I’m not even sure where to begin honestly. I don’t know how I could have scripted a better outcome or experience to a season. Nonetheless, I’ll tell the story of the biggest whitetail I have ever arrowed with a bow. My best friend and I departed for north central Missouri late Thursday night of the 6th of November. Fifteen and a half hours later we pulled into the driveway of the camp in Mercer county Missouri. We jumped out and were warmly greeted by our outfitter and the man who’d I’d later call a friend. The alarm went off at 4:15AM on the morning of November 8th. The outfitter wanted me to go into another stand that was actually directly below my position the night before. It basically consisted of the two big draws from above and two smaller draws that converged. To the left was a pasture and to my right was a standing corn field. I was dropped off, snuck in and climbed the ladder stand. It was a cool morning with south winds but deadly quiet. I settled in and waited for first light. Shortly after good shooting light, I heard the sound of a deer approaching the stand from my right. Soon enough, a respectable 125 class 8 pointer worked his was across in front of me, down the draw. All of a sudden he stopped and looked back. “that’s not a doe following a buck” I thought to myself. My heart started pounding as I tried to identify the source of the second deer that was off to my right in the thicket. The buck in front of me then flicked his tail and continued on his mission down the draw until he disappeared. The deer above me moved to my right and it got quiet again. About this time, I turned to look behind me to my right. I caught movement in the field to my right and back of me and it only took me a second to realize I was looking at a 150+ class deer working straight away from me on the edge of the field. I grabbed the grunt and tried to turn him around but to no avail. Fifteen minutes passed when I caught a deer, a very large deer trotting through the pasture that was to my left and slightly behind me. I grabbed my glasses and looked him over. A stud of a buck, walked up through the field. But, he had his head tilted forward, ears laid back and he was stiff legged as he made his way across the field. “huh?” I said to myself. When I pulled the bino’s away, I realized there was yet another 150 class deer to my left walking toward the buck I just glassed. “holy smokes, this is going to get real in the field” I said to myself as I watched to two giant deer make their way toward one another. Just then, they stopped, looked up through the field directly away from me, when out of nowhere, a coyote came blasting through the field right at them. They snorted and ran into the woods in my direction. There is a very steep, deep gut that ran parallel to the pasture they were in and they went down into there. The coyote, satisfied with his chase, turned and trotted back up through the field and disappeared into the wood lot on the opposite side. “Great… that just totally ruined anything I had going on.” Not more than two minutes passed when the first big racked buck and a doe re-entered the field. The doe skirted the edge of the woods and came down the a trailed into the steep gut to my hard left. I watched her as she began working to me. I glanced back into the field and realized the buck was working toward that same point where she got into the timber. Its about to get real interesting. The doe walked to a mere 15 yards of the stand, directly to my left and stopped. Just then, she did something that still makes me cringe. She looked up, directly at me. “oh crap” I thought as I watched her stare at me for what seemed like 5 minutes. She took a step, looked, another step, looked again. I glanced hard to my right and saw a big, heavy horned buck approaching some 80 yards away yet. By this time, this doe had me rattled and I was trying to control my nerves while trying to beat her and get her to clear the area. She put her head down, allowing me to slowly, but shakily pull the bow off the hook and rest it on my knee. She looked back up at me once more time. “Come on you hag!” I said to myself as she looked at me for what seemed like forever. All the while, I could heard the steady footsteps of the big boy approaching to my left, slightly behind me. Finally, she flicked her tailed and headed straight away from me down the trail. The whole episode lasted maybe two minutes, but it seemed like ten. The big heavy nine pointer walked down the exact same path as she did and stopped momentarily, not 10 yards from the stand. I gazed at his rack. “Oh god I can’t believe this is happening right now”, I thought as he started to walk again. He then turned almost directly away from me and start toward the doe who was now some 50 yards away still working away. I immediately came to full draw and tracked him with the 20 yard pin. You