbers play: 1,822 entries and climbing, especially in managed private ag regions.
The dark horse: Kansas, where entries are spread across every corner of the state and public-land hunters keep punching above their weight.
🎯 Quick Tips for Hunting Record-Class Midwest Bucks
- Hunt the rut’s second week — the vast majority of book bucks are taken between Nov. 5 and Nov. 15 across the Midwest.
- Go where the old bucks are: southeast Minnesota’s Driftless Area, north Missouri’s river breaks, and Ohio’s ag islands repeatedly punch above their weight.
- Give young bucks a pass. The science is settled: 5.5-year-old bucks are the ones in the record book, and selective harvest is why Indiana and Iowa keep climbing.
- Scout edge habitat hard. EHD and winter kill open canopy; the regrowth attracts does, and does attract the giants you’re after.
- If you hunt public land, hunt the “ugly” stuff — cattail sloughs, brush-choked draws, and second-growth thickets that other hunters walk past. That’s where the old monarchs hide.
- Invest in quality deer management rather than hoping for luck: mineral sites, hinge-cutting, and protecting your age structure pay off over 3–4 seasons.
❓ FAQ: Midwest Whitetail Records
Q: What is the biggest whitetail ever killed in the Midwest?
A: Luke Brewster’s 2018 Illinois non-typical, scoring 327 7/8″ net — the largest free-ranging whitetail ever taken by a hunter. If you include picked-up racks, the Missouri Monarch (333 7/8″, 1981) is the biggest ever recorded in the region.
Q: What’s the difference between typical and non-typical whitetail records?
A: Typical racks are judged on clean, balanced points with minimal abnormality. Non-typicals have extra or irregular points, which pushes them into a separate (and usually much higher-scoring) category. The Brewster Buck (39 points) and Monarch (44 points) are both non-typicals.
Q: What score does a whitetail need to make the Boone and Crockett book?
A: A net typical score of 170 inches or a non-typical net score of 195 inches — after the 60-day drying period and official measurement.
Q: Which Midwest state produces the most record-book bucks?
A: Wisconsin, with 1,822 total B&C entries across all editions of the records — the #1 state in the country. Illinois (1,445) and Iowa (1,330) round out the Midwest’s top three.
Q: Are 2026–2027 season dates finalized?
A: Only partially. Wisconsin, Missouri, and several other agencies have published dates, but many states finalize late. Always confirm with your state wildlife agency before making plans — and check the state-by-state guides linked throughout this article for your license and tag deadlines.
Q: Do shed/picked-up antlers count as records?
A: Yes. Boone and Crockett accepts found racks, which is how the Missouri Monarch (world record non-typical) and Ohio’s Hole in the Horn earned their places. Some states additionally track separate hunter-killed records.
Final word
Records are made to be broken, and the 2026–2027 seasons are shaping up to be kinder to the Midwest’s giants than the past few winters were. Whether you’re chasing your state’s number or just hoping to see a 170-incher step out at 30 yards, the material above gives you the ground truth — no recycled campfire stats, just the official numbers and a clear read on where the next one is coming from. Good luck out there, and check your state’s official season dates before you burn a single vacation day.