Mississippi Giant

Here is a giant buck killed with archery equipment by Michale Burkley of Natchez Mississippi. I am interested in this buck because I used to live in Mississippi while attending Ole Miss.

It is said that if it were not for the non typical trash this buck would have been the new archery state record typical in Mississippi. The 15 point has a non typical net score of 188. Pretty impressive buck from the Magnolia State none the less.

Texas' King Daddy bow buck

Legendary King Ranch gives up crown jewel of Texas' 2008 early archery season

Click Here To Read The Story From ESPN Outdoors

Legendary King Ranch gives up crown jewel of Texas' 2008 early archery season

By Lynn Burkhead
ESPNOutdoors.com

Deer hunting is king in Texas and nowhere is that more evident than at the sprawling King Ranch located in the state's southernmost coastal counties north of Brownsville.

Begun in the early 1850s when Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis set up a cattle operation in South Texas on Santa Gertrudis Creek, the 825,000-acre spread is nearly as large as the entire state of Rhode Island.

Found in portions of Nueces, Kenedy, Kleberg, and Willacy counties, this vast ranch is home to some amazing South Texas deer hunting each year, perhaps the best low fence whitetail hunting the Lone Star State has to offer.

That fact was reinforced in a big way on Sept. 27, opening day of the 2008 early archery season in Texas, when New Mexico bowhunter Terry Hall arrowed one of the largest typical whitetail bucks ever killed in the Lone Star State.

With the huge 6 X 7 typical buck's antlers still wrapped in velvet, no less.

The Hall buck sports an initial green gross score of 196 0/8 inches as reported by the Texas Big Game Awards program director David Brimager.

That's really big, even by Texas' lofty whitetail standards.

What's more, with the buck's final net score expected to be in the mid 180s (once the official 60-day drying period required by the Pope & Young Club and the Boone & Crockett Club has been completed), the Hall buck stands poised to shake up the Lone Star State's record books.

If Hall chooses to strip the amazing buck of its velvet (required for the deer to become an all-time record book entry), the whitetail could potentially become the Pope & Young Club's new state record typical bow buck in Texas, in addition to potentially becoming one of the Top 10 bucks ever taken by a hunter in the Lone Star State.

And should the velvet remain attached, the Hall buck currently stands as one of the largest velvet antlered typical whitetails ever killed by a hunter.

Butch Thompson, the longtime wildlife biology manager of the King Ranch's hunting operations, says that this deer is indeed something special.

Even in Texas and even on the King Ranch.

"Yeah, you don't grow deer like that very often," Thompson said. "We've had a couple of other similar deer through the years that I've been here, including one taken back in late 1970s that scored about 190.

"This deer will (net) score about 185 inches by the time he dries," he added. "So he's the second largest typical ever taken on the ranch, at least in our recorded history.

"You get a deer like that about once every 30 years."

How does a deer like the Hall buck grow to such legendary proportions?

"Well, here at the King Ranch, we've been managing wildlife longer than most places have even existed," said Thompson, now in his 35th year with the Ranch.

And along the way, the Ranch has championed the primary components of quality deer management, or trophy buck development, if you will.

"We've got superior genetics and excellent habitat (to start with)," Thompson said, noting that the King Ranch has a great selection of protein filled, highly digestible forbs that help the Ranch's bucks develop legendary headbones.

Then there is simply the passage of time, something required for good bucks to become truly great bucks.

"We let them reach their potential as far as age goes," Thompson said. "We try not to take our trophy deer until they are at least six years old.

True to form, the massive whitetail buck Hall arrowed was in all of his antlered prime.

"This buck was 6 ½ years old," Thompson said. "We had actually been watching the deer for about three years. We passed him up last year."

Passed him up?

Yes, that's the price to be paid for a true blue Texas Muy Grande to become a monster that will rewrite the record books.

"He was probably a book deer last year, but we chose to let him walk another year," Thompson said.

That proved to be a good decision, especially for Hall, a veteran of deer hunting on the ranch.

"He's been hunting with us for quite a while, but this is a once in a lifetime deal (for anybody)," Thompson said.

"Terry Hall appreciates that deer probably as much as anyone that could have killed it would," he added. "He's a very ethical hunter and a good customer of ours and he was very thrilled to get that deer."

