Bowhunter Nets Third Opening-Day Buck in Three Seasons

Brent Lipke smiles behind his big North Dakota velvet buck, a huge 6-by-6 typical that he arrowed on the state’s bow opener. Image courtesy of Brent Lipke.

Minnesota’s Brent Lipke began attending North Dakota State University in 2022. In 2023, he grabbed a bow tag and bow-killed his first buck ever — a decent 9-pointer — on opening day. He repeated it on the 2024 opener, arrowing a 163-inch-gross-score buck. Lipke was too busy with school to hunt in 2025, but he didn’t skip a beat when he jumped back in the saddle for the 2026 bow opener, taking an even larger buck.

Lipke’s success is not by accident. He drove around and connected with a handful of landowners while in college (he graduated this past spring). His efforts landed him some worthwhile properties to hunt. He scouts them throughout the summer using trail cameras in critical locations.

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This summer, Lipke was scouting a river bottom when he jumped a bachelor group of bucks. One buck in the bunch was exceptional. Lipke assumed he’d stumbled upon their core area. He spread some trail cameras around the property and then stayed out. Soon, the trail cameras revealed a specific location the giant buck consistently traveled. Even better, the spot provided clean access and was ideal for the prevailing early season winds.

However, the pattern dissolved just before the opener. “The buck had been fairly consistent, but then I started getting a little bit nervous because he went missing,” Lipke said. “I was worried that he had shed his velvet and was no longer on his pattern.”

North Dakota’s 2026 archery deer season opened at noon on Sept. 4, and that’s when Lipke hiked in for the afternoon hunt in the river bottom where the buck had most consistently been coming out to feed in a bean field. He hoped his early entry would give him plenty of time to reach his spot without bumping deer.

“To get in there cleanly, I had to walk through the river in waders to avoid spooking deer,” Lipke said. “It worked really well. The water level was just low enough to allow me to get through, and I was able to come out of the water and get up into a tree with my saddle. The wind direction was optimal.”

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Several deer began moving later that afternoon, and Lipke was entertained by some does, fawns and small bucks. As the evening progressed, he worried the big buck wouldn’t show up. Finally, he checked the time; about 35 to 40 minutes of legal light remained.

“As soon as I slipped my phone back into my pocket,” Lipke said, “I spotted the buck coming out of the woods. I thought, ‘Holy crap! There he is!’ I started shaking like a leaf. I drew back as he was quartering toward me. About 30 yards away, I shot and stuck him right behind the shoulder.”

The monster buck had a huge body and a wall of tines. Image courtesy of Brent Lipke.

Noticing that his arrow had not passed through, Lipke started to doubt his shot. He had aimed tightly to the front shoulder because of the angle, but he worried his arrow potentially struck the scapula. He walked out of the area back to his car and called a buddy. They made plans to meet at the property at 11 p.m., about three hours after the buck was hit.

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“We met up and had no trouble finding the deer,” Lipke said. “The blood trail got really good the farther we went. We found him about 150 yards from where I hit him. I’m sure he expired within a minute. I was so glad that I got him in velvet.”

After Lipke and his buddy got the deer out, they delivered it to a taxidermist, who caped the deer in the middle of the night. The incredible buck has a 6-by-6 frame with solid mass and 11-1/2-inch G-2s. The antlers are in full velvet, and although they haven’t been measured, they should gross about 170 inches.