I shot this buck on Thanksgiving day this year........a deer like this coming out of the woods I was hunting is unheard of. It just doesn't happen. The woods are pounded by hunters and the deer just don't live long enough to get this big. 4 and 6 pointers will stir jealousy in other hunters around there so I guess any buck period is what 99% of the guys out there would consider a trophy.

I have said before in more then a few threads that I believe your land dictates the kind of deer you will take more then anything else. I also believe just as it has been said here that in some places you will have to put in more time and effort and use more skill.....just to take an 8 ptr that doesn't even come close to the record books................compared to taking a 160" deer in a place that they are commonly found.

To me?? The thing that makes my deer so special to me is that I can count on one hand how many people over the years have taken a deer like mine out of where I hunt........out of hundreds of hunters and thousands of deer.......I am the one they are talking about when they all sit around the fire and say "Did you hear about the monster that guy shot on Thanksgiving?"

In many places of the country he may not even be a shooter. Around here he is already a legend. I think as time goes by and things settle back into the normal routine I will really start to realize how special that day was for me and how lucky I am to have even been presented with a chance of a lifetime like that. Thank god my aim was true or I would have an ulcer the size of China by now. This buck had 2 nicks on him by other hunters.......they are probably both in straight jackets right now.

No matter what I shoot for the rest of my hunting days I will NEVER forget the memories of every second of that Thanksgiving morning when in a matter of 2 minutes during a stroll to meet my brother I did the equivalent of winning the deer lottery.

I also took him with my fathers gun.........something that I will cherish forever as well. My dad taught me eveything that I know and his words of "Aim the gun kiddo" echoed in my mind as my heart pounded and my knees shook. I was able to keep my focus long enough to make a good clean shot and track him through the field where I found him laying in the tall goldenrod. Once the job was done then I lost it emotionally and was dropped to my knees.....something I am not ashamed of one bit. Taking a deer like this may only come once in my lifetime. Feeling like my dad was right there with me the whole way is something I don't even think I can explain. It will always be special to me knowing that WE took the deer.

That is what a trophy is to me......the whole experience. Not just his antlers.