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Kevin Jaeger's Double Drop-Tined Dandy

Kevin Jaeger's Double Drop-Tined Dandy

You want to know how a man truly feels accepted by his new father-in-law? If the guy he nervously calls "Dad" allows him to hang a treestand on his land.

That was the case for Kevin Jaeger who had never set up shop on his new pop's Missouri farm, opting instead to hunt on leased land with three other friends.

In 2010 though, Jaeger decided to test his relationship with his new father-in-law and place a stand on the new wife's family farm, as there was a big boy that had caught the attention of more than a few hunters.

There had been rumors swirling around the community about a massive double drop-tined buck that was calling his in-law's farm home. Jaeger set up a couple of Moultrie trail cameras to see if he could capture an image of the deer and it didn't take long for the buck to prove he wasn't camera shy.

Jaeger bowhunted the rest of Missouri's late archery-only season but was unable to fill a tag. His quest for this buck continued onto the post season.

"After the season I rigged up a shed trap with a cattle panel and hoped he would drop his sheds while feeding, but he never did," shared Jaeger, "I got tons of pictures as he was at my shed trap almost every day. "

"Finally on Valentine's Day I got a picture of him with only one antler. I knew the other side would fall off soon so I gave it a week and started looking for his sheds. I did a lot of walking but I never found them. Then I heard the neighbor found one and my brother-in-law found the other side while turkey hunting in the spring," said Jaeger.
As summer landed in the heartland, the locals started spotting the buck entering bean fields at dusk. Jeager was able to see him once, but never saw him again until late August when one of Jaeger's trail camera's captured a couple images of the buck shedding his velvet.
Set on taking this deer, Jaeger dropped his "buddy lease" and dedicated his season to hunting this trophy and he planned on getting after the task early.

"I normally don't hunt the early part of bow season, but I knew my only chance was to get him then, because it wouldn't be long before he stopped showing himself in daylight," said Jaeger.

On opening day, Jaeger headed out to his stand after work, hoping the wind wouldn't wreck havoc on his hunt. After climbing into his Scent Blocker clothes and spraying down with Dead Down Wind Spray, Jaeger started his quest for his buck of a lifetime.

After seeing only a couple of does the first few hours in the stand, Jaeger spotted a small eight-point buck moving his way and he had company...the big drop-tined buck!

"As I drew back, I was thinking, don't make a bad shot. I knew with the history of this buck, there'd be a lot of upset people if I hit him wrong and couldn't recover him," said Jaeger.

As Jaeger drew back, settling the pin on the trophy, the smaller eight-point buck spotted the movement and quickly turned back towards the direction he came from.

As Jaeger pulled the trigger on his release the drop-tined buck spun back into Jaeger's arrow.

"It was dark enough in the woods that I could follow the Lumenok as my arrow stuck him in the neck and he ran off with it. I was pretty upset about the shot and replayed it over and over again in my mind," shared Jaeger, "As I was sitting there, I thought I heard him thrashing below the hill, but wasn't sure if it was him or another deer running off."

Two hours later Jaeger and a friend started their quest to see if they could recover the buck in the area where Jaeger thought he heard the big deer crash. The pair immediately found blood and spotted the monarch 40 yards away from where he had been hit.

The amazing buck green scored 201 5/8 inches gross, with a net score of 194 5/8.




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