Thompson said Hall wasn't the only one thrilled by the big deer's tagging as word quickly spread around the vast acreage that something special had occurred.

"Everybody was thrilled to death," Thompson said. "We took a huge a huge non-typical deer in 1998 and we all had the same feeling then.

"Every once and a while everything comes together at the right time as you get the right doe, the right buck, and the right weather coming together.

"We are thrilled to death to grow a buck like that."

Even deep in the heart of deer hunting Texas, a vast and storied state whose big buck capitol is none other than the fabled King Ranch.


Texas top 15 Boone and Crockett typical bucks

HUNTER NET SCORE COUNTY YEAR
1. Tom McCulloch 196 4/8 Maverick 1963
2. Milton P. George 196 1/8 McMullen 1906
3. Basil Dailey 192 2/8 Frio 1903
4. Steven W. O’Carroll 190 2/8 Shackleford 1991
5. C.P. Howard 190 Dimmit 1950
6. Donald Rutledge 187 7/8 Zavala 1946
7. Pick-Up Entry 187 5/8 Starr 1945
8. Phillip T. Stringer 187 4/8 Zapata 1992
9. Herman C. Schliesing 186 2/8 LaSalle 1967
10. Pick-Up Entry 186 1/8 Zavala 1965
11. Jesus Lopez 185 4/8 Zapata 1969
12. Henderson Coquat 185 1/8 Webb 1949
13. Loyd Nail 185 Frio 1941
14. Harry Richardson, Jr. 184 6/8 Starr 1973
15. Pick-Up Entry 184 4/8 Bandera 1949

Source: “Boone and Crockett Club Records of North American Big Game, 11th edition”


Texas top five Pope and Young typical bucks

HUNTER NET SCORE COUNTY YEAR
1. Glenn Thurman 181 4/8 LaSalle 2004
2. Ryan Friedkin 180 Maverick 2006
3. Jim Lillis 175 2/8 Grayson 2007
4. Dan Friedkin, Jr. 174 4/8 Dimmit 2004
5. John T. Wright 173 7/8 Wilbarger 1998

Source: Pope and Young Club

Possible New Iowa Archery Record

I found this on The Outdoor Sportsman Blog. This buck was reportedly killed by Kyle Simmons in Jackson County Iowa. My understanding is that Jackson County is located in East Central Iowa.

The buck has 28 points and should gross in the 270's. It is projected to net high 250's to low 260's and if so that should make it a new Iowa state archery record.

For more information on this buck check out this forum www.idohunting.com

To go to the actual post Click Here

A Week for Whitetails

This is an article that I found on realtree.com that has some useful tips. I am about to go on my first week long hunt out of state on a property that I am not all that familiar with. As I said in an earlier post this week, I went on a scouting/ hunting trip a couple of weeks ago to this property, but the deer were not moving all that much. We really did not get a very good idea of what the deer are going to be doing and where the deer are concentrating.

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A Week for Whitetails

By Brian Strickland

If you’re anything like me, time seems to always be in short supply. With a full-time job, a family and everything in-between, finding time to spend in the whitetail woods each fall can be a challenge. But when that week finally arrives—a whole seven days—our intention is to make the most of every second, and ultimately come home with many whitetail encounters, backstrap for the freezer and some bone for the wall.

However, in our zest to take in every ounce of the hunt, often times we are too aggressive and have an all or nothing mindset to our week of whitetail wonder. Although this approach sometimes has its rewards, oftentimes the deer figure out pretty quickly they are not the only ones in the woods and become almost invisible. Our once highly prized week that we’ve had X’d-out on our calendar for months now falls short of our expectations.

If you want to get the most out of your week when you head to the woods this fall, step back and take the whole week into perspective. If you look at every aspect of the hunt and plan each step, you might just have the week of whitetail hunting nirvana you’ve been dying for.

The Perfect Week

Picking the perfect week is a must when you’re looking to increase your odds at punching your tag, and it goes without saying the first or second weeks of November are prime. It’s then that lust-crazed bucks are on their feet most of the day and throw caution into the wind and make mistakes in their search for love.

