Joseph Mazzuca writes, "I was by myself when I took this buck so all of the pictures were taken at home. In November I was sitting a stand where I have taken many nice deer over the last twenty years. After it got light enough to see into the woods, I decided to move in. As I was walking to place myself into the wind and catch a trail, I heard a snap in the trees. It sounded like it was about 50 to 70 yards off. I caught the first game trail going towards the noise, went about fifty yards into the trees and started rattling. After about 15 minutes I heard another snap.
I decided to go in further, which required crawling across a thirty yard wide opening, through another stand of thick trees and finally into the middle of the next opening. There, I tucked myself into the bows of a fir tree and knelt down facing west. The wind was perfect as was the sun. I then hit my grunt tube one time.
Immediately afterwards, I got two responses from two deer. They both sounded about fifty yards off or so. One to the south and one to the west. I grunted twice again and they both responded although the one to the east sounded like he was moving in. Once more I grunted and then he appeared through the brush about 45 yards off. Half way between us was a big wind blown pine mixed in with some brush, but I could see horns on one end and a tail on the other. As I grunted one more time, I stood up slowly.
As I stood and raised my rifle, I spotted a small opening through the downed pine offering me a perfect shoulder shot. I could tell by the front tines, which were all I could see, he was a good buck, but never expected how good. I took the shot and he went down within 10 yards. I waited ten minutes, hit the trail, came around a small fir and there he was. I sat down in amazement looking at my harvest. It took quite some time before I realized what I had.
I consider this a once in a life time deer, especially for fair chase on public land. Three hours later I had him in the truck and two hours after that hanging in the shop. He green scored at 164-1/2 with an even 24 inch inside spread.
This is by far one of the biggest deer I have seen in north Idaho in twenty years of hunting here. I am as proud as they come as you can imagine."