
My dad told me that before I shot my first turkey, I was breathing so hard that he thought I was going to suck all the air out of the woods. When the buck of a lifetime stepped out into the food plot, I was breathing just as heavy as I had 14 years ago turkey hunting.
My family is incredibly blessed with a 400 acre amazing piece of dirt to hunt on. Over the past 10 years we have heavily implemented the practices of QDMA on our farm and now we are annually blessed with harvesting a deer in the 160” range.
In 2010 a large 10 point with a split G2 came walking out into view but eluded me during the final day of the Missouri bow season. Two days later our Bushnell Trophy Cam captured him in the field, three weeks later my dad found his left antler in the food plot and then……….nothing.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months and we had seen nothing from this buck. The preparations for the 2012 hunting season took place like they always do hanging tree stands, trimming limbs and planting food plots. The food plot where I had seen the deer the year before is our late season hot spot. I was very happy with our bumper crop of turnips and knew that this food would bring deer in from a long ways in the winter months.
Since I had no success in our regular rifle season I was excited for our winter muzzleloader season. On the 22nd of December I headed to the big food plot. As expected, it was full of deer the entire evening and at about 4 pm a group of bucks came into the field. Most were several nice 10 point bucks but at the back of the group out stepped the deer with the split G2 I had seen the year before. I eased the window open from the blind and steadied my firearm. The report of the muzzleloader sent the deer running out of the food plot and the cloud of smoke blocked my view and I couldn’t see where the deer I shot went
Immediately I began to question my shot. Had I rushed the shot? Did I have a steady rest? Did I pull the trigger? After calming down I headed out to find a blood trail. Half way out to the spot where I had shot the deer and saw the bright white belly of my deer. A high shoulder shot dropped him in his tracks.
I was almost shell shocked at first and was overwhelmed by what I had harvested. The excitement of the hunt is what keeps brining me back and I hope to always have the same joy and excitement hunting.
-Andrew Howard