Traveling to another state to hunt can be fun in itself, but when you're headed home with a giant whitetail things can feel a bit like a fairytale. (Photo courtesy of Adam Gander)
December 01, 2021
By Nick Dalessandro
Breaking News Bucks 2021 I’m from Michigan, but this is the second time I’ve traveled to Missouri to hunt with Adam Gander .
I hunted hard all week knowing I would get a chance at a deer, but I just had to be patient. I had a nice 140-inch 8-point come in, but the stand I was hunting had so much thick cover, I could not get a clear shot at the deer.
The next morning was my last morning in Missouri. As I was walking out to the stand to go hunt that 8-point again, I prayed to God asking him to give me an opportunity at a deer. I promised I would make the shot. Little did I know, he would answer in a way that I could not believe.
I got set up in a familiar stand, and I had deer move in right away. I couldn’t even get my bow up to my stand because immediately I had deer surrounding me. One doe that had white on the back of her ears stayed around me all morning. She would smell the air, smell the ground, look, but could never figure out where I was. Finally, she took off.
She later came back to try and figure out where I was. She did her routine of coming in and out of my wind while trying to find me. Eventually, she got within 10 yards of me and blew loudly. I didn’t think I was going to see any more deer that day.
At 9:30 a.m., the doe came into 15 yards and continued to make a scene. Then I saw two new does off to my left. Then, I saw what looked like a buck behind them. I couldn’t see because of how thick the woods were. They were about 100 yards away.
I began analyzing the deer I thought was a buck, and I saw kickers on its right side. I thought, wow, that’s an awesome buck. I still didn’t know how big it was, but I had never seen a deer with kickers. The deer moved closer, and I took out my cell phone to take a picture of it to show everyone back at camp. I eventually took a video and the doe below me started blowing. I figured that was it. However, the two does with the buck came to investigate what this doe was blowing at, so they came right to me. I knew the buck was coming in, so I put my phone away.
Adam and Nick had no trouble at all finding the big buck after Nick's perfect shot. (Photo courtesy of Adam Gander) I had one good shooting lane, and I saw a tree in it that I wanted to range. My rangefinder was giving me negative yardages and was not ranging at all. I had to slam it against my leg to try one last time. Then, the first doe walked through the opening, and I spun, grabbed my bow and dialed my pin to 40 yards. The buck came into the lane, so I grunted to stop him and shot. I watched the lumenok sail into the buck exactly where I was aiming. The buck leaped, and his head and face were down sprinting into the ground. He ran only 30 yards and flipped over a log. I was in disbelief. I just sat there, and my tree stand was rattling.
I called my outfitter Adam and told him, “I shot a giant! I shot a giant!” He unenthusiastically replied, “Ok, cool. I’ll see you in 20.” He is used to hunters saying they shot a giant, but this one truly was. When he showed up with a family friend that came with me to camp, they asked where the buck was. I pointed to the spot, and his eyes lit up. We could see the tall rack perfectly laying against the log.
Everyone in the family wanted in on the excitement of Nick's spectacular buck. (Photo courtesy of Adam Gander) We walked up to the deer in shock. I had no idea how big the deer was when I shot; I just knew it had tall tines and it was a shooter. But after seeing all 17 points with kickers and junk, and the 11-inch brow tines, it was unbelievable!
This is my buck of a lifetime, and I’m so blessed to have experienced the opportunity to shoot an animal of this caliber. Adam green gross-scored the buck at 205 inches.
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