However, if you work with other hunters, getting a chunk of time off could be difficult. If I had to choose a backup week, it would definitely be during the early season, which can be as early as August or September in some states. That time of year can also yield opportunities at giant bucks. Although you won’t find bucks dogging does then, they are usually easy to pattern, travel in bachelor groups and haven’t felt the pressure of other hunters yet. If you take the time to find where the bucks are feeding and can figure out their travel route, sticking one of them with a well-placed arrow is almost a sure thing.

Before You Get There

Scouting is a huge key to your week in the woods, especially if this is your first time hunting a particular piece of ground. And with gas prices at all-time highs, and our old trucks barely getting 15 miles a gallon, pre-season scouting can be tough. So in order for us to have a good idea of what the patch of ground we’re hunting has to offer, a little bit of research is a must.

For instance, I drew a tag for southern Iowa this fall, and I have decided to hunt a patch of public ground. After talking with the local conservation officer and hunters who have hunted there in the past, getting my hands on some maps, and checking the area out with online aerial photos, I have some good starting points. This by no means should take away from old fashion boots on the ground scouting, and I will definitely have to do some looking around once I get there in November, but I already have a few stand locations in mind. All I’ll have to do when I get there is fine tune the information and I’ll be off and running.

Fools Rush In

Well, the week has finally arrived and you’re ready to get into your stand. Before you jump into what you think will be your best setup, you might want to plan each day of the hunt. Consider hunting an outside-in approach before you rush in. This is especially true if you’re in a new area, but this principle is also usable if it’s a property you’ve hunted several times in the past. Things can change in and around a property from year to year when you consider crop rotations, logging and in some cases urban sprawl, all of which can change deer movement. So starting on the fringe of your hunting area can be a good approach. Hang that first stand in a low impact area that will give you the ability to watch and learn, but also the opportunity to kill a buck.

I have hunted a small piece of property in Kansas for years, and one that I know very well. One of the first stands I sit is usually an isolated row of trees that is between a crop and a CRP field. It is by no means the best spot on the place, but it lets me come and go without being detected, and allows me to see a good chunk of the property. In fact, a couple of seasons ago I watched a buck enter at a corner of one of the fields, and a couple days later I hung a stand there and ended up sending an arrow through him.

Once you have a good idea of what the deer are up to, it’s time to go deeper into the cover and start looking for funnels that lead from bedding-to-bedding and bedding-to-feeding areas. Bucks will be filtering through these areas as the rut begins to kick in. At this point however, it’s still early in the hunt so don’t set up too close to the best bedding areas unless you can come and go undetected. Spooking deer now can really be a damper on your hunt. Some good setups for this would be creeks, ridges, inside corners, saddles and pinch points of timber.

Another area to consider for evening hunts is staging areas. These areas are typically close to food sources, so find the best food the area has to offer. Mature bucks will hang in these areas waiting on the sun to sink before going out to feed, especially in high pressure areas. Often times these areas will be littered with rubs and scrapes.

Once you hit the latter part of the week, it’s time to put conservatism aside and get in the thick of things. Although spooking deer should always be a consideration, start hunting the edges of the best bedding areas. During the rut, bucks will visit these areas throughout the day. However, your stand must be on the downwind side. And if you have not hung your stand yet, you might have to do it at night when the deer are gone or on a windy day. Once you decide to hunt bedding areas, you need to be there all day. Trying to sneak in and out while they are there can ruin the area the rest of the week.

I did just that the second to last day of a recent Wyoming deer hunt. Although I had been covered up with deer all week, no shooter bucks ever presented a shot. So with time running out, I set up a stand that was within a stone’s throw of a bedding area and was in a staging area. Later that evening I had a mature buck wonder under my stand that proudly wore my tag when I headed home the following morning.
On the last day or two of your hunt a “no holds bar” mindset is necessary. Hunt the best areas you have found and plan on hunting all day. These are spots you have been avoiding early in the week because you know you will bump deer trying to get into them. However, if you keep the wind right while you’re hunting, bumping a few deer as you come and go at this point will not take you out of the game.

Making the Most of It

To get the most out of your week and come home with some head bone for the record books, the key to success is avoiding mistakes. The mistake hunters make most often is deer knowing they are being hunted early in the week. Having good scent management before you leave your truck is a given, but it doesn’t matter how “scent free” you think you are, never hunt a stand with a marginal wind. I don’t know how many times I’ve had a wise ol’ doe give that all too familiar warning blow and not had a deer come close to me the rest of the day. Also, a good entrance and exit strategy to your stands is a must, and be sure to have multiple stands up and ready to go. Burning a productive spot out early can make for a long week.

