A young man’s first buck, a true piece of family history: Buck of the Week

Dear Dale, I enjoy your writing in the Sun Times and have for years. Thanks for the work you do. I’d like to nominate my son’s deer for Buck of the Week. His name is Nathan Epley. He is 13. This is the first buck he has taken in 3 years of hunting with me. The buck has a rather unusual rack, an 8-point frame with some gnarly points on one end. We were hunting the second day of the first shotgun season on land in Crete, Illinois. This buck came by my stand at about 7:30 in the morning and I missed it with my muzzleloader at about 50 yards away. I still don’t know how I missed it. I may have hit a branch that deflected the bullet as it was in some brush, or I just flubbed the shot. Regardless, the buck then walked in the direction of my son’s stand but was still quite a ways off when I heard him take a shot. I actually thought he was shooting at another deer because I couldn’t see this buck any longer. It turns out that he had made a perfect shot on the deer that was standing about 90 yards from his stand. I’ve never been so pleased to miss a deer in my life! Looking at the shot later from my son’s stand, I think I’d have told him to pass on the shot if I had been sitting next to him because I wasn’t sure he could make a shot that far. It turns out that he would have proven Dad to be completely wrong. We put the antlers onto a plaque and he asked me to mount them right above his bed. He sleeps in the top bunk in his room. Just like a real hunter, he told me, which made me chuckle a bit at the thought of how many hunters have spouses who allow them to mount their deer over their bed. Certainly not mine! : ) I’ve attached a picture of both Nathan with his deer, as well as a picture of the location of his antlers above his bed. I know you get plenty of submissions of big deer. This is not an especially big deer, but it’s an especially big one for him. Thank you for considering this entry. Sincerely, Nick