This season has been phenomenal to say the least! I have been fortunate enough this season to have harvested 2 does prior to taking this big boy. However, the past two weeks have been pretty slow and the frustration has been taking a toll on me. Before going into this season, i knew that i was going to have plenty of time to hunt this fall. I am finishing up my final semester at UW-River Falls by taking 9 credits (3 classes). So being able to hunt every morning and every night along with balancing homework has been an issue this fall 
In the past week and a half, i have struggled to see a mature buck cruising through a couple mint spots that we have. That being said, this frustration was interfering w/ my concentration on my school as i was anticipating when i would encounter a mature buck, if i was going to make it happen this year, etc. Not only that, the property next to the spot where we hunt does not let people archery hunt until after gun season. I knew the deer were laying up in this restricted zone and working their way to a doe bedding area on the property that this buck was shot on. So once the gun season started, i knew that the deer were going to be run out of this area and our chances were going to be slim to none at getting a chance at a mature deer.
Prior to hunting Tuesday morning, i had not seen a mature deer in this stand that i know of. I had seen glimpses of a few deer that looked to be mature but i wasn’t 100% sure. My brother had a patient cancel their appointment Tuesday so he was able to come over and hunt that morning. The morning hunt was perfect!! It had frosted the night before and was dead calm. Right at shooting light, i had two does come within 30 yards going to that small doe bedding area with no buck following them. Once they passed, i started thinking about how it’s getting down to the wire and how strange it is that we haven’t been seeing any mature deer yet or from this stand.
At about 8:30, i heard foot steps coming through the leaves and i knew that whatever it was, was close by. Once i saw the deer, it was behind a big oak branch and i couldn’t tell what it until he lowered his head. I knew this deer was nice but it wasn’t registering in my head that this was a mature buck and was big. As he was approaching, i had to decide if i was going to shoot, and good thing i decided to 
I shot him at 25 yards and right as the arrow hit him, i thought that i had hit above the spine but wasn’t sure. I watched him run into the cattle pasture and along the thick primary bedding area. I watched him run for about 250 yards and right at the end i could tell he was going to fall right as he entered pine thicket. I got down about 20 minutes later, checked my arrow, and SLOWLY followed the blood. I could see from the 5 foot sprays that i had taken out both lungs 
After slowly walking for about 20 minutes, i approached the pine thicket and about 10 yards in, he had nose dived down the bench right along side a tree
I didn’t touch the deer as i went home to grab field dressing stuff and other things. My brother and i agreed to sit till 10 am so i showed up and told him the story. At this point he has no idea that i had found him so it was funny trying to keep a straight face and act serious 
Once we got to the deer and picked up his head, i realized that he was MUCH bigger than the buck i shot last year 
Sorry for the bloody pictures, there were no leaves in the pine thicket and we didn’t have any rags and what not 
Good luck to everyone heading out before the gun season, the bucks are starting to chase hard
November 3, 2010 at 1:56 pm
#201949
Mine was just like that when I recovered him. Good thing is they don’t go too far! 
