North Dakota Bowhunter Bags Stud 12-Point Buck

Beau Brodina was limited to hunting weekends due to baseball and school, but that didn’t stop him from arrowing this impressive buck during North Dakota’s archery season. Image courtesy of Beau Brodina

North Dakota hunter Beau Brodina had a pretty uneventful opening weekend of bow season, which began on Aug. 29, and then he wasn’t able to get out and hunt during the week due to school and sports commitments. Of course, when he seemed to be at his busiest, a phenomenal buck appeared on the trail camera where he hunts. Brodina was familiar with the deer, too.

“Our family knew about the buck last year, but he wasn’t anything too special,” Brodina said. “Probably just a 2 1/2 year old. On Sept. 2, he came in, and the trail camera pictures immediately caught our eyes because he was a lot bigger than last year — not the type of buck you want to pass up. For the next few days, he consistently came in around 8 p.m. Finally, my Saturday was clear, and I knew I needed to go out and sit.”

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Brodina’s treestand is located on the edge of a wooded area overlooking a food plot, and it’s baited for good measure. The property is one that Brodina’s family has permission to hunt, and it takes about an hour and a half to drive there from home. Brodina left at around 3 p.m. on September 6, arriving at the property by 4:30 p.m. At 5:15, he was all settled in and ready to roll.

“I wanted to get there earlier because a cold front was coming through, and I had a feeling the deer would move a little bit earlier than usual,” Brodina said. “It turned out OK, though, because I didn’t see anything for the first hour. Eventually, a little buck came in. He was there for about 10 minutes before moving off. Another little buck came in shortly after that, and he also stayed for about 10 minutes.”

Next, some does appeared in the food plot, but they weren’t too interested in coming to the bait. They just moseyed around and did their own thing, Brodina said, and then things were pretty uneventful for a little while. But the best was yet to come.

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“I saw the big buck from the trail camera walking into the food plot at 7:45,” Brodina explained. “He didn’t come in right away. He basically circled me, and then some does came to the bait pile. I heard the buck walking behind me, but with the does so close, I didn’t want to risk spooking them by turning around to see if it was him. Finally, he had circled all the way around and was out in front of me about 60 yards away in the plot. He stood there for 10 minutes, and then he finally started making his way toward the bait. He took his sweet time coming in.”

The buck’s boxy frame and splits really caught the Brodina family’s attention. Image courtesy of Beau Brodina

When the buck reached the bait, it was quartering toward Brodina, so he waited for the deer to offer a better shot angle.

“He shifted and was quartering away, which is the angle I prefer,” he said. “I knew that he was right at 17 yards, so I drew back, aimed, and shot him. I didn’t get to see him fall from my treestand, but I was very confident in my shot. I waited until it was totally dark to get down. I kind of looked around near the bait to see if I could find any blood. I couldn’t tell too much, so I got out of there and called my grandpa, who was in the area, to decide what to do next.”

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Within an hour, they took up the trail and quickly located the impressive buck. Just as Brodina suspected, the deer had not gone very far after the shot, maybe only 50 yards. Grandfather and grandson were thrilled to wrap their hands around the tremendous buck’s antlers, which feature 10 tall tines plus split G-2s, and a big boxy frame. The 12-point rack grosses 165 inches. Interestingly, Brodina’s grandfather, who helped recover the buck, shot a very similar-looking deer about seven years ago.

Brodina has taken some nice whitetails, but this one is his largest to date, and a pretty good prize to show for a Saturday afternoon with no sports or school on the schedule.