On November 15, 2008, Intermedia Outdoors account executive Matt Johnson was hunting the same patch of public land in northern Minnesota that his recently deceased father, Glenn, had started hunting in 1981. It was his first time hunting without his dad in deer camp and he was hoping to shoot a special buck in his honor.

On the third morning of a four-day hunt the conditions were perfect. The wind was calm, temperatures were in the teens, and a fresh layer of snow had blanketed the ground. Matt was hunting from a tree stand set in a forest of tall timber with little growth on the forest floor. To his left, there was slough full of thick brush and briars.

At 8:10 in the morning, Matt heard fast movement coming from the slough and he turned in time to see this monster buck rush out of the thick brush and into the clear timber, stopping broadside...60 yards from his stand!

Matt's aim was perfect and true as the 140-gr. Hornady SST from his Ruger M77 Mark II chambered in .270 found its mark; a perfect double lung shot that piled the deer up 50 yards from where it stood.

It was the largest deer anyone from Matt's hunting party had seen taken over all the years they'd hunted the ground.

There was no doubt who Matt was thinking of when admiring this magnificent animal.

"This one is in honor my dad," said Matt.

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