Kisky Who?

Man, talk about being trumped. Here I was excited to post about my own drop-tine buck and what do I see? That Kandi Kisky smoked my buck with yet another sloppy-large drop tine. Seriously, though, they earn those deer and she should be as proud of hers as I am.

So here's the deal: For the past week, I've had myself planted in a southern Michigan treestand wondering when, exactly, the rut was going to start to kick. Well, today it did.

As I've mentioned before, I'm hunting heavily-pressured, hard-hunted deer. To kill mature bucks here you must do everything you can to keep them from knowing that you're hunting them. For me, the best way to do that is hunt them when no one else does. And that means mid-day.

After seeing just one small buck for the first five hours of the hunt, I looked up and saw this buck working his to me at about 1 p.m. I immediately grabbed my bow and deemed him a shooter. As he came closer, I was amazed to see that he sported a drop tine. Well, that obviously sealed the deal.

He entered my shooting lane at about 25 yards. Those who hunt with me know that I tend to get a tad bit excited. Well, I'm proud to say up until the point that the shot was imminent I was remarkably in control of my nerves. At full draw, however, that changed. When the buck stopped in the lane, I could have swore a sudden windstorm had kicked up the way my bow was wavering all over the place. But somehow I was able to settle the pin on his chest and let fly. When my Hoyt twanged, the deer bolted and fell about three times before dipping out of sight.

When I walked up to the deer, I was amazed at the size of the animal. The dressed weight was a touch over 200 pounds and I'm planning to send in a tooth for aging.

It may not be the biggest drop tine buck to fall this season -- but, finally, I can say this one has my tag on it.

Tony Hansen