My Buck Of A Lifetime

Gearbox:

• Medalist Clothing
• Parker Frontier Bow
• BigShot Targets
• LaCrosse Alpha Burly II Rubber Boots
• Carbon Express Arrows
• Magnus Stinger Broadheads
• Scott Archery Little Goose Release
• Mad Call Grunt Tube and Snort Wheez
• Primos Can Call
• HS Truetalker Grunt Call
• Primos® Silver XP™ Laundry Detergent
• Hunter Safety System
• Dead Down Wind Deodorant and Shampoo
• Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer

I am back from my annual trip to Wisconsin with Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures and I am happy to report that I was able to close the deal on a great buck! In fact, my buck of a lifetime (so far). I say, "So Far", because it seems like every time I go hunt with John Bulgrin and Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures, I am saying, "My buck of a lifetime."

The photo below is of the buck that I shot on November 4, 2006 with John Bulgrin and Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures. Up until this year, this was my biggest buck to date. In 2007 I missed a buck larger than this one at only 8 yards (not something I like to talk about).

The awesome buck I took in 2006 with Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures

In Wisconsin, you must shoot a doe before you can take a buck, and if there was ever a silver lining to me missing that buck last year, it was the fact that my buck tag carried over to this year. So when I arrived in Wisconsin, I was hunting bucks from the get go, and it was very fortunate for me that I was.

I was on this trip with my best friend and cousin Mike Bell and fellow field staffer Andy Traister. It is always nice to go on trips like this, but they are made even better when you can share time in the outdoors with close friends and family. We were also joined by Kevin Camp from Florida this week, who was in pursuit of his first ever bow kill.

My big Wisconsin buck taken on November 3, 2008, the first night of the hunt

Now to the hunt! We arrived at the Madison, WI airport and we were greeted by John's wife and fantastic cook Heidi Bulgrin. All the luggage arrived and we began the 45 minute trip to Portage, WI, where we would be hunting all week. After arriving at the Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures lodge, we immediately hit the showers because as John said, "The rut is on!"

The only negative was, Wisconsin was experiencing record high temperatures for this time of year. They actually set a record while we were there for three consecutive days above 70 degrees in November. The average high for this time of year was 49 degrees. What are you gonna do, you only have so many days to hunt, so you get out there and get after it.

John set us all in our stands for the evening and Andy Traister, fellow field staff member, would be hunting with me and filming. We were hunting the south corner of the farm in the exact same stand that John had killed a 150 inch monster the year before. I knew the stand well and the potential it had, so the excitement was high.

After settling in for the evening hunt it was about 3:30 pm, a very late start for this time of year, when you should be in the woods all day long. We took a few minutes to talk about the yardage, different places that we could shoot with good camera angles, and had our game plan in place.

Hauling the big guy home!

Like I mentioned before it was very warm and windy on this evening, but very comfortable in the stand and we didn't think we would really see anything until right at dark. Boy were we wrong! We were not in the stand and settled for more than an hour and I see this hawg come down the exact same path that we walked in on and coming fast.

I couldn't believe my eyes, the first night of the hunt, the first evening and the first deer. You think you would see some button bucks, then some does, then some smaller bucks and right at last light the big guys should walk out, right?

He tipped the scales at over 200 lbs field dressed

I was literally trying to tell myself that this couldn't be happening this quick and I must not be judging him right. It didn't take long for me to gain my composure and know that there was no doubt that this guy was a shooter.

As you remember, I said he was coming in fast, but that changed in a hurry. Once he was about 40 yards out, looking right in our direction, he hung up. He just stood there scent checking with his tongue. But I knew once he got to a certain spot, regardless if he went left or right, I should have an opportunity for a shot. He was perfectly calm and didn't know we were there, I believe he was looking for does in the area.

You can see the size of this guy was massive

Well, after what seemed like an eternity, he made his move and took the turn to his left, which Andy had told me, don't let him get to far up the hill or the camera won't have a view. The other awkward part of the scenario was this guy came in so fast, right at me, that I never had a chance to stand up, and I generally don't like to shoot sitting down.

