Melland's Monster

For the past few hunting seasons my brother had bow hunted on some really great property, owned by a local friend in the North Dakota badlands. In the spring of 2011 my brother relocated to Texas, abandoning his hunting spot. I took it upon myself to do the brotherly thing and take his spot now that he was gone, just to keep tabs on it for him ;). With the permission of the landowner I set up my tree stand in an absolutely beautiful location a mere twenty yards from the tree that my brother used to sit. Considering the history of deer taken off this property, (former state record) to say I was excited for bow season to begin in 2011 would be an understatement, I was jacked!

After coming within 20 yards of a huge 5x7 on the first night of the 2011 archery season, and having three elk walk by my stand on night two, I knew that this was a special spot, and if I was patient good things would happen.

Opening weekend came and went and the weather for the rest of September was unseasonably warm. I had anticipated hunting more in early October but here it was the second week of October and I hadn’t been to my stand in three weeks! I think my wife was getting sick of me complaining about not hunting and made the glorious suggestion that I go one day after work. When you really break it down, what are the odds of taking a true giant whitetail buck with a bow and arrow? There are a million things that have to go perfect in order for a hunter to actually harvest a truly huge buck. The odds of everything coming together are slim, I would venture to say about as slim as the odds that your wife will suggest that you go sit in your tree stand on a random Thursday after work. I happily accepted the offer and got my stuff ready to go!

It was a windy afternoon with rain in the forecast, and a cold front moving in. On the drive over there my brother and I had discussed on the phone the possibility of me calling him later that night with news that I had killed a giant. We both agreed that the chances were slim but they are always greater in the field than sitting at home!

I climbed up the twenty feet or so into my tree stand which was securely fastened to a good sized birch tree that swayed back in forth on a windy North Dakota afternoon. After I got settled in and organized I began to make my assessments. Wind was in the perfect direction, new trails had been formed since my last sit, and deer were clearly traveling through my area. I don’t know about you but every time I climb into a tree I believe to some degree that I am going to get a deer that hunt. On this particular night, for some reason that I cannot explain, I really believed that I would kill a giant. I said a silent prayer, thanked god for all the beauty around me in nature and in my life, and patiently waited. Not long into my sit the forecast actually was correct and it started raining, hard. The wind was blowing the cold rain sideways and the “perfect wind” was now driving icy needles into my face! This persisted for about an hour and then like magic it quit, and the sun emerged from behind the rainy clouds. The wind was still howling and I decided to stand up in my tree to let the wind air dry my wet clothes. I knew it would get cold later that evening and I didn’t want to be soaked and cold! As I stood in my tree it couldn’t have been more than five minutes after the rain quit and deer started coming out of the wood works. At first a doe and two fawns, then another doe and fawn, then a very nice 4x4 with a wide thick rack. The 4x4 was tempting, he gave me several opportunities to kill him, but I knew that there were bigger bucks in the area and that he would be a dandy next year if I let him go, and I still had a good hour and a half of daylight left! Wouldn’t you know it, about two seconds after I got comfortable with the decision to let the 4x4 go, someTHING comes tearing out of the brush! A large dark bodied buck burst into vision with his head down bulling the other deer in the draw out. This was one of the coolest things I had ever seen! This was a display of dominance unlike anything I had seen before, this buck was flexing at the other deer! I think I may have even heard him growl! It was clear that this was his house, but wait…”what are you doing?” a voice pops into my head. I was so awestruck by this deer that I hadn’t even managed to hook my release to the d-loop as he stood broadside, at twenty yards, in a shooting lane! “Shawn! Shoot him!” The voice in my head rings out again! The buck looks away briefly, I hook my d-loop, draw back to my anchor point just like I had done since my dad taught me with a little red stick bow as a child. It is at this moment that the buck turns straight away and starts walking. I have to admit, I didn’t even realize that my finger was squeezing the trigger of my release, luckily I caught myself in time and didn’t release an arrow into the abyss! I took a deep breath, gathered myself, and regained my focus, still at full draw. At a little over thirty yards the buck stepped to his left and presented a steep quartering away shot, one that I couldn’t possibly resist. I centered my pin in the peep site, buried the pin in my target, and hit the trigger of my release. I can remember it like it was in slow motion. The arrow flew straight and true, and disappeared behind the buck’s rib cage with a hollow thump. The buck feverishly sort of jogged away and I could see the blood gushing out of the wound. I knew that he was hit extremely hard. I watched him disappear and I didn’t know if he fell dead or just went out of sight. I waited up in the tree for as long as possible until I determined that it was no longer safe for me to be in a tree with my level of shakiness. I climbed down and walked over to where I hit the deer….no arrow? “It must have stuck in his back shoulder” I thought to myself, mind racing. That is when a white patch in the trees about thirty yards away caught my eye. I can’t possibly describe to you what that feels like, because you know its him but you can’t truly even convince yourself that you had done it until you wrap your hands around the horns. As I approached the buck it was clear that he lay lifeless, I looked up at the sky and thanked God, and followed that up with a primal yell that came from somewhere down deep in my Viking ancestry! I had never seen this buck before, to my knowledge no one had ever seen this buck before. The land owners are avid hunters but had never even found a shed of this buck let alone seen him on the hoof.

I learned a few things from this hunting experience. I now have completely changed my perspective of the “October lull”. My new philosophy is “just get your butt out there!”  My brother and I talk about the odds of killing a giant still, but now that I have done it the conversation is a lot more optimistic, it’s amazing how one can become a self proclaimed expert overnight ha! Oh yeah, and if your wife ever suggests that you go hunting, don’t ask questions, don’t worry about the consequences, just get out the door before she changes her mind! You never know what’s in store for you!

This buck was estimated to be 6 ½ yrs old. He has a 5x5 main frame with two extra main beams on his right side. He sports 46 ¼” of mass and over 24” of non typical points. His Gross Green score preliminary to the 60 day dry out period is 189 6/8”.