Minnesota Bowhunter Spooks Giant Buck, Arrows It Two Weeks Later

This buck gave Minnesota’s David Wolf the slip a handful of times before offering him a solid 35-yard shot opportunity on Oct. 1. Image courtesy of David Wolf.

David Wolf of Minnesota accompanied his father on some hunts at age 9. It was the metric his father used to determine if he was interested in becoming a deer hunter. The interest was definitely there, and Wolf began hunting at age 10. Twenty-five years later, he’s still into deer hunting and absolutely loves it. He’s been hunting the same property all these years, and the specific area he focuses on is around a 5-acre cornfield.

“There is a section of woods behind the field that goes quite a way,” Wolf said. “And on the other side of the cornfield is CRP. I run five trail cameras in the area.”

Throughout summer, Wolf’s trail cameras were rife with does and fawns, but the buck inventory was missing. He said it was unusual not to have any buck pictures. Toward the end of August, though, his luck turned. First, a spike appeared on the trail cameras, followed by a giant typical. Wolf had no history with the deer.

“I run conventional trail cameras, and I pull the cards every two to three weeks,” he said. “He was there, and then he was gone for almost two weeks. Then, he returned but vanished again. After that, he started showing up more frequently.”

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Wolf, a self-proclaimed diehard bowhunter, hunts mornings and afternoons every weekend, and every afternoon after work. He encountered the impressive animal on the opener.

“I didn’t see him on opening morning,” Wolf said. “That afternoon, the spike came through, and then the big one came trotting through about 15 yards away. I didn’t try to move into position because I was afraid that he or the spike would spook.”

While hunting after work on Sept. 16, Wolf climbed down at quitting time and was walking out when he noticed the monster standing in his food plot 30 yards away, staring at him. He said the big deer snorted and ran away.

“I thought, ‘That’s it. I just messed it up,’” he said. “I thought I’d never see him again. I stayed out of that area and started hunting from a different stand. I looked at my cards and noticed that the buck had walked right by the initial stand at 7 a.m. on Sept. 27. That morning, I had sat across the field in another stand. I regretted my decision as soon as I saw that picture.”

The chess match continued, with the buck appearing on a trail camera before quitting time in one location while Wolf was hunting elsewhere. Other than the trail camera appearances, Wolf didn’t encounter the buck again until Oct. 1, the day he connected.

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“The weather that day was sunny with south-southeast winds,” Wolf said. “It was pretty warm. I got all settled in by about 4:30 p.m. I saw a 9-pointer, which came through 25 yards away at about 5:50. Around 6:40, an 8-pointer came out of the CRP. I passed on both of them. If I didn’t have the bigger one on camera, either of those two bucks would have been shooters.”

Wolf made a side note, saying that every deer he sees while hunting gets his blood boiling.

“When I go deer hunting, it doesn’t matter if a fawn or big buck steps out; I shake,” he said. “If I ever lose that, I’m not sure if I’ll keep hunting.”

Even after getting acclimated to his adrenaline surge from the first two bucks, Wolf “shook like a leaf on a windy day” when his target deer appeared down the field road, entering the corn. The buck was 50 yards away, and Wolf got ready to shoot. Excitedly, he stood, much like he would pop up out of a chair at home. The buck caught the movement, looking his way. Though Wolf thought he’d messed up, the buck calmed down and kept walking.

“He walked behind a tree,” he said, “and I drew my bow. The buck started angling toward me. As he was walking, I suddenly realized that he wasn’t going to stop and that I needed to mouth-grunt at him. He didn’t stop the first time, so I did it again, and he stopped 35 yards away. I took the shot, and he kicked like a bull and took off. He turned, busted through some trees and was gone.”

The massive buck moved quite a lot during daylight. Image courtesy of David Wolf.

In the aftermath, Wolf believed his shot was dead on, but because he was shooting an arrow with a lighted nock and was unable to see the nock, doubt crept in, and he began second-guessing everything. After a while, he climbed down and checked the area for signs of a hit.

“I didn’t have a flashlight with me,” he said. “I was grabbing my phone from my pocket to use the flashlight, and then I noticed my lighted nock about 15 yards away. I walked over to inspect my arrow, and it was full of blood. I made some calls, and my sister, her husband and their two daughters came out to help track. We followed the blood for about 80 yards and found my buck.”

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The monster whitetail has 10 typical points, two stickers just longer than an inch apiece, and two other stickers that are less than an inch each. Overall, the impressive antlers grossed 169-6/8 inches.

“In 2014, my older sister passed away from a motorcycle accident,” Wolf said. “She was a deer hunter, too, so every time I shoot a deer, I go to the cemetery and get a picture with her. I also shoot pink G5 Montec broadheads. Pink was her favorite color, so it’s kind of like I’m bringing her out to the woods with me when I hunt.”