Awesome Buck!

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One of our users shot this buck in early November and finally got the final scoring of 160 5/8″.  Becky wins the 2009 Michigan Bowhunting Blog Big Buck Contest!

My grandfather instilled my love for the woods and hunting when I was little by accompanying him rabbit and deer hunting, we also spent hours in the woods sitting quietly to see what wildlife we could observe and how close they would come to us. He unfortunately passed away before I was old enough to hunt but I still follow many of his “rules” about hunting. About 9 years ago a friend who knew of my passion for the woods and my craving to start hunting introduced me to bow hunting. I shot year round in archery leagues and spent my falls through Jan. 1st in the woods with my bow. The years of accounting work caught up with me and after three surgeries on my right hand and elbow in March of 2005 I could no longer pull my bow due to permanent nerve damage in by right hand, in the summer of 2005 I applied for a crossbow permit and was granted a permanent crossbow permit by the State of Michigan. It will never be the same as hunting with my bow but I’ve come to terms with it.

At 9:10 am on November 4, 2009 I observed the doe that is missing the tips of her ears walking down the trail to the side of where I was sitting. I then noticed movement about 40 yards behind her off the trail in heavy brush, when I caught sight of his antlers my heart skipped a beat. The direction that he was heading would only provide me with one very narrow shooting lane if he would step into it. I started mouth calling to him and spent about 15 minutes getting him to stay in the area but was never able to get him to step into the shooting lane. During this time the doe bedded about 15 yard from where I was sitting. My last sight of him was his antlers moving away from me in the heavy brush. At about 10:30 am another single doe approached down the same trail as the first doe, who then proceeded to stand up when she heard her approaching. As I glanced back and forth between the two does, the tips of his antlers suddenly appeared between them, he had bedded in the heavy brush. As he slowly approached the incoming doe he stepped into the narrow shooting lane and I instantly squeezed the trigger. He jumped high and ran back into the heavy brush, within seconds I heard what I was sure was him crashing. It was 10:45 am I quietly exited my stand going in the opposite direction. Upon reaching the house I called my 16 year old daughter and then drove and picked her up from school, I just couldn’t do the hour wait by myself. We easily located him, he went 60 yards. While finding him was easy the two of us quickly found out that loading him into the back of the truck was going to be impossible. (We do not field dress deer out in the field because of the increasing coyote numbers.) After multiple phone calls we located a neighbor and another friend who helped us load him into the truck. Kruizenga’s Archery weighed him after field dressing at 222 pound. The Plainwell DNR Office aged him at 6 ½ years old with a possibility of being 7 ½.
On January 10, 2010 he was panel scored by three senior measurers of Commemorative Bucks of Michigan and a Boone and Crockett measurer, his official net score is 160 5/8”. We currently hold the Michigan Women’s Crossbow Typical record.
My fondest memories of this buck will be the time I spent that day with my youngest daughter, having her with me to share the wait and then his recovery. I will never forget our laughter at not being able to get him into the truck and our time together while we showed him to relatives and close hunting buddies. Those will be my most treasured memories of this buck.