Joined
·
1,512 Posts
Cool story- everything off Field and Stream
So what do you want for Christmas? How about a 197-inch whitetail? That’s what 16-year-old Austin Brimeyer gotâ€"a little early, of course. On November 18th, he arrowed a behemoth of a buck at 14 paces, followed a heavy blood trail to the deer, and found the sort of headgear that’s on every archer’s wish-list--all wrapped up, no less, in Christmas lights.
Brimeyer was driving home from school at around 2:30 p.m. when he spotted a 160-class 10-pointer pushing a yearling buck across a CRP field on his family’s land in Dubuque County, Iowa. “I slammed on the breaks to get a better look, and they disappeared into the timber across from my stand.â€
Brimeyer headed home, grabbed his stuff, and literally ran through the timber to his treestand. After sitting for about an hour, he grunted and then snort-wheezed. “I figured the 160 had to be the dominant buck in the area, and I wanted to push his buttons. But in minutes an even bigger buck stepped into an overgrown opening (shown) at about 70 yards out, looking for the ‘deer’ that snort-wheezed.â€
With the buck trotting in, and without a lot of cover in his stand, Brimeyer drew when the deer was about 60 yards away. “I thought I saw a little flash of red on his left antler, but I didn’t pay it much attention. I was concentrating on getting a shot. In no time, the buck was standing broadside at 14 steps. I settled my 15-yard pin on him, let the arrow go, and could see I’d made a good shot. He ran toward where he came from, and I thought I heard him crash.â€
While waiting a half hour or so, Brimeyer called his Dad and his friend Jacob. When they showed up, he got on the heavy blood trail. “The buck only made it a few steps into the timber and piled up. He had even more points than I thought . . . and he had something else, too. Suddenly I knew what that red flash I’d seen earlier was.â€
“When I found the deer, my Dad and Jacob had circled out to watch the other side of the timber. I yelled out to them, ‘He’s got Christmas lights on him!’ They didn’t believe me. But sure enough, the buck had a string of lights wrapped up in his antlers. We figured he either rubbed a tree with lights or he attacked a plastic Rudolph or Blitzen in somebody’s yard.â€
“And my Dad was in awe. In 40 years of hunting in this area, he said he’s never seen anything like it. The buck wound up gross scoring 197 inches.â€â€œBut this buck is special,†he says. “Not just because he’s the biggest I’ve taken, but because with the lights in his antlers, he’s almost like an early Christmas present, and I couldn’t ask for a better one. A lot of people are already calling him Rudolph. It’s just as well he came in mid-November and not Christmas morning; it’d be a heck of a job getting him under the tree.â€
He’s taken all of his best deer with the same 45-pound Mathews Mustang compound bow, which he likes so well that when he grew out of it last year, he sent away for new limbs.- [file]85614[/file]
And the deer-
[file]85615[/file]
[file]85616[/file]
[file]85617[/file]
So what do you want for Christmas? How about a 197-inch whitetail? That’s what 16-year-old Austin Brimeyer gotâ€"a little early, of course. On November 18th, he arrowed a behemoth of a buck at 14 paces, followed a heavy blood trail to the deer, and found the sort of headgear that’s on every archer’s wish-list--all wrapped up, no less, in Christmas lights.
Brimeyer was driving home from school at around 2:30 p.m. when he spotted a 160-class 10-pointer pushing a yearling buck across a CRP field on his family’s land in Dubuque County, Iowa. “I slammed on the breaks to get a better look, and they disappeared into the timber across from my stand.â€
Brimeyer headed home, grabbed his stuff, and literally ran through the timber to his treestand. After sitting for about an hour, he grunted and then snort-wheezed. “I figured the 160 had to be the dominant buck in the area, and I wanted to push his buttons. But in minutes an even bigger buck stepped into an overgrown opening (shown) at about 70 yards out, looking for the ‘deer’ that snort-wheezed.â€
With the buck trotting in, and without a lot of cover in his stand, Brimeyer drew when the deer was about 60 yards away. “I thought I saw a little flash of red on his left antler, but I didn’t pay it much attention. I was concentrating on getting a shot. In no time, the buck was standing broadside at 14 steps. I settled my 15-yard pin on him, let the arrow go, and could see I’d made a good shot. He ran toward where he came from, and I thought I heard him crash.â€
While waiting a half hour or so, Brimeyer called his Dad and his friend Jacob. When they showed up, he got on the heavy blood trail. “The buck only made it a few steps into the timber and piled up. He had even more points than I thought . . . and he had something else, too. Suddenly I knew what that red flash I’d seen earlier was.â€
“When I found the deer, my Dad and Jacob had circled out to watch the other side of the timber. I yelled out to them, ‘He’s got Christmas lights on him!’ They didn’t believe me. But sure enough, the buck had a string of lights wrapped up in his antlers. We figured he either rubbed a tree with lights or he attacked a plastic Rudolph or Blitzen in somebody’s yard.â€
“And my Dad was in awe. In 40 years of hunting in this area, he said he’s never seen anything like it. The buck wound up gross scoring 197 inches.â€â€œBut this buck is special,†he says. “Not just because he’s the biggest I’ve taken, but because with the lights in his antlers, he’s almost like an early Christmas present, and I couldn’t ask for a better one. A lot of people are already calling him Rudolph. It’s just as well he came in mid-November and not Christmas morning; it’d be a heck of a job getting him under the tree.â€
He’s taken all of his best deer with the same 45-pound Mathews Mustang compound bow, which he likes so well that when he grew out of it last year, he sent away for new limbs.- [file]85614[/file]
And the deer-
[file]85615[/file]
[file]85616[/file]
[file]85617[/file]
:
