Thunderstruck | Wisconsin Hunter Bags 185-Inch Typical on 38 Acres

Wisconsin’s Scott Julius connected with his target buck, this 185 7/8-inch grossing 10-pointer, on Halloween. Image courtesy of Scott Julius

Ten years ago, Scott Julius and his wife purchased a 38-acre Wisconsin property. Although not large, it’s a prime hunting spot with 12 tillable acres consisting of hay, corn and brassica plots, plus 20 acres of timber. And it adjoins another 90-acre place that doesn’t get hunted. Julius has taken some good bucks, including a 12-pointer with a 22-inch inside spread and a drop tine that he shot three seasons ago. But lately he’s been focusing on letting a lot of bucks walk, including some really good ones, on the hope that they become world-class.

Earlier this year, he passed up three bucks ranging between 140 to 160 inches, knowing that a 180-class typical he nicknamed “Thunderstruck” was frequenting the property. “Two years ago, I realized how good the buck was,” Julius said. “At the time, I thought he was 3 1/2 years old, but I now think he had been only 2 1/2 years old at the time. I believe I have his shed from when he was 1 1/2 years old. Most bucks aren’t distinguishable from 1 1/2 to 4 1/2, but the shed’s shape and veining are all the same as now.” Julius says the buck earned the nickname because he felt “thunderstruck” every time the deer appeared on his trail camera.

The hunter is unsure whether he has camera pictures of Thunderstruck from 2024, but he saw the deer on the hoof and estimated it to be in the 170s. During the encounter, the animal walked behind his blind. It was with some does and ignored Julius’s grunts, and that was his only tango with the deer last fall.

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“This year, I didn’t put out my trail cameras until October, and I got my food plots in late,” Julius said. “When I first started getting pictures of him on Oct. 16, I was sure he was all of 180 inches. I got lots of pictures of him throughout the following two weeks. He had always been very nocturnal, even in the rut, so I really had to watch my pressure.

Julius named the buck “Thunderstruck,” saying that he was thunderstruck every time he encountered the buck or saw a trail camera picture of it. Image courtesy of Scott Julius

“This year, his nocturnal behavior changed,” he continued. “He was coming out closer to daylight hours, and I eventually spotted him before dark one evening across the field. And then I got him on a trail camera in the daytime. It gave me the confidence that if I moved in with the right wind direction, I could get him.”

Playing it safe, Julius began hunting the area’s outside fringes. The first time he encountered the buck, on Oct. 27, it walked across an open field, then chased some does around for about 10-15 minutes before following a doe into the timber. Two evenings later, the buck blasted out of the timber chasing three does by Julius’s tower stand.

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“I knew he was comfortable in that area and that if I picked the right wind and the right night, I’d have a chance,” he explained. “Hunting a buck like this on a smaller property can put a guy on pins and needles. A friend and I were discussing it. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the buck. But sometimes, you have to go for broke. I knew he would be transitioning from the pre-rut into lockdown within a few days.”

A couple of times, the buck showed up across the field out of range. Image courtesy of Scott Julius

On Halloween, the temperatures were somewhat cool and the barometric pressure was over 30. As anticipated, the deer movement was great, and the field filled up with deer. Then, the big buck came from behind the tower stand in the timber and was raking a branch with its antlers.

“I got positioned and was holding the crossbow up for nearly four minutes while he stood back there staring directly under my stand at all of the other deer in the field,” Julius said. “I’ve seen big bucks do this before. They hold up in the timber and stage there until or after dark.

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“He was 31 yards away straight on,” he continued. “I didn’t want to take that shot. My TenPoint crossbow has a Garmin rangefinding scope on it,” Julius said. “It’s really cool, but it times out, and the reticle disappears after 30 seconds of inactivity. I was holding the crossbow up for nearly 4 minutes, and the scope timed out about six or seven times.”

Finally, the big buck turned, exposing its shoulder. Julius tucked a crossbow bolt just in front of the right shoulder, and it exited just behind the left shoulder. The deer took off on a death run, collapsing only 40 yards from the tower stand in the field.

Julius’s bolt impacted in front of the buck’s shoulder and exited just behind the opposite shoulder, putting the deer down within seconds. Image courtesy of Scott Julius

“The adrenaline after that just about killed me,” Julius said. “I had been telling myself to aim small the entire time I was watching him; I hadn’t been telling myself to breathe, and that really got to me.”

Passing up some great bucks paid off with a mega-buck. Julius’s deer is a clean, typical 10-pointer. Its right antler grossed 85 2/8 inches. The left antler would have been about 83 inches, but the brow tine and G-2 tips were broken, so it went 80 inches. The inside spread measured 20 5/8 inches. Do the math, and the gross score is 185 7/8 inches.