down. I tried grunting and using a doe bleat,
but he was not leaving that doe’s side. Then, at
about 11 o’clock I saw them both get up and start
walking away from me. Big bucks don’t make a
lot of mistakes and past experience has told me
this might be the last time I would see him this
year.
I am not exactly sure what happened, but I saw
him 20 minutes later, cresting over the hill. This
was promising as maybe I would have a chance
calling him in. I tried calling again with no luck,
he stayed a few hundred yards out and headed
up to the other side of the farm. I sat there for a
little while and made the decision at mid-day to
move to another stand on the other side of the
farm.
The steady rain kept any noise I made to a
minimum as I climbed into my stand
for the afternoon. I’m now on the edge
6
of a woodline in the corner of an overgrown
pasture. I was in the stand a few hours when I
saw something moving on a hedgerow below
me. As I glassed the hedgerow I could see a buck
coming my way. As he got closer I knew he was
the same monster I saw in the morning. He was
heading right for me and cut the corner of the
field. I drew back my bow, stopped him 22 yards
in front of me and released my arrow. The shot
was true, as the buck went 20 yards from where
I shot him and fell over. As I watched that buck
fall, I realized I had just shot the largest deer of
my life and couldn’t wait to get my hands on him.
The buck’s “green” gross score was 178”. I was
humbled by the experience and was fortunate
enough to catch the whole hunt on video to share
with our viewers this year.