Finally Oct. 21 arrived. I worked until 1 p.m., came home and got ready to hunt. On the way to the property where I was going to hunt, I stopped and showed a friend the picture of the buck I wanted to get. I told him I was going up that afternoon to try and get him. This stand was located on the edge of a group of hardwoods, overlooking a field
of goldenrod.
We had worked up a part of the field and put in a small plot, maybe 20 yards wide and 80 yards long. We hand seeded the area with Winter-Greens. As things began to grow, we put up a ladder stand that was perfect for winds coming from the south or the west.
That afternoon the wind was coming from the West. I climbed into the tree stand about 4:10 p.m. The food plot was already heavily browsed but there was still plenty there to attract the deer. I saw a doe and fawn about 4:45 a.m. and at about 5:10 a.m. I noticed a deer in the woods in front of me. I looked at him with the binoculars and realized he was a big buck, maybe the big tined buck I was hoping to see. For 10 days I had hoped I would see him and now maybe he was coming in range. I stopped looking at the antlers and focused on getting a good shot. In 41 years of hunting this is the nicest buck I have taken. The taxidermist green scored him at 140 with a 3.5 inches of deduction for irregularities. I was very happy with a 136.5 point total score. He is only an 8-point but the difference is the 8-1/2-inch brow tines. I have shot many deer in my lifetime of hunting and I have several 8-point bucks on the wall, but when I compare them to this big tined buck there is no comparison. The longest brow tines on any of the antlers I have taken are only 3 inches tall!
Getting a deer like this with my bow is a dream of a lifetime.
