Nineteen yards! That’s where he now stood, a mere nineteen yards away. The countless hours of preparation and mental game planning were about to culminate in the ultimate moment we can all only hope to encounter as bow hunters. All that was needed now was for me to be able to execute the shot. But, before I get into that, let me tell you about what transpired before this moment as I don’t believe this moment was an accident.
To tell this story, I have to start in 2015. This was the year my family and I moved back to my hometown from the Twin Cities. I wasn’t sure how I would feel moving back to the town I grew up in after being gone for 12 years. It didn’t take long, though, for it to feel like home again. In reality, it actually felt like I had never left. One of the best parts of being back in my hometown, outside of being close to family, was that I would be near the family farm—the only place on earth I have ever wanted to hunt.
Hunting has always been a part of my life. Growing up, our family farm provided some memorable hunts, but part of me always knew it could be better. To make a long story short, I discovered that through intentional habitat management I could unlock the limitless potential of our farm. Since 2015, I have spent hundreds of hours on the farm manipulating the habitat to improve our farm’s carrying capacity for deer as well as increase the number of encounters we have at mature bucks from the deer stand.
One deer that loved the work we had done on the farm was a buck that because he looked like a “heavy Chevy,” we called “Chevy.” Chevy responded well to habitat improvements and became a frequent visitor on our trail cameras. I also got to know him well from the deer stand. In 2020 I saw him off-stand and missed him with the bow as he was working the downwind side of a recent bedding cut I had made. In 2021, I again saw him on an early season bow hunt, but he decided to hold up at 60 yards. In 2022, the odds finally tipped in my favor.
Chevy spent most of the summer of 2022 where you would have expected him to want to hang out. Our farm has 110 acres of ag on it that is in a bean/corn rotation. Chevy was a frequent visitor to the bean fields and he actually appeared to be bedding in a large corn field. This makes sense, because we’ve turned most of our forested acres into high stem count cover. This is the type of cover mature bucks love in the fall, but they don’t necessarily love it in the summer given their velvet is sensitive and they don’t want to be crashing it up next to thick woody cover.
As fall approached, Chevy started to make his usual shift into the high stem count cover. He appeared to be bedding in a 10-acre wood lot that consisted of several acres of thick aspen regeneration from the recent logging we had done. Adjacent to that food plot was a 2-acre food plot that was split up into soybeans and brassicas. Chevy and several other bucks were frequent visitors to that food plot. In fact, the day before bow season opened Chevy was in the food plot in daylight!
The wind set up well to hunt Chevy on opener. My brother was first up and sat over Chevy’s favorite food plot that evening. Towards last light, a great buck stepped out in front of him at 20 yards. It wasn’t Chevy, but a buck he would have been very happy to harvest. Unfortunately, he ended up pulling the shot and hitting the buck in the shoulder. We tracked that buck for a while, but there wasn’t great blood. The buck ended up being fine and showed up on the trail cameras a few days later.
With all the commotion, Chevy ended up shifting his range to a completely different area about a quarter mile from that food plot. I wasn’t positive I knew exactly where he was bedding, but I had a stand I had hung on a whim that summer in the area I thought he might be close to. I needed a good NW wind, however, in order to hunt it.
On October 6th, a killer cold front rolled through our portion of Minnesota. The wind wasn’t right for that stand, but on October 7 it would be shifting to the northwest. I knew that was going to be my best opportunity to hunt Chevy.
I had a difficult time focusing at work on that beautiful October 7 day. The conditions were perfect and I couldn’t wait to get on stand that evening. I flew out of work that afternoon and went straight to the farm to get ready for the hunt.
As I slowly crept to my stand that evening it definitely felt “bucky.” The wind was slow and steady and the air was crisp. The stand was nothing special. That summer I had quickly thrown in a handful of screw-in steps in the tree and put up the stand which was just a platform, no seat.
Around 6pm, I had a very tempting 8-pointer step out at 30 yards. He cut the shooting lane quickly so he fortunately didn’t give me much time to think about harvesting him. That was it for a while. The night was much quieter than I anticipated.
Then, at 7:05, it happened. I heard a rustle to the NW of me. And there he stood, a mere 35 yards away from me. I could immediately feel my heart start to thump wildly in my chest. It was so loud I worried that Chevy would be able to hear it. My breathing progressed to a rapid rate and my hands began to shake. I quickly began to pray to calm down. I also kept telling myself not to look at his rack.
Chevy stood behind a clump of aspen trees for a few minutes. This gave me the time I needed to calm my nerves and grab my bow. He was pointed to the south and only needed to take a few steps to get into my shooting lane. As he got behind the last aspen tree, I drew my bow. He took a few more steps into my shooting lane and he stopped at 19 yards. My breathing had calmed by this point, my hand was steady, and I slowly applied pressure to my release. I watched as the arrow took flight and the Lumenok zipped right behind his shoulder. Chevy loaded up and bounded off to the west. The woods were quiet.
A few moments had passed before it sank in. But, when it did, I lost it. A wave of adrenaline and emotions hit me like I had never experienced on the deer stand before. I felt like I had just killed the buck of a lifetime. I then spent a good amount of time in quiet prayer and reflection. The moment was special, and I didn’t want to waste it. After a bit of time had passed, I let my brother and dad know what had happened. I also called my wife and let her know the good news. I could hear my oldest son cheering in the background as he heard me tell the story. We both had been daydreaming about this moment for a while.
At dark, I slowly crawled down from the stand and walked towards my arrow. When I found it, there was lung blood on it. I followed the blood trail for 30 yards just to assure myself I had lung blood. The blood gave me the confirmation I was looking for so I opted to back out and make my way to my vehicle.
As I approached my car, I could see the silhouette of my brother waiting for me in the moonlight. There were no high fives or congratulatory words exchanged, we’ve both been hunting long enough to know you don’t truly celebrate until you lay hands on the animal. Instead, we talked briefly about the details of the hunt and the shot and then made our way back to the farmhouse.
Back at the farmhouse, I talked with my dad and brother about the plan for the track. I was confident Chevy was down, but, regardless of my confidence, I always like to give the deer time. My wife arrived at the farm with my son. They were anxious to join in on the track. After an adequate amount of time had passed, my dad, brother, wife, son, and good friend set out to take up the trail.
I had marked last blood and had a good idea of where he had gone. Our crew slowly made our way to the spot of last blood. As we progressed forward my confidence continued to grow. The blood looked good and it was becoming more profuse. We probably walked 30 yards down the trail when we saw him…I had my head down so my wife and brother saw him first. He was curled up next to a log, the shot was where it needed to be, and he had expired quickly. Many high fives and hugs were shared. Now was the time to celebrate, as well as give thanks to the good Lord for such an incredible animal.
It’s tough to describe what that moment was like. A mix of emotions washed through my body. I was happy to enjoy the recovery with my family. I was appreciative of the opportunity to get to chase such a magnificent animal. But, there was a part of me that was sad that the chase was over. Regardless, it was a hunt that will be etched in my memories for a lifetime.
As I had mentioned earlier, I don’t believe this moment was an accident. We’ve been working diligently over the past eight years to build up the habitat on our farm. As we’ve done this, the caliber of bucks on our farm and in our area has been improving. In the past, it never seemed like mature bucks called our farm home. That has been changing as we’ve been seeing more and more daylight activity from mature bucks around the farm. And, all it took was some intentional planning and a lot of hard work.
If you’d like to see how we’ve been working to improve the habitat on our farm, feel free to check out my YouTube channel and Facebook page at Purpose-Filled Habitat Management.
