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Well, I was able to get out of class in River Falls yesterday at 2:00. I left River Falls at 2:30 and made it home (SE Minnesota) by 4 and I was in the stand by 4:30. I went into this set thinking I was going to put some meat in the freezer and bag a doe, as this spot is notorious for having way to many. Before I could even finish getting ready a doe and fawn were starting to make their way down the edge of the corn. The fawn fed right past me but the doe stayed in the corn and did not present a shot. Throughout the night I had deer constantly moving around me and under me, that last day of the little cold snap had them on their feet early and often. No does would come close enough to present a shot……..thank god.
At around 6:15 I thought that I could hear antlers tickling together or antlers tickling against some sticks. No more than a minute later a buck came around a grove of trees about 80 yards to my north. Within no time he started to walk the edge of the corn and cut the distance to 30 yards. By this time I knew he was a real good deer but I could not tell how good. When he was at 30 yards he could either keep heading south and not present me a shot or he could cross the fence and come east and be in my lap. He chose the latter. When he crossed the fence I started noticing the kickers that he had coming off of his G2s so I knew he must be a mature deer. At about 15 yards he started cutting over to the corn and presented me with a perfect broadside shot. When he turned his head to do a little browsing, I drew back and settled the pin on him. I released the arrow just as he started to notice me in the tree. THWACK! The arrow hit its mark. Immediately I knew this was a dead deer running and he wouldn’t make it to far.
After the shot I backed out for awhile to go get my dad and some other help. We returned around 8:00 and picked up the blood trail. The blood trail wasn’t nearly as good as I was hoping for and I started to think that my 2 blade Rage did not open up. After trailing drop to drop for about 70 yards, my head lamp caught glimpse of a white belly. I was beyond ecstatic. At this point I still wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, I just knew he was a mature deer with some character. What an understatement. The first words out of my dad’s mouth were “Oh my god” and I was just as excited. The amount of mass and character this deer has is unreal. The body on him was something special too, especially for October 9. I immediately started to think about what deer this could be but I could not think of any deer in particular that it could possibly be. I have no history with this deer whatsoever. After doing a little more inspecting I found that my shot was a little higher than I thought. I was able to get both lungs but it was in the upper front part of both lungs. 2 inches lower and his heart would have been blown up. The Rage did its job and left a good hole in him.
We got around to taking some better pictures this morning. The more that I handled this deer the more I fell in love with it. This deer has incredible character with 3 splits off his G2’s, insane palmated mass all the way out his main beams, and his G2s and 3s were all bladed as well. I figured this deer to be around 6.5 years old after really inspecting him. Deer like this do not make mistakes, his mistake yesterday could have been the first he has ever made. I took the tape to him and I measured him to be about 161 gross, give or take. I could care less about the score, you do not get many chances at an incredibly mature buck like this. Another deer for the wall and easily the most rewarding, these are the deer you dream about.

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