North Dakota Bowhunter Bags a Mystery Buck

North Dakota bowhunter Kyle Olson has a good track record of filling his tag on opening weekend with a big buck. But this year, the activity on his cameras was noticeably slow, with no shooter bucks making an appearance. There were a few nice deer around, but Olson hadn’t seen anything that got him really excited to notch his tag so early in the season.

North Dakota hunter Kyle Olson saw a trail camera photo from earlier that morning, then headed to the stand that evening. Image by Kyle Olson

So on opening morning of the ND season, Olson went fishing instead of hunting. A few days later, he was flipping through camera photos from the night before and got to a picture that made him stop and stare. It was a big buck he had never seen before, and it had been standing in front of his camera at 3 that morning.

Hoping that the buck had bedded nearby, Olson quickly made plans to get into a nearby stand that evening. He got off work at 5 p.m., went straight home where he showered and gathered his gear, then headed to the stand.

After a summer with no big bucks on his trail cameras, Olson was surprised to see a new buck a few days into season. Image by Kyle Olson

“It was later than I like to get started, probably 6:15 by the time I was in my stand and had my bow up,” Olson said. The wind was concerning. “I went against my philosophy of not hunting a marginal wind. I knew the buck was probably still close by and I thought he might just be passing through and I might not see him again. I put my faith in good scent control, ozone, and Nose Jammer, but what I was really counting on was the fact that evening thermals from that stand normally pull my scent away from the field edge and down into the draw behind my stand.”

Olson settled in and waited. Two hours passed. A flock of ducks pouring into a nearby pond kept him occupied. Around 8:20, Olson looked up to see the first deer of the evening enter the wheat field. “It was probably 150-200 yards out and it was overcast, so the light was already getting low. I just assumed it was a doe, so I didn’t even bother to reach for my binoculars that were in my pack.”

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Olson watched as the deer steadily fed closer. He noticed that it was by itself, unusual for a doe this time of year. As the deer grew nearer, Olson realized it was a buck — and a good one at that.

Olson watched as the first deer he saw that evening grew closer before realizing it was the buck he was after. Image by Kyle Olson

“I grabbed my bow, just in case. I thought to myself, ‘man, that looks like him, but it can’t be.’ Then he kept getting closer and I talked myself into the fact that it was the buck I had seen on camera that morning.”

By this time, the buck was nearly in range. The air was dead calm. The buck stopped at 70 yards, then started to scent check, picking up on something he didn’t like. He stood in place for probably 30 seconds.

“By this time, I was just trying to keep myself calm and still. My heart was racing and I was afraid the buck was going to hear me breathing. There wasn’t a ton of cover for me with the direction the buck was coming from. I just made myself stay calm and be as still as humanly possible.”

Olson willed himself to stay calm and still as the buck got close. Image by Kyle Olson

The big buck finally decided everything was safe and continued down the trail toward Olson. As the buck turned around a corner at the edge of the field, he stopped just 18 yards from Olson’s stand.

“I came to a full draw when he turned his head and put my pin right behind his shoulder. I still couldn’t believe this was happening, that I was actually getting a shot at this buck,” Olson said.

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At the shot, the buck mule kicked and bolted 60 yards into the wheat field, where he stopped. Olson considered nocking another arrow for a follow up shot, but the buck started to wobble, and then tip over.

The 5x5 rack flared out from the main beams and featured a number of kicker points. Image by Kyle Olson

It was over, just like that. And as Olson walked up on the buck, he was shocked to see that it was even bigger in person than it had looked on camera. Each point of the symmetrical 5x5 velvet rack flared out from the main beam, giving the rack the illusion of being much wider than its actual 17 ½” inside spread. “What I hadn’t noticed on the trail cameras that I saw in person was the split and palmated brows and the kickers off the G2. I’ve had bucks that had some ground shrinkage before, but never one that grew this much from what I was expecting. It was a nice surprise.”