I take my fair share of shit over this deer. Some of it comes from people that just like to bust my balls 'cause "it's just a deer". Some flack comes from people that don't know or understand what it is like to go through something like this. And some comes from people that just don't understand getting wrapped up in a deer on a personal level. This whole ordeal bordered on being a spiritual journey for me and I love to talk about this deer as a result. I honestly believe I will never again hunt a deer of this caliber. In addition to that, I also believe I learned more and was given more by not killing this deer than I would have had I actually killed him. This is a revised and updated version of the final story I wrote on him after his death. I hope those of you that know the story, enjoy reading it again and I hope those of you that are new to the story, feel the emotions within the story. Thanks for letting me relive it one more time...
“Nice buck…Wow! Great spread…Cool drop-tine on that buck…Oh my God!!! It’s him…”
Those were the thoughts running through my head that Saturday night as I stood in front of the check station “Trophy Wall” scanning through the pictures of the bucks that had been checked in since my last visit. The last picture was of a deer I would know anywhere. It was Deuce…
The Beginning
The thoughts running through my head at that moment on that infamous Saturday night were eerily similar to the ones that ran through my head at a photo kiosk in a Wal-Mart in Ripley, WV on a late June afternoon in 2007. “Good potential…Great doe! And healthy fawns…Oh my God! It’s him…”
I had spent the evening before checking cameras and getting my food plots lined out. I decided to stop at Wal-Mart to review my pictures and print off any that were worth keeping. I was hoping to see pictures of a buck I caught crossing through my original food plot early in May. I noticed in those pictures, that he had two scars on his front-left knee. On the newest picture, I was able to see that he had a split brow-tine on one side and a triple split on the other. It wasn’t long before I decided that “Deuce” would be the deer I would hunt during my 2007 season.
The hunt is on…
It was a long, hot summer after that picture and to make matters worse, my new friend never visited my mineral site again. I was beginning to rethink my new found “quest” when he walked back into my life on the opening week of bow season. It was late September and there he was in all his glory. Everything looked in tack and I could count 12 scorable points. And if I was not already excited enough, I could see my treestand in the background of the picture! I was certain the shredded trees all through the area surrounding my best stand, belonged to him. I felt it was just starting to come together.
For the next two months, he avoided the camera. I had made every move that I felt was safe to make and here I was sitting empty handed. It was now mid-December and our second gun-season had just concluded the day before. I headed to the farm to pull the cards from all my cameras and replenish my winter feed site. As I was checking the first camera, my four-wheeler ran out of gas. It proved to be an unfortunate set of circumstances that created a chance encounter...
As I rounded the head of a brushy draw that I had just driven by, I caught movement below. Holding nothing but a memory card, I watched as he bounded away from his bed and stopped broadside at 50 yards. The first thought that ran through my head, “Oh my God. It’s him.” Then it quickly turned to, “Where was he when we pushed that yesterday?!?” I was dumbfounded and upset at the same time because I had bumped him. But he gave me a new piece to the puzzle and it would prove to come in handy down the road. When I returned to the four-wheeler, I bumped him from the sanctuary next to where I was stranded. This second encounter, seemed like it was purely just to rub it in! But if that wasn’t enough… When I checked the pictures on that camera, I was “blessed” with the only daytime picture of his career under my stand the day prior. Thanks to 20mph winds and freezing rain, I had stayed home to spend time with my then fiancé, now wife Tracie. Had I hunted, that was the stand I was hunting. It was a mistake that still haunts me.
Just flaunting himself a mere 30 yards from my stand…
At this point, I felt he was using that brushy draw to bed in when the weather was nasty. I hung a stand and a camera at the main creek-crossing where everything pinches down. I hunted 17 evenings in January and endured nearly 50 hours of brutal cold, wind, sleet, and general misery and was left with a hearty bowl of tag-soup when it was all said and done. Over the month of January, he walked within 25 yards of my stand no less than 21 times. At his closest, he showed up 5 minutes before legal shooting light and I was nowhere to be found. Out of that series of pictures, I was left with what will always be my favorite…
What will 2008 bring?
