Greg Busch writes, "I hunted the Badlands of North Dakota as usual this year, looking for a good mulie buck to put my bow tag on. I came close to sealing the deal on a couple nice bucks, but for various reasons didn't connect. If you have ever hunted mulies with a bow, you probably know what I am talking about!!

I had just started hunting some property outside of Bismarck, ND trying to harvest a whitetail. I first saw this buck on October 20th. He came past my stand very late and gave me a broadside shot at 8 yards. The only problem was, I could see the deer, but not my 10 yard sight pin. I could see my 20 and 30 yard sight pins, just not my 10! I had to let my bow down and watch him walk away. It was a hard decision to make. There was that little voice that said, "come on, at 8 yards all you had to do was hold your 20 yard pin low and you would most likely have harvested him cleanly". I felt I had made the right decision though, as there was a lot of season ahead of me yet!
The next time I hunted this stand was three days later, on October 23rd and I could see a fresh scrape 10 yards from my stand. That was a good sign! Right after sunset I heard leaves crunching behind me. I saw this buck about 35 yards out and walking away from me. He looked very nice!! He proceeded to vent his frustration on some helpless saplings, then turned around and walked in like he was on a string. I had already drawn my bow when he stopped at 12 yards behind some brush and looked directly at me. For five very tense seconds, I tried to stay completely still, all the while expecting him to "blow" out of the area. He walked over to the scrape and started clearing away the leaves. He was giving me a great quartering away shot at 10 yards. I figured he would be occupied with the scrape for a little while and told myself to be patient until he opened up his front leg, completely exposing the vitals. It didn't take long to get the shot I wanted and I released the arrow.

I knew I had a good hit, but was concerned that I didn't get the penetration I had expected. It was a clear sky overhead and I knew it would get cold that evening, so I decided not to push him. I walked out to my vehicle feeling pretty confident about my shot. Anyone who has had to wait a night to retrieve an animal knows how hard it is. I didn't get to sleep until 2:00 in the morning!!

Right at sunrise, I was walking into my stand and could see antlers sticking up in a thin part of the CRP field next to my stand. I was pumped! I had clipped part of the spine when I hit the deer and that caused the lack of penetration. I still managed to get both lungs and he only traveled 100 yards before piling up. I had a beautiful frosty morning to take pictures and enjoy the moment. Work could wait for a little while!! I couldn't be happier with this buck. He is a clean 4x4 and is 17 inches wide. He has 5 inch brow tines, 9 inch G2's, 8 inch G3's, and 21 inch main beams. He fell just a little bit shy of Pope and Young, but I would be proud to take a deer like this every year. God bless and I hope you have a great hunting season."