We got a picture of this deer two years ago on our farm. Didn't think much of it then he was just an average deer for our area I figure him to be a 2 1/2 year old at the time might score around 120 inches (he is in velvet yet in the pic so he looks bigger than he is). That year we got a few pictures of him through out the year up until October and then never seen him after that. Just like a lot of deer in our area I figured he got shot somewhere else or hit by a car and would never see him again. If the events of this year never happened I would have never gave this deer another thought.
2015 came and went and we had lots of pictures of some nice deer but nothing that had the distinct brow tines like the buck from 2014. At least not on our farm. I didn't know it at the time but less than a mile from where we had pictures of him in 2014 another hunter was still seeing him and he put on a few inches from the previous year. Nice deer but still only around 150 inches.
The hunter who got the photos of the deer in 2015 not only had pictures of him through out the season but he also had found both sets of his sheds from 2014 and 2015. He was nice enough to share a photo of them to me. Not the greatest picture to tell the real size of them but you can see how much he grew in one year by comparison.
This season started with me getting a lot of pictures of a decent ten point that was showing up quite regularly and during shooting light. This was in a spot I haven't hunted much in the past so I had to hang a stand and cut shooting lanes before the season so everything was ready when I had the time and the right wind to sneek in. After I hung my stand I pulled my camera so I wasn't tempted to go in and out of there when I wasn't hunting. Because of this all my pictures were prior to the start of the season. Little did I know a deer much bigger than the one I was getting on camera was using the same trail. Here is a trail cam picture from about a month into the season my neighbor gave me. That photo was taken about a week before I got a chance to get out hunting. He was photographed about a quarter mile away from my stand.
Do you want to trade neighbors?!! Mine usually send me pics of the antlers with the deer attached, along with the comment "I should have let him go one more year"! It's amazing what some bucks can blow up into if given the time.
I farm so I usually don't have a lot of time to get into the woods during the early season. But being a farmer our office window gives us a look at some of our best bow hunting spots even when were not hunting.
I was working some ground (not to far from the stand I put up in August) that we just finished picking the corn in the night before. As I was making one of the last few rounds about a half hour before sun set I noticed some deer coming out of the woods and into the field. I throttled down the tractor and stopped from a few hundred yards away to watch. First a few does filed out then came a small eight point. I was watching them for awhile when out stepped a really nice buck. I thought to my self that had to be the ten point I had been seeing on my camera and he was on his feet early. So I watched them till dark and even though I was a long ways away I thought man that thing looks a lot bigger than his trail cam pics. I looked on my phone for the wind forcast for tomorrow and it was perfect. So I knew where I had to be the next day. Here is a picture of the ten point I thought I was looking at.
If your from Minnesota you know what a warm and wet fall we had and Oct. 16 was no different. It was 74 degrees that day, but sunny for a change. Working all day I keep thinking about that deer the day before and how I wish I would have been there. It seems like I'm always a day late and a dollar short. Why would any deer be on its feet before sunset on a hot fall day like today I kept telling my self. Then I would remind myself the day before wasn't a whole lot cooler and he did it then why not tonight. This would also be my first time out this year and no way could it be that easy.
Everyone in my family loves bow hunting so when I told them what I saw the day before in the field it didn't take too much convincing to let me go after him even though there was stuff to do. You only get so many opportunities at a mature buck on his feet during shooting light so you have to strike while the iron is hot. Right? While things don't always go as planed and we had a few break downs and by the time things got done there was only a few hours of daylight left. But I felt I just had to be there. It is an area that I can get into very easily without being detected so I ran home showered, got my stuff and headed in.
By the time I got in my stand I had about an hour and a half of shooting light left. I kept telling myself this was just a scouting mission since this is the first time I ever even hunted from this stand. I would watch what happens tonight and if I need to I would change trees if need be depending on where they go into the field. A Half hour went by and through the trees I could see some legs moving by out in front of me about eighty yards or so and every once in a while I could catch a glimpse of horns. He made his way into a crp field and I could see it was the small eight point from the other night. He crossed the crp field went back into the woods and came out into the corn field I saw them in the day before. He never got any closer to me than eighty yards. Crap, I thought, I am on the wrong trail. Then from no where a true giant is standing on the trail directly in front of me at thirty yards. Thank god I saw that eight point a few minutes before because I was in the perfect position. I had an arrow nocked, my release was already attached to my d-loop, and I was positioned to draw without moving. I don't know how he got there but he was there and he had no idea I was. Then he started walking directly towards me until he got to fifteen yrds. and looked strait up at me. I don't know if he was looking at me or through me but he stared at me for about a minute then looked down, so I drew my bow. He caught my movement and was ready to bolt. I had about three seconds to aim and when I shoot he ran almost at the same instant. I saw the arrow burry up to the lighted nock in him.
