HNI Prez Todd Graf and I set out this year to kill a deer on video - any deer. We tried a few times with our bows but it just didn't work out. We got close on a buck that Todd later harvested on his own, but close doesn't count in this game.

With me tagged out in IL (for bucks anyways) and our 2nd shotgun season starting yesterday we figured we would try it with a gun. Todd had a McHenry County tag in his pocket and we were determined to get this done. So Weds. while it was raining we pulled one of my bow sets that I had seen a nice buck from and moved it about 40 yards into a better shotgun position, then hung the cameraman stand above it and get out of there (not without getting soaked first).

This ridiculous snow storm was set to move in last night so we just knew the deer were going to be on their feet. We got to our stand later than we wanted to and wouldn't know you know it - we bumped about 10 deer off this hidden corn field right in front of our stand. Not to be discouraged, we waited until they all were gone then got up and got ready.

Throughout the night we had does and fawns filter back into and out of the field and were about to shoot one but some miscommunication between cameraman (me) and hunter (todd) prevented it from happening. Good thing it did! About 30 minutes before the end of legal hunting hours we spotted a buck up in the woods but couldn't tell how big he was. A few minutes passed when two year and a half olds entered the field and weresparring right in front of us. All of a sudden one of them did a big neck bend, looking back into the woods and we both knew another deer was coming. Sure enough, out steps the 3 1/2 year old I had seen during bow season and at 40 yards Todd put it on him, then hit him with a followup shot that dropped him in his tracks in the open field. The video isn't the best in the world, but for our first kill on film it will do!

As soon as I get it edited and formatted properly for the site I'll post a link, but for now here's a few stills.