MNbuckhunter
Member
Well guys I must still be dreaming after what transpired Saturday...some of you may remember a harvest post late last December where my dad and I took 2 MN giants on the same night about 300 yards apart with bows. Mine scored 169" and dad's was 165", arrowed December 20th while coming into our standing bean plots. Well, I never thought I'd have a crack at another giant...especially not just a mere 11 months down the road.
We hunt a farm in SW WI and we had been hunting it pretty hard this year but just had not seen much for shooters, even on camera. On November 15th I had a really nice 10 point come by at 20 yards but couldn't stop him chasing the doe. Got to full draw and literally yelled at him multiple times without him stopping. I was crushed at that point, as those chances are very few and far between on this farm.
Here is a pic of him.
Fast forward now to Saturday, Nov 23. Opening day of rifle season in WI but I went out with my bow as I have never shot a deer with a gun (Grandpa and Dad are avid archers and was never brought up gun hunting). There was a dusting of snow on the ground from the prior day and the wind chill were around -5. Didn't have a whole lot of action before 10:00. I think I saw about 4-5 deer, a couple small bucks. From 10:00-noon someone hit a switch. There were constant deer moving and bucks chasing does out in the middle of the beans. The does and fawns were coming through in groups. Well at 11:45 I was almost frozen to my stand and could not feel my feet. I had 2 groups of does by me, probably a dozen in total. One of the does went down the ravine and into the bottom. I watched her freeze, glare to the north, and put her ears forward. I knew something was coming. A couple seconds later I see a deer coming...a buck...whoa, a shooter...NO, AN ABSOLUTE GIANT! He was about 150-200 yards away and with the naked eye I knew this was a beast. I slowly pulled up my binos, as I had does all around me, and saw that this was the buck of a lifetime. I start ranging likely spots where he may come through. I could see one area in the snow where the does had all gone through and I ranged it at 28 yards. I set me dial on my HHA sight to that exact distance and when I looked back over here that buck was coming up the ravine directly toward the spot I had just ranged. He wet behind a large tree and I came to full draw. He was moving pretty quick and my lane wasn't that big. I tried to stop him once, he kept going...then again, and he finally stopped. I let the arrow go and hit its mark.
About a half hour after I shot him I got down and backed out. I was not going to be trouncing through the woods bumping deer during rifle season. My dad and I waited until after dark to go look for him. Went out about 6:00 after dinner. That was the longest 6 hours of my life! Well after a short track job, there he was! I knew he was big, but when I got up to him he was even bigger than I had thought. The mass on this buck is unreal. He has one goofy side and one unreal side. Never had seen this buck on camera before.
Well I knew he was really big but I didn't know how big until I got home last night and pulled my buck from last year off the wall and put him next to him. The buck last year scored 169". Here he is next to him, last year's buck on left and Saturday's buck on the right.
We put the tape to him shortly after. His left side scores close to 85" with 24" of mass. His right side scored around 64" and spread was 20 7/8". Total gross at 170 2/8", with the one side being 21" less than the good side. Wow, I couldn't believe it...I think I'm still dreaming...couldn't be happier.
We hunt a farm in SW WI and we had been hunting it pretty hard this year but just had not seen much for shooters, even on camera. On November 15th I had a really nice 10 point come by at 20 yards but couldn't stop him chasing the doe. Got to full draw and literally yelled at him multiple times without him stopping. I was crushed at that point, as those chances are very few and far between on this farm.
Here is a pic of him.
Fast forward now to Saturday, Nov 23. Opening day of rifle season in WI but I went out with my bow as I have never shot a deer with a gun (Grandpa and Dad are avid archers and was never brought up gun hunting). There was a dusting of snow on the ground from the prior day and the wind chill were around -5. Didn't have a whole lot of action before 10:00. I think I saw about 4-5 deer, a couple small bucks. From 10:00-noon someone hit a switch. There were constant deer moving and bucks chasing does out in the middle of the beans. The does and fawns were coming through in groups. Well at 11:45 I was almost frozen to my stand and could not feel my feet. I had 2 groups of does by me, probably a dozen in total. One of the does went down the ravine and into the bottom. I watched her freeze, glare to the north, and put her ears forward. I knew something was coming. A couple seconds later I see a deer coming...a buck...whoa, a shooter...NO, AN ABSOLUTE GIANT! He was about 150-200 yards away and with the naked eye I knew this was a beast. I slowly pulled up my binos, as I had does all around me, and saw that this was the buck of a lifetime. I start ranging likely spots where he may come through. I could see one area in the snow where the does had all gone through and I ranged it at 28 yards. I set me dial on my HHA sight to that exact distance and when I looked back over here that buck was coming up the ravine directly toward the spot I had just ranged. He wet behind a large tree and I came to full draw. He was moving pretty quick and my lane wasn't that big. I tried to stop him once, he kept going...then again, and he finally stopped. I let the arrow go and hit its mark.
About a half hour after I shot him I got down and backed out. I was not going to be trouncing through the woods bumping deer during rifle season. My dad and I waited until after dark to go look for him. Went out about 6:00 after dinner. That was the longest 6 hours of my life! Well after a short track job, there he was! I knew he was big, but when I got up to him he was even bigger than I had thought. The mass on this buck is unreal. He has one goofy side and one unreal side. Never had seen this buck on camera before.
Well I knew he was really big but I didn't know how big until I got home last night and pulled my buck from last year off the wall and put him next to him. The buck last year scored 169". Here he is next to him, last year's buck on left and Saturday's buck on the right.
We put the tape to him shortly after. His left side scores close to 85" with 24" of mass. His right side scored around 64" and spread was 20 7/8". Total gross at 170 2/8", with the one side being 21" less than the good side. Wow, I couldn't believe it...I think I'm still dreaming...couldn't be happier.
