With 80 degrees the fourth weekend of October, Steven Sturtevant didn’t want to climb into the deer stand, but he did. It paid off with an 8-pointer with a 1-inch sticker in Kane County.
“I have been getting trail cam photos of this guy since August, none were in daylight hours,” he emailed.
The big buck finally showed in daylight. A few days later, opportunity came.
“I had a handful of does pass through, then, at last light, he made his mistake,” he emailed.
His hunting partner Jim Gellner came to help with the buck.
“Jim drove 45 minutes to help me load him up and get him in the cooler,’ he emailed. “That’s what partners do.”
Having just turned 71, Sturtevant has life lessons.
“I have totally changed my approach to hunting,” he emailed. “I try to pick out two target bucks and pass on everything else. It’s so rewarding.”
Buck of the Week, the celebration of big bucks and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows) from around Chicago outdoors, runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times when the time is right. The online posting at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoorsgoes up at varied days of the week, depending on what is going on the wide world of the outdoors.
To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).