Furthermore, hunt all day if you’re hunting in November; this is the week you have been waiting for. Although you are burning vacation time to be there, and hunting all day at times is no vacation, it will definitely increase your odds of taking that happy-hunter picture by the end of the week.

Finding quality bucks in only a week can be hard enough, but having equipment failure along the way can turn that week of vacation into a disaster. Shoot a good quality bow or gun, use good optics, top notch tree stands and ground blinds, and dawn on your best set of Realtree camo. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about equipment failure, but using quality gear minimizes the chance of a mishp.

Finally, make the shot. You don’t want to spend hours and hours in the stand and finally have that toad you’ve been after under you and miss. Prepare for that shot both physically and mentally, and practice, practice, practice! Be in good physical condition. If you can’t walk a couple of hundred yards in hilly country without keeling over, your chances of killing a mature buck are slim. Also, know your weapon intimately. Start a shooting regiment now! I don’t know how many times I’ve heard of hunters—me included—missing deer at 10 yards. They are solid at 20, 30 and even 40 yards, but overlooked those close opportunities that sometimes presented themselves, so be sure and hit the 10-ring.

When it’s all said and done, it’s your week in the woods, and making the most of it is what will ultimately lead you to success this fall. So start slow and finish strong and see if that puts a smile on your face at the end of the week.

Flint Hills buck could be an all-timer

Another great buck taken from Kansas this year. Man I hope we find something half of the size of these bucks!

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BY MICHAEL PEARCE
The Wichita Eagle

Jamie Farr could tell a big buck was heading his way Oct. 22.

Fortunately, the Junction City hunter didn't know how big.

As soon as he saw long tines on one antler he decided, "That's the one I'm going to shoot this year. I just focused on my shooting lane. I didn't want to get buck fever."

The whitetail he shot a few minutes later will probably score high enough to be one of the top bow-killed typicals in Kansas history.

Farr was hunting where two deep Flint Hills canyons met near a feeding area. Things didn't start well that afternoon.

"When walking to the stand, I scared up two does and a fawn and they made a lot of noise," he said. "I figured the hunt was over, but the wind was so perfect I went ahead and hunted."

He watched a flock of turkeys fly up to roost not far away, and listened to the ruckus they made when something spooked them.

He almost headed for his truck, figuring nothing would come with all the noise. He was also getting chilled in the wind, low temperatures and moist air.

Looking to his left, he saw movement coming through a stand of oaks.

Soon he saw the antlers and diverted his gaze.

"They say that once you decide you want to take an animal you shouldn't look right at it so you don't get buck fever," Farr said. "I saw enough that I wanted him."

The buck eventually worked to within 30 yards and started eating acorns.

Farr wasted no time making a good shot.

"When he turned to run away, I realized the rack was very big, very nice," he said.

The buck fell about 45 yards away. Farr was amazed at what he found when he walked to it.

"He was an absolute monster," he said. "I knew I'd shot the biggest deer of my life."

His previous best was a respectable bow-killed 10-pointer that netted 167 inches.

This buck carried 11 main-frame tines and an extra point on each browtine.

The buck had tines to more than a foot in length, main beams to 29 inches and an inside spread of more than 24 inches.

Later, the buck was unofficially scored at 208 gross points. It's expected to net about 188 typical points when the mandatory 60-day drying period is over. It could also score about 203 non-typical inches, though the typical score will probably rank it higher in Kansas.

According to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the archery state record is a 193 7/8 buck shot in Wabaunsee County in 2001. The fifth-best scored 188 5/8 and was shot in Pottawatomie County in 1998.

Having too many points is keeping Farr's buck from scoring higher.

Pope & Young rates racks on symmetry and perfection. The extra points on the browtines deduct from the total score.

"If he didn't have those splits on the browtines, he'd net 195 and be the new state record, But those add character to him," Farr said. "I'll keep hunting and hoping for something bigger and better. I realize that's a pretty big dream."

Brothers' four-year quest leads to world-class whitetail The Wichita Eagle

Hopefully We will have something like this walk in front of one of us when we are in Kansas next week.

