Heidi's 9pt Buck

Every year I look forward to the Illinois shotgun season for deer. I have been deer hunting since I was thirteen years old and every year I get just as excited as I did back then. This year my wife Heidi decided to put in for a shotgun tag. She has went with me in the past and been fortunate to have killed two bucks, but this year she said would be different. She wanted to shoot a big one so that she could have it mounted and hung on the wall with all of my deer. I made her a promise that the first big one we saw she could shoot it. Opening day came and we got into the woods early. Before shooting light we had two small bucks walk within ten feet of us, and we were hunting from the ground. As daylight broke we had several encounters with a few small bucks and a couple of does. She was going to hold out for a good one. By now I had decided to do whatever it took to get her a trophy. By 8:30 am she was ready to leave and run into town to get a cup of hot chocolate. I walked her to the truck and told her that I would stay all day and to call me when she was ready to come back. As she drove off I started walking back to where I wanted to sit. I didn’t get very far when my cell phone vibrated. I t was Heidi. “Luke, there is a big buck with a doe out in the field!” She said. I told her to come back and pick me up quickly. I ran back and jumped in the truck. She drove up and I could see him standing there in the middle of the pasture. I crawled up into the field and motioned her to follow. The buck went over and made a scrape on an oak tree. He was out there a good ways but I thought there was a chance that she could get him. She settled the scope on him and squeezed the trigger. The buck and the doe took off running. She missed and in the process blacked her eye from the scope. She was upset but I told her that it would be ok. We got back in the truck and she went to drop me back off. Once I got out of the truck I noticed the same buck was standing in the back field with that same doe. The wind was right and I knew we had a chance to cut him off. We ran down the creek and then crawled up the ridge on our hands and knees. Once we got to the top of the ridge we belly crawled another ten yards to the fence. From there we watched him at about 100 yards feeding in the field not straying far from the doe. I told Heidi that we would wait him out as long as it took and hopefully he would get closer for Heidi to get a shot. After watching him for about fifteen minutes the buck started to walk toward the woods. Heidi thought he was leaving but I knew better. He wasn’t about to leave the hot doe. As he walked toward the woods a smaller buck shot out and the chase was on. The bigger buck chased the little one all over the field and getting closer and closer to us. Finally I told Heidi it was now or never and she had to pull the trigger. At 60 yards Heidi dropped the giant. I ran out into the field to make sure he was down. “Get over here and check out your buck!” I exclaimed. She ran out into the field and put her hands on her big 9 point buck. We took several pictures and she made several phone calls. Mission accomplished. Heidi finally had her trophy. Heidi’s buck scored out at around 140 inches. A trophy anywhere in the country. She would finally be able to hang this big buck on our wall. There is nothing better than to take someone out hunting, especially a family member, and to have them shoot a buck of a lifetime.