06/23/2025
What a way to end our season with the oldest deer on the farm! We’ve been trying to kill this buck for 3 years. Josh missed him as a 6.5-year-old in 2021. Then in 2022, both Josh and I hunted him hard late season as a 7.5-year-old, but we never got a shot. This year, he showed back up again late in the season as an 8.5-year-old, and the chess match was on again. I hunted him hard and got my chance 12 days ago. He was 45 yards broadside, and I didn’t think he was getting any closer, so I took my shot. When he heard that bow go off, he hit the floor faster than any deer I’ve seen, and my arrow landed high non-lethally right in his backstrap. I was heartbroken, to say the least. We knew it wasn’t fatal, but we looked anyway with no luck. But 4 days later, he showed back up on camera! A sudden rush of hope swept over me, knowing he was still alive and knowing I might get another chance. But the season was coming to an end quickly. We hunted hard over the cornfield we planted, but with the high temps, we had no luck. Finally, with 3 days left in the season, we got a huge amount of snow! Literally over 11 inches. If we were ever going to get a second chance, this snow was what we needed. After 2 horrible days of blizzard conditions and 40 mph winds, it all moved out on the 10th, which was the last day of the season! This day felt right. As we sat, it felt like every deer on the farm came out, but not him. Hope started to fade as we only had 10 minutes of light left. But then, we looked up and saw a huge-bodied deer coming through the timber. Our hearts pounded as this big-bodied deer cleared the trees. It was him!! We couldn’t believe it. We got everything ready as he started eating and moving closer and closer. At 28 yards, he was close enough. I drew my bow, settled my pin, and took my shot! As I shot, he took a step, causing my arrow arrow hit him back. However, he quickly bedded down only 50 yards from where i shot him. So we waited until morning and came back, and he ended up being dead only 30 yards from where we saw him bed! It wasn’t perfect, but we did our best, and I’m incredibly proud of this buck and very proud of the season we had!