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The Wichita Eagle

BY MICHAEL PEARCE

From 2005 to 2007, the White brothers doggedly hunted a buck called "Big Nine."

Luckily they didn't get him until this week.

"Last year he was a 160-class deer and this year he's a 200," Scott White said.

Monday evening, White made a 30-yard shot on the 11-point buck that's expected to eventually net about 185 inches, after grossing 200 7/8.

That's about one-tenth of an inch per hour the Whites annually invest in their passion for big whitetails.

Brothers Scott, Nick and Matt White are usually in a stand every day of Kansas' bow season until they've all killed trophies.

Summer evenings are spent watching feed fields from a distance or sitting close enough in a ground blind to video good bucks.

They have many trail cameras over corn piles in the midst of some of central Kansas' best deer habitat.

In the late winter and spring, they walk miles searching for shed antlers.

Scott White said they've found at least one shed antler each year from the legendary buck beginning at age 2.

"He was a 120-inch deer as a 2-year-old and then he just blew up to 160 inches as a 3-year-old," said Scott White, of Marquette.

It was like the buck's IQ increased as fast as his antlers.

"He's the smartest deer we've ever hunted," Nick White said. "We never got a picture of him over a corn pile. We never got a really good picture of him on a trail camera. He just totally avoided those things."

The buck was also largely nocturnal.

Still, enough hours in tree stands and ground blinds offered the hunters some glimpses of the buck.

Scott White figures he got about 15 looks at the buck in 2006.

Going into this bow season, the brothers knew their chances had never been better to see the buck in bow range.

"We finally got a good break when we figured out he was bedding about 150 yards from the landowner's house," Nick White said. "We were able to find a good tree to hang a stand in and figure out a way to get to and from the tree."

As he has most weeknights since the season opened, Scott White hustled from his Hutchinson job Monday afternoon, showered at home and headed for the tree stand.

"It was just such a perfect afternoon. It was cool and the wind about quit blowing," he said. "I just had a feeling it was going to be a good night."

A little before 7 p.m., sounds of a deer walking through some trees got Scott White's attention. Antler tines rising far above a massive rack told him it was the buck they'd been after for many years.

His 30-yard shot was good. The buck made it 80 yards and died.

Scott White called his brothers before he climbed from his stand.

They walked to the downed buck together.

"I'd thought he might go 190, but didn't think he'd go 200 inches," Nick White said.

"We've been after one like that for such a long time."

As well as two extra points compared to years past, Scott White was surprised by the big buck's dimensions.

It carried 27-inch main beams and tines to 16 inches tall. Both third points are more than a foot.

If the measurements hold after the mandatory 60-day antler drying period required by the Pope & Young Club, the buck could make it into the Kansas top 10 or 15 of all time.

Would the buck have grown more had it lived another year?

"I don't know how big he'd have been next year," Scott White said. "I've thought about it and it's kind of scary, but I'm glad I got him."

Heading For Kansas Sunday

I will be leaving this Sunday for a week long hunting trip in Jewel county Kansas. Jewel County is located in north central Kansas and the particular area that I am hunting is only about 7 miles from Nebraska. My hunting partners for this trip are a couple of good friends of mine from high school, Shane Howell and Robert Sterett.

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We actually went on a 4 day trip to Kansas about 2 weeks ago. We did a little hunting, but did not have any success. We used that time primarily as a scouting trip. We spent most of our time setting up stands and getting to know the land that we are going to be hunting. We all saw deer, Shane and Robert both saw a couple of small bucks, but I only saw does. Shane and I did see a couple of shooter bucks one night driving back to the lodge where we are staying.

The hunting in Kansas is much different than the hunting that I am used to doing here in Texas. We are mainly hunting the edges of crop fields and in drainage areas around creeks. I was surprised by the terrain that we are hunting. I have always thought of Kansas is being flat, level land where you could see for miles. The land that we are hunting actually has some rolling hills and steep elevation changes from the crop fields to the drainage area.
Before we left we set out some game cameras by three of the stands that we set up. Hopefully we will have some picture of good bucks in the area. We are hoping to get there early enough on Sunday to go and retrieve the SD cards and check the pictures, but we may have to wait until Monday morning.

The rut should be peaking during the week that we are there, so even if our piece of property is not holding any big bucks, we may get lucky and get a couple of neighboring bucks cruising through searching for hot does.

