Reader-Submitted Story
In Da' Club! Part II
by Matthew Suian of Drayton Valley, Alberta
With a 15-minute walk in front of us, and a bad wind, we decided to walk back to the truck to go look on the north side of the quarter where I had seen the calves the day before. I grabbed my backpack and the elk decoy and Tristen grabbed my bow. With a hurried pace, we made a direct beeline to where we were parked.
We were crossing a dried swamp with tall quack grass when Tristen said, “Dad! That huge deer is coming right to us!” We both instantly crouched down out of sight in the grass. I raised my binocular and ranged him at 67 yards; too far but he was heading our way. Tristen then whispered, “I nocked an arrow. You have to shoot him!” I said, “I will buddy; just let him come.”
It was at that moment that I realized everything was perfect: the sun was at our back, the wind was in our face, we were in the shadows of the forest, crouched down in the tall grass, and my son was right beside me. It seemed like slow motion as the giant made his way in our direction and this little voice in the background was whispering, ‘shoot him dad, shoot him.’
Once the buck was broadside, I drew my bow and slowly raised up out of the grass and stopped him with a classic “meh”. He instantly stopped. While at full draw I told myself, “This is the easiest part of the hunt; you practiced this shot thousands of times.” I settled my 40-yard pin directly on his heart and sent the arrow on the way. Tristen then said, “Yah!” I then whispered, “Get back down buddy.” The shot felt good and sounded like a solid “plunk” through the chest cavity, with the arrow zipping right through him. The buck jolted forward about 15 yards, stopped, and looked back to see what had just happened. We watched him slowly walk off as if nothing had happened while his tail constantly twitched back and forth. I kept whispering, “Please go down, please do down.” He made it about 60 yards and then we lost sight of him in the tall grass and willows.
At that moment, it started to sink in what had just happened, and there were a millions things running through my mind. Tristen then said, “Well, let’s go look for him.” I responded, “Let’s just sit here for a few minutes.” I wasn’t 100% sure of the shot and I was still taking all of the events in! We sat there until pitch dark, replaying the events. I said, “Let’s look for the arrow and we can decide then what we should do.” After a quick search with my headlamp we couldn’t find the arrow so I decided that it would be best to back out and come look in the morning.
We both busted through the door equally excited and replayed the events to my wife. Tristen reluctantly went to bed and I probably only slept a few hours thinking about the giant.
The plan was made that I would head out first thing while my wife Chalsie would get the boys on the bus and then come help me search.
It seemed like she was taking forever to get to my location. While I was waiting, I replayed the shot and decided I may as well look for the arrow. Within a couple of minutes I found it buried in the dirt with digested grass on the front half and real good blood on the fletching. I then ranged from where I shot and it was 35 yards.
A few minutes later, Chalsie arrived and we started tracking the blood trail but soon lost it in the dew-covered grass. We spent the next few hours walking a tight grid pattern in the nearest chunk of bush in the direction he was heading. I was hoping he bedded up and was dead in the small chunk of bush but that was not the case. Chalsie then suggested that we walk a nearby gravel road to see if he crossed. Being fences on both sides, I had my doubts but thought it was worth a shot. About halfway down on the adjacent property, I saw a small deer crossing and on the other side was a tiny splash of blood on a poplar tree! So we marked the spot with some flagging and proceeded to go to the land owner for permission to pursue the deer. The landowner said absolutely and wished us the best of luck.
We soon found ourselves back at the crossing and within 50 yards the deer trail split into two directions. I told Chalsie to continue west and I would go north, and if she found him to call me. I was slowly creeping along the deer trail, looking down the trail and then looking to the left when suddenly I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. On my right side was the giant buck, bedded up less than three yards away and looking at me over his shoulder! I was fully anticipating this buck to be dead! I had my bow in my hand with no arrow nocked! In one motion I nocked an arrow, drew, and as he stood up to flee, I released the arrow! It drove deep into his side going directly into his chest cavity! He made it about 20 yards to his final resting place.
I then let out a couple of “yahoos” in disbelief of what had just happened. My phone instantly began to vibrate and it was Chalsie asking what all the commotion was about. Within minutes she was there and her first words were, “Wow! You said his droptine was big but I never thought it was like that!” After a couple of high-fives we took a bunch of field photos and soaked in all of the events.
When I was dressing the buck, I discovered my first arrow was four-inches high, entered the third last rib, and exited in front of his hip. Looking back, when I stopped him, he stepped towards us changing the shot angle.
I’m extremely grateful to have harvested a true giant and to have my family there with me. The buck officially nets 201” with a gross of 207” and more 43” of abnormal points, officially putting him in the “200 Club!”
For the previous Reader Story, click here.