know, its funny how things race through your mind at that point. I knew that only chance I had here was to stop him and hope like hell he would turn enough to give me a quartering away shot. So… “bah” I blurted out. He hit the brakes, took two steps to his right to turned his big head around to see where the source of the noise came from. I dropped the 20 yard pin to the center of his chest, behind his leg. The nocturnal disappeared behind his shoulder, exactly where my pin once held. He kicked his legs high into the air and raced off, making a slight loop but headed in the direction the doe ran. He made it about 80 yards and slowed to a walk, head slightly down. I quickly grabbed the binoculars to watch him, but had to rest them on my bow, which was still in my left hand, to steady them as I was shaking so bad. The big guy came to a slow walk as I tried desperately to calm the shaking enough to keep him in the binoculars. About this time, all I could see was the back half of him and he stopped, and started hacking and coughing violently… then he disappeared and the woods fell silent. I sat there, glassing the spot where I saw him for what seemed like 10 minutes. Still, nothing but silence. I was around this time that the doe that the buck was trailing came back to where the buck was last seen, stopped and stared for several minutes, before turning around and disappearing away from me. Once my shaking had stopped and I collected my thoughts, I grabbed my phone and texted the outfitter and my best hunting buddy saying that I think I may have a good buck down. I told him to take his time. While I wanted to jump out of the tree, I still wanted to give him time as I didn’t know how lethal the shot was and didn’t see him fall. I heard a deer walking from behind me. I froze and glanced to my right. A respectable eight pointer walked by me, down the path where the buck I shot went and immediately spiked the brakes and stared at the spot I last saw him, some 100 yards below me. I watched this buck with my binoculars and studied his reactions. He stared, took several steps and stared again. “I really hope he’s staring at what I think he is” I said to myself. The little buck made a half circle around the area, stopping now and then and looking before he disappeared off into the timber below. The outfitter arrived slowly and quietly to my location and asked me to direct him to the shot location. I pointed 15 yards away at the red Nocturnal stuck in the ground. He walked to the arrow, looked it over, then gave me a big thumbs up and motioned that blood splattered the ground at the arrow location. He then asked me to slip out of the tree and join him to track him. Blood was spotty at first, with drops ever two the tree yards. Then, like someone opened the flood gates, the blood started gushing. I stayed a few yards behind him as he followed the trail. I kept staring at the area I last saw him, praying for a glimpse of him. I was taking a few steps, getting more and more anxious with each passing second when the most amazing thing happened. The outfitter stopped, staring at a spot in the vicinity of where I hoped and prayed for the past hour the deer may be lying. He turned around, extended his right hand and smiled. Not a word was said, but I knew exactly what that meant. The biggest buck that I have ever arrowed was down. We covered the last 50 yards to him, I put my bow on his rump and stared. I didn’t grab his rack yet, just knelt down and stared. I was numb, I couldn’t believe I was able to keep it together to make a near perfect shot on this deer. I stood up, tears in my eyes and looked at the guide. He came over and gave me big hug and pat on the back congratulating me on a great buck and shot. I finally turned, went over and picked his antlers up for the first time, and admired him. The first thing that I noticed? Mass. I have seen big heavy horned deer at shows and on television before, but never thought I would take an animal like this. I was in awe as I turned his head from side to side, admiring what was able to grow this year. I closed my eyes and said a little prayer and also thanked my dad who I know was watching over me that morning and saw the whole thing transpire. Thanks dad, this one is for you buddy… Now, for pictures that help tell the story and hero shots. When I first walked up to him.
Dude, wow! That thing is absolutely beautiful. Congratulations on the trophy of a lifetime. Great story and pictures.
That is a wonderful story, and an outstanding and beautiful deer. Congratulations on an awesome trophy, and thank you for sharing a fantastic story. I'm quite sure you will never forget this hunt!
Holy freaking stud man! Awesome buck, and an awesome hunt. Many go a lifetime without living a hunt like that!
that was a great story. always nice to read a full blow-by-blow on how it went down. thats a GREAT buck!!.