As a leftie though, when he turned to his left, which was on my right, it was the perfect scenario for shooting sitting down, and at 15 yards I made it count. I was very confident in the shot, as I was sure that I double lunged him. After regaining my composure, Andy gave me the thumbs up that he had recorded all of it on video, a few quick high fives, I felt myself getting a little sick to my stomach, which always happens to me after shooting a buck of any size.

Even though there was plenty of daylight and we considered going to get him, we didn't hear him crash and decided to go back and watch the footage with the guys and then go recover him. After getting back to the lodge, we shared the story, and all the guys were anxious to see the footage.

After watching the footage, I was now sweating it a little, but was still confident that I took out both lungs. The footage showed that the shot was a little high and a little forward, but I saw the arrow as he was running away, and it was hanging out the opposite side.

PSP Field Staffers, JasonSay, Mike Bell and Andy Traister

After giving him a couple of hours, we hopped on John's all electric deer retriever to hopefully have a short tracking job. We immediately found good blood and tracked him with ease for about 40 yards and then every hunters worst nightmare, the blood started to get very spotty and difficult to find.

Now everything was playing over and over in my head and all I kept saying to myself was "Please God help me find this buck tonight, because I won't be able to sleep a wink if we back out now." We were all thinking the same thing after we went about 75 yards, that maybe we should back out.

Me and John Bulgin, Owner, Wisconsion Outdoor Adventures

Fortunately for me, Kevin Camp was able to locate another large amount of blood at about 80 yards so we kept on. At about 100 yards we finally got our first glimpse of this guy and anyone who has tracked a deer before knows, it is one of the best feelings in the world.

I was pumped to put my hands on this guy and he was completely stiff, he was dead within seconds of my shot and I did take out both lungs. He definitely made me sweat it, but it was all worth it! After many photos in the field, we loaded this guy up, which took three of us to load, and headed back to camp some very excited hunters.

Me and my cousin Mike Bell

He is now at the taxidermist in Wisconsin and I can't wait to hang him on the wall. Once again, I can't say enough about John and Heidi Bulgrin, the owners of Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures. The food and hospitality were second to none as usual and obviously the hunting was fantastic. If anyone is ever looking for a great hunt and has questions about hunting Wisconsin, don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks to both John and Heidi again for another great trip and memories that will last a lifetime. For more information on Wisconsin Outdoor Adventures you can visit their website at www.HuntandFishWisconsion.com.

Myself, Mike Bell, Andy Traister and Kevin Camp

In the end, harvesting this buck was an unbelievable experience, but the most important thing to me was the people that I got to share it with. To be on this trip with my cousin Mike and good friend Andy was probably the single best thing I could have asked for. To have them alongside me as I recovered this animal was unforgetable. Probably the only thing that would have made it better was if I was the one helping my cousin Mike lay his hands on his giant buck. But as Mike will tell you, he shot his doe this year in Wisconsin, so guess who is hunting bucks from the get go next year!!

Speaking of Mike, on the last evening of the hunt, we decided to hunt together and had a blast. The strategy was we were going to be aggressively calling, grunting, bleating, and snort wheezing. As Andy Traister will tell you, he sent me a text message asking me, "What the heck are you guys doing down there, I have deer running by me that look like they are running for their lives!" Andy was perched on the opposite end of a cornfield about 200 yards from us, and apparently we were maybe a little too aggressive, but we had a blast and were able to call in a couple of deer.

But what I want you to ask Mike is if he cleaned his drawers yet? I had told Mike the story of when I was in Wisconsin that there were two different occasions where I thought I was going to be attacked by a rut crazed whitetail. Both times occurred when walking through the cornfield and these bucks hear the commotion and come charging right at you. Well I don't know if he believed me before, but I guarantee he does now.

On our way out on the last evening, we were walking on the edge of a cornfield and all of a sudden there was a buck and it couldn't have been more than 25 yards away coming right at us through the corn. Now Mike is a big guy and very well known in his athletic career for performing well under pressure, so when this buck came at us and I saw him get a little rattled, you can imagine my reaction. I said, "What are you doing, knock an arrow!" and he gathered himself and was able to get an arrow knocked, but the buck went the other way. I proceeded to give him a hard time the rest of the night about being so afraid of a whitetail, but believe me, when it happened to me the first time, I had to clean out my drawers too!