Deer of the Day -- Halloween Hoss! -- Luke Holthaus

I was really looking forward to starting the 2010 season with the crops actually coming out early this year and many good velvet sightings and trail cam photos I had high hopes of what this season had in store for me.

The first week went by slow with minimal deer sightings and only one buck. This was pretty typical though with it still being warm. Not much changed with the second week or the third and by now I was starting to feel the frustration setting in.

On Halloween night I had the wind that I wanted for a stand that my brother had found a great shed not 50 yards from in the spring, but with no trail cam photos of this buck we were skeptical if he was still there or even still alive.

I was running late but headed out none-the-less to give this stand a shot with the hopes of whatever was sporting that shed the year prior would show back up. I'd been in the stand for about an hour and a half when I looked over my left shoulder and saw a doe with a huge buck following right behind her.

He was 100 yards and angling away from me so I reached for my grunt call and gave him a few soft grunts. He didn't pay any attention and when the doe went over the hillside he stopped at the top of it and I gave him a snort wheeze and two short grunts and here he came.

He closed the distance to 25 yards but was facing me and I couldn't get a shot. He started to walk as if he was headed to the downwind side as they do many times and I stopped him at 40 yards and let the arrow fly.

I watched the arrow go through and stick in the ground for a perfect shot. He ran only 50 yards and fell. The deer had 20 scorable points, an 18.5-inch inside spread and green scored 200 6/8. I will sure have a hard time topping this one.

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