It happened fast so I really had no chance to get a good look at him but I knew it wasn't the ten I was getting on camera. I got down texted my brother what happened and he said he was coming to help look. In the mean time I went and talked to the neighbor to the south because that is the direction he took of and If he made it more than a few hundred yards that is where he would end up. By the time I got that done my brother was there and it was about an hour after the shot so we decided to take up the trail. We had good blood but he went a little to far and I started getting nervous. After about a hundred yards we found the arrow. It had good blood all the way up to the fletching but still no deer. We thought about it and decided to give him a little while longer, but it was warm and there was a good chance of rain so we didn't want to leave him overnight.
After another hour we went back out and this time we had another friend to help us. We got to where the arrow came out and started picking up the trail again. Once we started from there I could tell we didn't need to give him that extra hour. Without the arrow in him the blood really started to pour out. He made his way out of the field and back into the woods and expired about thirty yards into the woods. He was dead within minutes of the shot after going about a hundred and fifty yards.
When I walked up to him I could not believe what I saw. He was not only a good buck for around these parts but would be considered a giant anywhere. It took a few minutes of just staring in disbelief and thinking of all the things that had to go just right for this to happen. It was dark and hot and I knew we had to get some better daylight photos of this guy so I called a friend and he let us use his walk in cooler so we could get him cooled down after gutting him and keep him whole for some good pictures the next day.
Until the hunter that hunts our neighbors property contacted me I thought this deer showed up out of nowhere. He showed me some of the photos of him and his sheds and then it dawned on me that it was the buck who disappeared back in 2014 that I just wrote off as another deer I would never see again. After the 60 day dry time I had him officially scored. He will go in the books as a 173 inch net typical. He grossed 177 with no abnormal points. It puts him the largest typical shot in my county with any weapon and 35 all-time with a bow in Minnesota. Just thought I would share this with everyone and hope you enjoyed my story. It was a blast living it. Thanks Joe Hollerich
wow what a beautiful buck - congratulations! We share the same initials, but definitely not the same quality of male whitetails! Love the brow tines that buck has it all.
Thanks guys for reading my story and the great compliments. I haven't written anything since collage so I am sure my composition isn't the greatest.
That is the only photo I have of the buck in 2014 and I know it isn't the best for judging age. But I do have some good trail cam video of him from then but not sure how to put video on a thread. The video shows just how many inches and body mass he put on in such a short time. If anyone wants to help me put the video on here I would be happy too.
What a Buck!!! A huge congrats and for him to be the biggest in your county is the icing on the cake! You got to love when you have multiple years of history with them as well.
I guess that was pretty easy. Thanks Kyle for the help.
As you can see he was not too impressive in 2014. Small body and not a very large rack. That is why I was leaning towards him being a 2 1/2 year old in 2014. Witch would make him only 4 1/2 when I shot him this year. Goes to show what some deer can become if given the chance.
It is tough to let a good 2.5 yo go. My buddy and I both passed on this one during bow season with fairly easy shot opportunities. Hoping it pays off in the future. This a KY buck. Mike
It's official the 2016 Minnesota deer season is over and the ten I've been getting on camera made it through the season. With any luck our paths will cross in 2017. Happy new year to everyone and thanks again.
My taxidermist was nice enough to get it done before the Minnesota Deer Classic which is this weekend so if anyone is going up maybe I'll see ya there.
He was shot in Le Sueur county which is in South Central Minnesota along the Minnesota River. Not an area known for big deer but has excellent genetics and great habitat, just missing the age factor. Seems more and more landowners in the area are starting to see that and letting some of the younger deer mature and it is starting to show. There has been a number of nice deer shot in the last five years or so around us.