Wisconsin's Newest Record Buck[img width= height= alt=Wayne Schumacher record Buck]http://www.wisconsinsportsmanmag.com/hunting/whitetail-deer-hunting/wi_0910_A.jpg[/img]
Many archers dream of taking a state-record buck, but last season Fond du Lac bowhunter Wayne Schumacher actually did it. Here, in his own words, is the full story.
By Wayne Schumacher
The things we do for our children!My son, Adam, asked me if I would help him move into his new house in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sept. 18, 2009. His goal was to be moved in before the deer-hunting season opened for him on Oct. 1. Even though Wisconsin's season opened on Sept. 12 -- and as many avid hunters know, the first couple of weeks are sometimes the best -- I reluctantly agreed.
Wayne Schumacher had heard of a huge buck in his area, but he?d never seen the giant until the day he shot it! Scoring 243 6/8, it now ranks as Wisconsin?s top non-typical buck by bow. Photo courtesy of Wayne Schumacher.
The move went well on Friday and Saturday, so I mentioned to him that I would like to get back early on Sunday to allow for at least few hours of hunting. He relented and wished me luck.
On the way back I called my brother, Pete, and asked where he was hunting that night. He informed me the wind was bad in St. Peter, where he hunts, and if we went to Princeton, where we lease land, it would be awfully late when we got home.
In the end, we decided to go to an area west of Fond du Lac because it was closer and we had not yet hunted there that year. I called Pete back a half hour later to see if we could leave earlier and pick grapes by a friend's place for my homemade wine. There were a lot of grapes.
He agreed, and so we picked the grapes and headed out hunting about 4:30 p.m. My brother and nephew, Jeremy, and I had already put in three food plots that year, all by the stands we had set up.
Once we got to the property and dressed, I asked Pete which stand he was going to sit in. Then I told him which one I'd be in. Once at my stand, I climbed in and put everything into place, hung my bow, and waited.
As a hunter, sitting in a stand, you think about how a deer might come near enough for a shot and how you would shoot it. Or what if a big one came by, and what would happen then? I had heard of a big buck being seen two miles away the year before, but nothing of it being in the area we were now hunting.
I'd had a camera out in our hunt area for three weeks and never saw anything of any substantial size.
While sitting in my stand, I could watch all three food plots and see my brother who was about 175 yards away. An hour and a half had gone by and I hadn't seen anything in the food plots. As I was daydreaming at about 6:45, a branch cracked under my tree. I couldn't believe what I saw!
Seeing only 10 inches of the right side of the rack, there were at least 8 points and a lot of mass to this deer. I knew from that, it was probably the big one we'd heard about from last year.
I slowly started to reach for my bow. He stopped about 8 yard from my tree and looked toward the food plot in the open field. At that time, I stopped moving and waited for him to continue. I knew the wind was coming from his direction and so he could not have caught my scent. After about 5 seconds, he continued on.
I pulled back on the bow and lined up the sights. Earlier that afternoon, I had shot six arrows at a target. On the last arrow, I flinched and it was off by about 10 inches.
I told myself before releasing the trigger, "You don't want to flinch on this one." At that point, the arrow left my bow and hit right where I was aiming. While the buck was quartering away, the arrow entered behind the right rib cage and came out by the left front leg.
read more...http://www.wisconsinsportsmanmag.com/hunting/whitetail-deer-hunting/wi_0910_01/