I did not take any video or pictures of our last trip, but I plan on documenting this upcoming trip, and I will be sure and post pictures and stories when I get back. Hopefully I will have pictures of 3 monster bucks lay down, after all that is what we are making the trip for.

The Hanson Buck: 15 Years Later

Since there is talk about the buck in the previous post possibly contending for the new world record typical whitetail, I thought I would take a look at the story behind the current typical world record shot in 1993 by Milo Hanson.
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Whitetail history is filled with landmark events, but perhaps none more noteworthy than the one occurring on the morning of Nov. 23, 1993.

A decade has passed since Milo fired the shot heard 'round the deer world.

By Gordon Whittington

Whitetail history is filled with landmark events, but perhaps none more noteworthy than the one occurring on the morning of Nov. 23, 1993.

That day a decade ago, western Saskatchewan rifle hunter Milo Hanson downed a tremendous 14-pointer that would go on to be certified as a world record in the typical category of the Boone and Crockett record book. The monster received a final panel score of 213 5/8 net points, obliterating the old record of 206 1/8. The record had been held by the James Jordan buck, which had been shot in western Wisconsin all the way back in 1914.

Not only did Milo's trophy handily beat one that had been the world's biggest typical for more than three-quarters of a century, he's still the buck to beat in the typical category. That fact surprises many whitetail experts who openly doubted that the Canadian deer would hold onto his No. 1 ranking this long.

Among those skeptics was Larry Huffman, former owner of the Legendary Whitetails collection. That display, now owned by Bass Pro Shops, includes the Jordan buck and three other typicals ranking among B&C's all-time Top 10.

"I said at the time Milo shot his buck that his record would be broken within five years," Larry recalls. "With all the big sheds that were being found, and with so many more big bucks out there, as a result of better deer management, I just figured it would have happened before now. Obviously, I was wrong."

For what it's worth, Milo claims he wasn't exactly confident his buck would still be hanging in there at No. 1 after all these years, either.

"Yeah, I guess I'm probably a little surprised that (the record) hasn't been broken," he says. "Every year it seems we hear about another big one, but so far none of them has officially scored enough to beat mine."

Enough huge typical sheds have been found to suggest that the Hanson buck is beatable. In fact, a deer of similar size is featured on Page 52 of the Dec. 2003 issue of North American Whitetail. That buck, from the Midwest, was thought to still be alive as that issue went to press. We'll feature him in another story if he's actually taken by a hunter.)

While Milo felled his record with a .308 bullet, he claims he wouldn't be shocked to learn that the next No. 1 typical was done in by an arrow.

"It definitely could be a bow-hunter who breaks my record," he says. "There are more people hunting with a bow now. It seems that when I go to a hunting show and talk with people, more of them hunt with a bow than with a gun."

As full-time farmers who stay busy with crop harvest every fall, Milo and his wife, Olive, don't have time to bowhunt. However, they remain avid gun hunters.

When asked about his pick for the most likely place to yield the next No. 1 typical whitetail, Milo names his home province, as well as Iowa. Indeed, a look at the B&C records shows both have a history of producing contenders; in addition to Milo's record, Saskatchewan has given up at least two other typicals netting over 200, while Iowa has produced one.

Could there be any more "Hanson" bucks roaming the area where the world record fell a decade ago? There's a chance the same bloodline is still out there.

"A few years after I shot the record, our friend Walter Meager got some video of a buck that looked a lot like him," Milo notes. "Olive and I saw the same buck one day, too. He was a 5x5 instead of a 6x6, but he had long tines and looked just like the big one. He was obviously a young deer, but we never saw him again, and I don't think anyone shot him. We keep up with what gets shot around here, and nobody got him."

Although Milo beat the odds to shoot a second B&C typical in 1994 -- that deer qualified for the record book despite netting more than 40 inches less than his 1993 giant -- the hunter says he thinks his chances of breaking his own mark are too low to calculate. "I'd be more likely to win the lottery," he says with a laugh.

Most other hunters would say he already did.

Record Buck? Archer bags notable deer

The buck that that I posted video of last month from Wisconsin was reportedly killed on Saturday November 1, 2008.
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By Julian Emerson
Leader-Telegram staff

It had been a slow morning. Perched in his tree stand for more than three hours, Bob Decker hadn't seen one deer in the Buffalo County woods he hunts south of Mondovi.

