Today I am at work, but I am dreaming of the woods because it is my anniversary with Thor! One year ago today, I harvested the buck I named “Thor” and still today, I look at him on my wall and just replay the hunt over and over and over again… I just shake my head in disbelief to fool such an amazing old buck and I couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s definitely up-ed my buck standards this year and he will be a tough one for me to beat!

I had watched this buck chasing does on and off the field I was sitting at the corner of and as last light was approaching, he showed up again on the field and walking to the timber edge perpendicular to me about 100 yards away. I knew I had nothing to lose, so I slipped the grunt tube out of my pocket. Letting out a medium-length grunt, the buck froze! He looked at me, looked back at the does, looked at me, looked back at the does and kept walking. I gave a short grunt and I guess that was all the buck needed to hear – he was RUNNING for me!
He stopped 13 yards from me, below a branch trying to figure out where this “buck” was – he was ready to kick some ass!!! Amazingly, my brother had set up a trail camera there and it this was happening. Soon, he turned on a dime and marched down the path right in front of me. I had little time and threw my bow back only to already miss my first window of opportunity for a shot. I paused for him to make it past a small tree and stopped him with a “maht” in my next window that I had previously ranged as 20 yards. I put the pin on him and let go.

This was such a remarkable hunt and a major feat for me as it’s the first deer that I stopped to take a shot. In the past, I just didn’t have the confidence to do that but on this hunt, I was so determined to make it happen and when everything comes together right… it’s just so amazing!

I double-lunged the buck and had my family there to help me recover and celebrate. It ended up being the largest bodied deer any of us had ever harvested – weighing in at 260 pounds!!! And photos don’t do him justice – that’s a huge deer and believe it or not, we were all disappointed he only weighed 260… he was seriously THAT HUGE!!! Thor would have scored mid-150s but with a broken tine he ended up green grossing 148-5/8 inches. He had 10 points (main frame nine with an extra point on his brow) and featured an amazing 13-inch bladed G2 on his left side! His frame was extremely tight but wrapped together close to touching. I took him to the 2012 Iowa Deer Classic to support women bowhunters and I ended up officially making Pope & Young – my first! WOW! Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) also confirmed he was a 5.5+ year old buck!

He is such an amazing buck and it was a hunt that I will always cherish for the rest of my life. I feel absolutely so blessed!