North Dakota Bowhunter Skips Wedding, Arrows 175-Inch Buck

If you’re a regular Realtree Rack Report reader, perhaps the name Kyle Olson rings a bell. He’s had a four-year streak that most bowhunters only dream about, and we’ve covered a couple of his previous big North Dakota bucks right here in the Rack Report.

Kyle Olson has been on an incredible North Dakota run with four big bucks in the past four seasons. All photos courtesy of Kyle Olson

This season, Olson didn’t have a particular target buck showing up on his trail cameras, but that changed on Oct. 31. His wife, Beth, also an avid hunter, sent him a staggering photo of a massive buck. After studying it for a few minutes, he realized he’d had the buck on camera in 2023.

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“He was in the mid-150s that year,” Olson said. “I’d honestly forgotten about him because he didn’t show up at all in 2024. I had assumed he was dead. While looking at him this year, I noticed that the rack is virtually the same, but much larger.”

Olson recognized the big buck on his trail camera as one he had been watching two years ago that never showed last season.

Olson debated leaving work early that Friday to hunt the buck, but decided against it. To complicate matters, he and Beth were planning to attend a wedding the next day. Decisions, decisions. He knew that he should go after the deer. Beth knew it, too. She said, “Why don’t you stay home and hunt?” Olson jumped at the chance.

When Olson’s wife suggested he stay home from a planned event to hunt, he jumped at the chance.

Not wanting to risk bumping the big buck if it was bedded nearby, Olson waited until the afternoon to slip into a blind near where the buck had been photographed.

“Everything out here is flat, and the deer can spot a truck from a long way away, so I parked way back off the spot and hiked in,” he explained.

Following a shallow draw to the blind, Olson did everything he could to not alert nearby deer. He quietly slipped into the blind and settled in early in the afternoon for the evening sit. He suspected the buck might be bedded in a nearby rock pile.

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He was looking south when he saw a pair of deer running across an open field. He watched through his binoculars and saw that it was a doe and a fawn. The pair ran right to the blind, stopping to feed 15 yards away.

Soon, Olson noticed another deer coming along the same trail. He had to be cautious not to spook the two deer in front of him. The new deer had a large body; could it be the buck? He didn’t want to risk lifting his binos to check. About 70 yards out, the deer stopped and lowered its head to feed. When it raised its head, Olson saw the antlers. It was the giant buck from the trail camera.

“All I could think was, ‘Oh my God, is this actually going to happen again?’”

Slowly, he reached for his bow without spooking the doe and fawn. Looking back, he could no longer see the buck, but he could hear it grunting as it followed a nearby slough toward the doe and fawn.

Finally, the buck appeared 20 yards away, stopping and grunting at the doe and fawn for what Olson estimated was a good five minutes.

The buck stood just 20 yards from Olson’s blind, but the hunter couldn’t turn for a shot without alerting nearby does.

“I wanted to turn and try to shoot him, but there was no way I could get turned around without spooking the other deer,” he said. “All I could do was watch and wait.”

The big buck finally had enough. It lowered its head and bull-charged toward the doe and fawn, stopping just in front of the blind. As the buck ran in, Olson hit full draw. It stopped at 30 yards, facing slightly away. Olson had just started aiming when the buck turned and walked straight toward him.

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He had been at full draw for a while and knew it was now or never when the animal stopped 20 yards away, quartering slightly toward him. While aiming, Olson felt his top cam brush the top of the blind, which made him pause. He hunkered down to clear the top of the blind, took a second to double-check his arrow clearance in the blind window, and released.

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The hit looked perfect. The buck ran 40 yards and stopped, flicking its tail and looking around. Olson was confident in his hit, but wasn’t taking any chances. He grabbed another arrow, took aim, and released. A loud thwack! indicated another hit. The buck bolted 50 yards into the nearby slough. Through his binoculars, Olson watched the buck sink to the ground.

Olson watched as the buck slowed to a walk and sunk to the ground after the shot.

Soon, he eased out of the blind and called his family — in town from Minnesota to hunt and visit — to help with the search and recovery. It took two hours for everyone to assemble. Olson was confident the deer was down, but family members had a young bloodhound they were training to track and find deer, so they turned her loose on the trail.

The recovery was short. Olson said the blood trail probably could have been seen from space. They quickly arrived at the buck, which had a 6-by-5 main frame with a drop tine on the right beam and a point that came out of the left base and curved tightly around the beam. The impressive antlers gross-scored 175 ⅞ inches.

“Man, I don’t know how to describe this streak I’m on. I’m now four-for-four on my first sit of the season on my target bucks, four seasons in a row. It doesn’t seem fair, but I’ll take it. I’m happy and grateful, but I understand it's just luck. Lord knows I’ve put in enough seasons where I didn’t even shoot a deer to know how truly unbelievable this run is,” Olson finished.

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