Growing restless despite the excitement of knowing a potential world-record buck recently had been sighted roaming the area, Decker thought of checking in with his longtime hunting buddy, Paul Olson, who was hunting these same woods between Modena and Urne Saturday morning.

Then, at 9:30 a.m., Decker heard it, the telltale "snap" of a whitetail stepping on a twig as it walked nearby.

Startled, he looked down from his tree stand and saw a large buck just 40 yards away. Decker eyed the animal's large antlers and immediately decided it was a "shooter buck." A few seconds later, adrenaline surging through his veins, he grabbed his bow and zeroed in on the animal's body.

Thwap! The arrow struck its mark just 6 or 7 yards below Decker. The buck bolted for about 50 yards through the woods, then collapsed. It struggled to its feet after a few seconds, then staggered another 50 yards or so to its death.

"I knew it was a nice deer. I figured I'd shot a good-sized 10-pointer," Decker said.

Decker climbed down from his tree stand and went to meet Olson before going to find his deer. As his friend approached, Olson noticed Decker's hands shaking with excitement.

"I shot a monster, but it wasn't the Field and Stream buck," Decker told Olson, referencing the huge buck that has caused a craze among deer hunters this fall after a video filmed about a half mile from Decker's hunting spot was posted on the Web site of the outdoor magazine.

The video prompted deer experts to speculate that the animal, with its stunningly large 16-point rack, could challenge Milo Hansen's 1993 world-record buck. The much-discussed buck is pictured on the cover of the November edition of the magazine.

Olson and Decker approached the buck, which had died on a bed of grass and leaves and was lying on its side. At first glance, Decker figured the animal was smaller than he had thought. He soon discovered otherwise.

Olson reached the buck first and yelled in disbelief to Decker.

"It's the Field and Stream buck!" Olson shouted to his friend. "This is unbelievable! It's the Field and Stream buck!"
Love of the hunt

Hunting deer is in Decker's blood. He learned to hunt from his father, Gene Decker, as a youngster. He shot his first buck at age 18 and became enamored with the sport, spending hours upon hours learning every detail he could about how to successfully hunt whitetails.

Decker's hunting interest is fueled by the challenge of hunting some of nature's wariest animals and the enjoyment of spending time outdoors.

"Hunting is something I've always loved," he said.

Decker and Olson have shared a lot of good times together tracking deer. The duo has hunted in tandem for 15 years and complement each other well, good-naturedly teasing each other while sharing hunting knowledge. Decker said it's not a coincidence that Olson was in the woods when he shot the deer experts believe is the Field and Stream buck.

"He's every bit the hunter I am and then some because of his attention to detail," Decker said of Olson. "You couldn't find a better hunting partner."
'Absolutely incredible'

Decker is no stranger to bagging big bucks. Six deer heads adorn the basement wall of Decker's rural Eau Claire home, evidence of successful past hunts.

On Sunday Decker smiled as he recounted stories of harvesting those deer. He laughed as he showed visitors a tiny four-point rack from a buck he killed last year during a hunt in Minnesota.

While Decker concedes he invests a lot of time and effort into hunting, he believes luck has everything to do with his impressive large buck haul. Like the buck he took Saturday, those animals were killed in the woods of Buffalo County, considered a deer-hunting mecca that attracts hunting enthusiasts from around the U.S.

Decker wasn't the only one marveling at his good fortune. Visitors flocked to his home Saturday night and Sunday to catch a glimpse of the magestic whitetail made famous by Field and Stream. Utterances like "awesome" and "incredible" were commonplace. One man kissed the buck's antlers in appreciation.

A Sunday afternoon visit to Jack Dodge's Elk Lake taxidermy shop prompted similar responses from a group of stunned onlookers.

"My God, look at the antlers on this thing," said Dodge, who has shot numerous trophy animals himself. "It's absolutely incredible. You're not going to see another buck like this for a long time."

In between phone calls from well-wishers Sunday night, Decker humbly reflected on his good fortune.

"I'm not a better hunter after shooting this buck than I was before," he said. "I'm just a very lucky person."

Click Here To See Video Of The Buck That I Posted In September