It was the day before the deer hunting season opener. We always arrived at the deer hunting camp a few days early to check around to see where the deer had been moving. I decided to cross the bay in a small lake, to take a look at the dirt road. The deer usually came down to drink or cross into an area where my tree stand was situated. It didn't seem to take me long to find a fresh track, which was the largest I had ever seen. The deer track was about 4 inches long with dewclaws behind it and was splayed out. This told me that it was a very heavy buck. I was now getting excited and was looking forward to the possibility of seeing him tommorow morning.

After a fitful nights sleep we had great anticipation as we left the cabin at first light. Opening day dawned with about 2 inches of fresh snow and no wind. The temperature was about 10 degrees. All was very quiet in the woods. We had perfect hunting conditions!

About 7:30 I decided to take a little break with some coffee. A few minutes went by and I became aware of a presence behind me. As the steam from my hot coffee billowed in the air a big doe was starring right at me, at least I thought. Not knowing what it was, she was starring at the steam from the coffee. The big doe crawled on her knees with curiosity to check this out. She never ran, and as I didn't have a doe permit, I watched her slowly walk away.

I saw another deer out of the corner of my eye that was moving along a ridge. The deer was moving along from right to left and if continued its' pathe I would have a clear broadside shot. Fortunately I had cut some shooting lanes a couple of years back and the deer was walking in the lane! My first sight of the deer was a big buck with a doe along side of it. It seemed like it was forever before I could take a shot. I fired my rifle and the big buck fell hard. After I got down from my deer stand I called my hunting buddies. All of us agreed that it was the largest buck that any of us had ever seen. It just had to be the big deer that made the tracks from the night before.

After 4 guys had field dressed the deer it was a struggle to drag it back to the deer shack. Three days later we broke camp with three more deer from our hunting trip. When we came up to the station to register the deer, the manager wanted to weigh the deer. He had also said that it was the biggest buck that he had ever seen.

The huge deer was a 10-point buck and weighed out after hanging at 235 pounds. The deer mounting still sits on my wall and all I have to do is look up at that big rack and smile as I play my deer hunting memory over again!

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