Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by Julie Wohldmann of Missouri, a 21-year-old student at Truman State University and an avid deer hunter. My Grandpa, Charles Wohldmann, and the rest of my family use your Imperial Whitetail Clover at our farm. We have had great luck with it, and it helped me take a great buck this year. My stand overlooks one of our Whitetail Clover plots. Actually, everyone has a stand on a Whitetail Clover plot. At 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 12, 2005, at our family farm in Pike County, Mo., I experienced something truly amazing.
I arrived at my stand a little before 5:30 a.m., got everything situated, loaded my gun and just sat and listened to the woods. About 15 minutes later, I heard two bucks fighting on the hill behind me. It was an amazing sound and was something I had never heard before, except on TV. I could hear their racks hit and one get pushed in the leaves, and try to push back. This went on for a few minutes, and then I heard one pawing the ground.
After that, I heard something coming down the hill. I knew it had to be one of the bucks I just heard. I could hear his rack hitting the tree branches on his way down. He sounded really close, but because it was pitch-black out, I couldn’t see anything; but I kept watching, hoping to catch a glimpse of his silhouette. Then, I saw something moving in my clover field, so I grabbed my binoculars to see if they could pull in enough light to see him; and they did. There was a huge, beautiful buck eating clover about 15 yards in front of me. I just sat there watching him, thinking maybe he would stay out in the field until it got light enough that I could get a shot. But he didn’t stay, and after a few minutes, he walked off.
Then I heard another sound of something walking on that same hill behind me. I saw a big-bodied animal walking along the creek that runs just under my stand, but he went by too fast for me to get a look at him in my binoculars. I thought it might have been the other buck because of the size of his body. After hearing the fight and seeing one big buck for sure, I was really excited and had a great feeling. I knew even if I didn’t see those deer again, I had just experienced something that many hunters would love to see and hear but never have the chance.
When it finally started to get light, I heard movement and grunting all over the same hill I had heard the bucks. Then I had a 6-point chase a doe in circles all around my stand, just grunting his heart out at her. I also had a fork-horn chase a doe right in front of my stand. Then about 30 minutes later, two does came out onto my field. At this point, I thought I was getting spoiled seeing all these deer, and then two more bucks came out. One was another 6-point, and the other was a little spike. I had shots at all of them; but after seeing that monster in the morning, I was holding out for him.
After the deer ran off, it was quiet for another half hour until I heard leaves rustling on the hill. I looked, and saw a group of turkeys. I took a second glance and saw a 6-point buck chasing a doe straight through the turkeys. The turkeys scattered in the air and on the ground. About an hour later, I had two more bucks walk into my field; but they still weren’t big enough. It was quiet until about 3 in the afternoon when I saw a nice-sized buck dart across the far edge of my field. I couldn’t count his points, though I could see a rack. He was gone in the blink of an eye. At about 3:30 p.m., I had a little doe come onto the far edge of the field and stare right at me. She would eat and then look at me again. She sensed something wasn’t right, so she walked off.
At 4:30 p.m., I heard something coming down the road on the hill behind me. I looked, and it was a beautiful buck. It was not quite as big as the one I had seen in the binoculars earlier that morning, but he was bigger than most. I got my gun up, and the buck turned to walk along the ledge of the creek — the same place I had seen the silhouette moving earlier that morning.
My hand was steady as a rock because I knew I would only get one shot with the way this buck was walking. I waited until I had the shot and POW! I knew I got him. He ran about 25 yards and was down. When I walked over to see him, all I saw was a huge rack coming up from the ground. I could not believe it. That’s when my heart started pounding. My Dad came down about 5:15 p.m. from his stand, which was up the hill and I said, “I think I got one!”
He couldn’t believe it and said, “That’s a beaut! That’s a beaut!” And he gave me a huge hug. “That’s a wall hanger,” he said. One of the best parts about killing the buck was not just the rush of taking such an amazing animal but making my dad so proud. Words can’t describe the look on my dad’s face and how it made me feel when he saw my buck for the first time. He’s someone I have always looked up to and respected.
This was my first year hunting alone. Last year I killed my first buck with my dad out of his stand, and this year I built my own stand. Everything I have learned about hunting and appreciation and love for nature has been from my dad, grandpa and uncles. They are the best. They all couldn’t help but smile.
My 11-point buck scored just under 150 and has the biggest rack of anything ever killed at our farm. I wanted to share this story and let people know that good things happen to those who wait—even if they are girls— and to let others know what an exciting hunt Whitetail Clover can provide.
