Hey Guys,
Thank you for admiring my deer. As much as I would like to tell you about hunting him for years, etc. to be honest, like I suspect a good percentage of large deer harvests, it was largely a matter of serendipity. I did spend a good deal of time in the bow stand this past fall, and there was a LARGE typical 10 pt (think hartford insurance commercial) I had seen the year before that I was hunting, but I had never seen this deer until he walked out in front of me. It was remarkable that I was even hunting that day, because we had already put what deer we could use for the year in the freezer, but I had a friend who had not been able to fill his tag, so I was helping him. It was the last day of the rifle season. I was up in my bow stand thinking I could probably take a doe for him and this deer walked out at 25 yds and turned broadside to me. I carry a 30-06 most of the time when hunting the rifle season, and the round blew the top half of his heart out and turned his lungs into whipped jello. He made it about 30 yds before he folded up. It took me two cigarettes to calm down enough to climb out of the tree... :-D
He field dressed at 190#. He had 18 pts an inch or longer remaining, three more that would have been had they not been broken off, and four or five stickers around the base that were 1/2 - 7/8". I have not scored him. I may get around to it if I find a volunteer nearby, but in the meantime he will make a nice addition to the racks over my fireplace.
That is the plain and simple truth of the matter. I have taken larger deer in years past, but all were typical racks, so I was very pleased to add this deer to my antler collection. Sorry it was not a more exciting story guys.
Thanks,
Frank
