Now 40 years old and living in California, Paul Thein has been hunting on the family farm in Minnesota since he was a teenager fresh out of hunter’s safety class. Hunting is a family tradition for Paul and his hunting party usually consists of cousins, his dad, close family members and friends. Over the years Paul has watched many of his companions bag trophy whitetails. He's taken some nice deer himself, but never the whitetail of his dreams.

Until 2006, that is!

Last season some of the group's hunting land was sold off for development.

"I guess you can’t stop urban sprawl and it finally caught up to our land," Paul said. "After 25 years of great memories we could see the end of an era of family hunting. I couldn’t help but feel sad that similar hunting experiences like I'd enjoyed wouldn’t be there for future generations. Hunting is so much more than killing deer. At any rate, the weather was ideal and I didn’t have to fight the bitter cold that sometimes makes your teeth chatter.

I saw more deer each day than I ever remember seeing. Memories of past hunts raced through my head each day as I walked through the woods to my stand. Day after day I waited patiently for the buck of my dreams ‹ simply enjoying the beauty of it all. With only two days left I began to accept the fact that I may not get one for the wall, and then it happened. He came quietly at dusk to scent the does feeding in the open field of clover.

"Wow, I thought to myself, this buck is nice! He had plenty of rack over the ears and a white face that showed his age. As he took a step cautiously into the open clover field only 60 yards away I raised my gun. I didn’t take time to count the points or give him a chance to scent me. After 25 years of hunting I was sure this was the one ‹ Mr. Wallhanger! I put my sights on him and squeezed the trigger, and the 'ol boy fell in his tracks. I could see him lying there and I waited a moment from my stand to make sure he was down for good. I couldn’t hold my composure and I used my cell phone to report back to the house what I was sure would be a trophy. I knew it was the one I had hoped for 20-years and dreamed of since I was a kid. I thought to myself, now I can leave this wonderful experience with a memory to take home with me and hang on my wall. This is the way it should end, your biggest buck at the end!

"Still not knowing how many points this buck had I finally composed myself enough to approach what I hoped would be at least a 10-pointer. As I stepped within arms reach I saw a drop tine. Than as I grabbed hold of his massive rack and pulled the one side out of the mud, I saw how nice this big boy really was. Yippee, a 13-point double drop tine buck! This is the one I had dreamed of year after year since I was a boy hunting with that single shot 12-gauge. Wow, what a way to end it all, a trophy of a lifetime and a wallhanger to remember it with! Thanks dad for all of the great experiences....

page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4