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November 23 was cold and clear. A fresh snow had fallen the night before, providing perfect tracking conditions. Milo and John were to meet up With Walter and Rene at sunrise that morning after Milo had finished feeding the cattle and doing the morning chores. When the hunters met up, the buck had already been located. He was holed up with two does in a big low laying brush patch. Soon posters were in position, Milo on a high bluff to the South, John to the west. Rene was to track the buck out and Walter would wait on the road on the east side to try to follow if necessary. Soon after Rene began tracking, the buck broke out, heading north over open pasture without the does. Walter threw a little lead at him and the chase was on.  In all, this buck ran
across all or part of eight different sections, often stopping in brush patches or
circling back on his trail. The buck would then have to be tracked out, usually by Rene.
At first the chase favored the deer, but as they headed for Milo's farm, the odds were
slowly changing. There the hunters would know every field, brush patch, and escape route,
the result of many years of hunting this area.Soon the buck was in a
brush patch along Milo's western property line. Knowing a likely escape route, Milo ran
out into the pasture to be in position. Suddenly the buck broke out, about 100 yards east
of Milo moving fast. As he ran straight away, into the low sun, Milo shot. The bullet
grazed the deer's back, skipped up and hit the right antler, instantly knocking him down
and nearly breaking the antler itself. Just as fast the deer was back up, seemingly unhurt
and moving out fast. "He looked like he was on fire," Milo said to me as he
vividly described the deer's hot breath and the steam from his back wound flowing out in a
long fiery plume, "as he ran away under the low laying Sun." Three hundred and
fifty yards away he turned to the northwest, headed into a brush patch and held up.The painting I have
created shows the buck going into that last patch. Less than 100 yards from this spot,
Milo cautiously approached and put him down for good, thus stepping into the pages Of deer
hunting history. Two months later this great buck was certified by the Boone and Crockett
Club as the new World Record Typical Whitetail Deer. |