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I showed my buddy a pic of the biggest buck and he commented " he's a giant". His wife chimed in and said you need to call him "Andre" for Andre the giant. Sounded good to me, so the name stuck.

After I planted my corn, I also planted some sorghum in a 7' circle in the spot where I was going to set my double bull. I fertilized this spot several times over the summer and it came in great.

Here's a pic of him. He's the one on the right.

First to show up was Stan from Ak. I had been sending him trail cam pics during the summer and he was excited to finally get here. It was pretty uneventful the first morning. I showed Stan around the farm around noon. We found a spot that Stan thought he would like to hunt. It was on the south edge of a plot. The problem was, there was only one tree big enough to hang a stand in, plus it wasn't a very big tree. He wanted to give it a try so I suggested that we hang it on the back side of the tree as well as lower so that the cedar trees behind it would help to break his outline up somewhat. We finished hanging the stand and headed out for the evening hunt. Not much action that evening.

Stan slipped into his stand the next morning, waiting for daylight. After sunrise, he did a short rattling sequence. Rustling in the leaves indicated something was coming and quickly at that. The deer popped up out the ravine and stopped behind some cedars, looking for the sparring match. Circling to the right, around the cedars, the buck ended up walking through the plantain plot about 20 yds from Stan's position. As he lifted his bow up and over to clear a branch to shoot, he bumped his rattling antlers slightly, causing the buck to freeze. Fortunately, the buck started walking again and Stan drew and shot, hitting the buck perfectly. Wheeling, the deer ran back in the direction that he came from.

I got a text from Stan stating he had just shot "Jack Handy". I told him to sit tight. I bailed out of my stand about 10 to go help Stan find his deer. It didn't take long to find him either, as he had only made it down the ravine about 30 yards. So much for Stan staying 2 weeks!

Finally, several mornings later, Quincy had a really nice 10 pointer come through and he made a great shot, watching the buck go down within sight. He died up on the flat and not down in the bottom of the ravine to boot!

Quincy's buck had unreal mass, over 45". I had no pics of this deer. The big 8 point I killed last year as well as the other buck in the double pedestal mount pic were deer that I had no idea where they came from as well. Makes a person wonder how many bucks are out there that never end up in front of the cameras. Both Quincy's and Stan's bucks grossed over 170".

You would think he would look happier ;-)

Got into December without any sightings of Andre or any opportunities at anything else I was willing to pull the trigger on other than a doe. We finally got some cold weather but not till late. Nothing like a hot drink to warm you up!

Finally, this past Thursday we had a NW wind which was perfect for the plot where I had most of the pics of Andre. I got there about 3:30 in the afternoon. It was 5 degrees with a wind chill of 15-20 below. I climbed into the tree and tried to face downwind as much as possible. I rarely wear anything on my face other than a mesh facenet hunting. I have a hard time finding my anchor point with something heavier on.

About 4:15 a doe came out into the field and started feeding. A few minutes later I spotted movement back in the timber where the doe had come from. I could see antlers back in the trees, and as he stepped out to the edge of the timber, I could tell it was Andre! He stood there a Few moments before finally working his way out into the plot. He was feeding about 65 yards away. Moments later, 8-10 does emerged from the trees from the same direction, and ended up feeding alongside him. They slowly began working their way to the east, towards a picked bean field with Andre in tow. If they continued on the same route, he would come by me at about 30 yards! All of the does except one straggler passed by my stand, with the single doe and Andre lagging behind about 30 yards. I had to get my arrow up and over a big tree branch. As I started moving it upward, the lone doe thought she saw something and started burning a hole through me. I froze, cursing her under my breath, greatful to have a couple of hand warmers tucked away in my gloves! She head bobbed for a couple of minutes, trying to get me to move, before finally giving up and heading towards the other does. I got the arrow over the branch and got drawn without getting busted. Andre was now standing at 30 yards broadside. I took aim, released, and hit him perfectly, tight behind the shoulder! He took off to the east out in the middle of the bean field for about 150 yards before slowing to a stop for a few seconds. He staggered and went down, trying to regain his feet, but to no avail. I couldn't believe it! First, he showed up in daylight, and secondly he came close enough for a shot!

God Bless

I still have a few weeks left in Ohio to get it done.

whackmaster,....I'm in Iowa.

Congrats to all your friends and yourself.

Good luck, Robb

PS. See ya in Wyo-Moose camp this fall ~~ !

Friends like T-roy might be harder to find than 200" WTs

Cograts to all and God Bless!

Scar.

I have a good idea at how hard and methodically you have worked your plan over many years! Congrats!!! Home brew deer hunting is the best!!! The "season of all seasons!!!"

Mark

Congrats again, Troy. It's great to get the story along with all the pics you've been sending me. You guys are killers!

Great job, that kind of consistency doesn't happen by accident. The pics also don't do that buck justice. What a deer.

unreal ...............

Way to stick it out till the end! Must make your success that much sweeter. Very impressive Troy, Congrats on an awesome buck!

I'm thinking of quitting this and taking up racing stock cars....It might be cheaper ;>)