I was able to get pictures of Deuce into February of 2008 before the well went dry. It was another long, grueling off-season with plenty of practice, new food plots, all new set-ups, more cameras, increased feeding, and a steady supply of fresh minerals. I planted a new food plot of turnips and brassicas just for the late-season and hung two new set-ups that were right in what I was coming to believe was his “core-area”. I anxiously waited all spring for that first velvet picture to pop up on my computer screen. I had a gut feeling he would be back. And as he had done three times before, he did not let me down. By mid-May, he had stopped to pay me a visit…
The addition of a BuckEye Cam wireless system to the arsenal that summer made it much easier for me to stay out of his core area. One mistake I took from the 2007 season was that I was too anxious to get a hold of the latest picture and I pressed myself to stay off the farm in 2008, and out of the minerals, unless I needed to be there. I only replenished my minerals when I could do it in the rain and all the effort paid off with a series of photos that allowed me to watch him grow throughout the summer…
June
July
August
“Nice buck…Wow! Great spread…Cool drop-tine on that buck…Oh my God!!! It’s him…”
Those were the thoughts running through my head that Saturday night as I stood in front of the check station “Trophy Wall” scanning through the pictures of the bucks that had been checked in since my last visit. The last picture was of a deer I would know anywhere. It was Deuce…
The Beginning
The thoughts running through my head at that moment on that infamous Saturday night were eerily similar to the ones that ran through my head at a photo kiosk in a Wal-Mart in Ripley, WV on a late June afternoon in 2007. “Good potential…Great doe! And healthy fawns…Oh my God! It’s him…”
I had spent the evening before checking cameras and getting my food plots lined out. I decided to stop at Wal-Mart to review my pictures and print off any that were worth keeping. I was hoping to see pictures of a buck I caught crossing through my original food plot early in May. I noticed in those pictures, that he had two scars on his front-left knee. On the newest picture, I was able to see that he had a split brow-tine on one side and a triple split on the other. It wasn’t long before I decided that “Deuce” would be the deer I would hunt during my 2007 season.
The hunt is on…
It was a long, hot summer after that picture and to make matters worse, my new friend never visited my mineral site again. I was beginning to rethink my new found “quest” when he walked back into my life on the opening week of bow season. It was late September and there he was in all his glory. Everything looked in tack and I could count 12 scorable points. And if I was not already excited enough, I could see my treestand in the background of the picture! I was certain the shredded trees all through the area surrounding my best stand, belonged to him. I felt it was just starting to come together.
For the next two months, he avoided the camera. I had made every move that I felt was safe to make and here I was sitting empty handed. It was now mid-December and our second gun-season had just concluded the day before. I headed to the farm to pull the cards from all my cameras and replenish my winter feed site. As I was checking the first camera, my four-wheeler ran out of gas. It proved to be an unfortunate set of circumstances that created a chance encounter...
As I rounded the head of a brushy draw that I had just driven by, I caught movement below. Holding nothing but a memory card, I watched as he bounded away from his bed and stopped broadside at 50 yards. The first thought that ran through my head, “Oh my God. It’s him.” Then it quickly turned to, “Where was he when we pushed that yesterday?!?” I was dumbfounded and upset at the same time because I had bumped him. But he gave me a new piece to the puzzle and it would prove to come in handy down the road. When I returned to the four-wheeler, I bumped him from the sanctuary next to where I was stranded. This second encounter, seemed like it was purely just to rub it in! But if that wasn’t enough… When I checked the pictures on that camera, I was “blessed” with the only daytime picture of his career under my stand the day prior. Thanks to 20mph winds and freezing rain, I had stayed home to spend time with my then fiancé, now wife Tracie. Had I hunted, that was the stand I was hunting. It was a mistake that still haunts me.
Just flaunting himself a mere 30 yards from my stand…
At this point, I felt he was using that brushy draw to bed in when the weather was nasty. I hung a stand and a camera at the main creek-crossing where everything pinches down. I hunted 17 evenings in January and endured nearly 50 hours of brutal cold, wind, sleet, and general misery and was left with a hearty bowl of tag-soup when it was all said and done. Over the month of January, he walked within 25 yards of my stand no less than 21 times. At his closest, he showed up 5 minutes before legal shooting light and I was nowhere to be found. Out of that series of pictures, I was left with what will always be my favorite…
What will 2008 bring?
I was able to get pictures of Deuce into February of 2008 before the well went dry. It was another long, grueling off-season with plenty of practice, new food plots, all new set-ups, more cameras, increased feeding, and a steady supply of fresh minerals. I planted a new food plot of turnips and brassicas just for the late-season and hung two new set-ups that were right in what I was coming to believe was his “core-area”. I anxiously waited all spring for that first velvet picture to pop up on my computer screen. I had a gut feeling he would be back. And as he had done three times before, he did not let me down. By mid-May, he had stopped to pay me a visit…
The addition of a BuckEye Cam wireless system to the arsenal that summer made it much easier for me to stay out of his core area. One mistake I took from the 2007 season was that I was too anxious to get a hold of the latest picture and I pressed myself to stay off the farm in 2008, and out of the minerals, unless I needed to be there. I only replenished my minerals when I could do it in the rain and all the effort paid off with a series of photos that allowed me to watch him grow throughout the summer…
June
July
August
It really does mean a lot to me to know that this story meant something to someone other than me. It was a wild ride that's for sure!
