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Tim Elsenheimer’s lengthy relationship with an enormous 8-point buck got here to an finish in early October. The 61-year-old from LaGrange, Maine, lastly notched his tag on the deer that’s eluded him on multiple event whereas looking the 75-acre farm the place he lives.
“I’ve hundreds of photographs of him, and handed taking pictures him a number of instances when he was a youthful buck,” Elsenheimer tells Outside Life. “Three years in the past, I missed him with a muzzleloader at 80 yards. It was late within the day, powerful to see, and I missed him clear with the gun.”
Elsenheimer by no means noticed the buck in 2021. In 2022, he had the deer at 43 yards whereas bowhunting, however he didn’t just like the shot and handed. This 12 months, the buck that Elsenheimer had gotten to know so properly began exhibiting itself round his homestead in the course of the summertime.
“I obtained photographs of him final April and he was very skinny, and I used to be frightened about his well being declining,” Elsenheimer says. “Then, I used to be on my tractor this July and noticed him bedded on the sting of a subject. I obtained inside 20 yards of him earlier than he obtained up and moved.”
On Sept. 30, Maine’s archery season had simply began when Elsenheimer noticed the buck a second time on his property because it ate up apples from a tree alongside the sector edge. For 2 evenings in a row, he watched the massive 8-point and a smaller buck stroll alongside a fence line throughout the sector from an outdated floor blind Elsenheimer had constructed.
“I made a decision to maneuver to the outdated floor blind for the next night’s hunt to get him into bow vary,” he says.
Three days later, on Oct. 3, Elsenheimer hustled again to the farm from his job in Bar Harbor simply in time to get within the floor blind. It was round 60 levels that night.
“I rushed dwelling from work, grabbed a bucket to sit down on, and obtained into the blind about 5:55 p.m.,” Elsenheimer says. “I knew I didn’t have a lot time to hunt as a result of authorized [shooting] hours ended at 6:42 p.m. I nonetheless had all my work garments on once I obtained within the blind, which was solely 400 yards from my home.”
The large 8-point and a smaller buck stepped out of the timber at 6:15. However as a substitute of heading towards the bottom blind, they headed in the other way and away from Elsenheimer.
“I used my grunt name a pair instances softly to show them again towards me, and it labored,” he says.
The buck was feeding within the subject when it reached a spot he’d beforehand ranged at 60 yards. Elsenheimer raised his crossbow and shot. He fully missed the buck and noticed the arrow sail over its again.
“The buck was strolling, and was nearer than I assumed,” he says. “The deer turned and appeared to the place the bolt whistled over his again, and I struggled to get my crossbow cocked once more and put in one other bolt.”
Loading the crossbow contained in the outdated, weathered floor blind was tough with out alerting the buck. However Elsenheimer obtained it drawn and reloaded, and re-ranged the space between him and the buck.
“He was 42 yards, standing wanting on the blind broadside, once I touched the bow’s set off. Then I heard the broadhead hit.”
Elsenheimer thought he’d hit the buck a bit excessive, so he left his blind and waited at dwelling earlier than monitoring the deer. About an hour later he walked again to the place he’d shot the deer. Utilizing a flashlight at nighttime, he discovered the again half of his arrow and assumed the opposite half was nonetheless within the deer.
“There was gentle blood on the half I discovered, however not a lot signal of a lung hit on the deer,” Elsenheimer recollects. “I knew the woods he went into was a gnarly, tangled space. I made a decision it finest to name in a monitoring canine staff so I wouldn’t bounce the buck and lose it.”
The monitoring canine wouldn’t be there for an hour, so Elsenheimer determined to circle the woods the place the deer entered and examine it himself.
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“There’s an apple tree on the other facet of the woods, and a mowed space underneath it. I appeared over and the buck was laying there useless,” he says. “That once I referred to as my spouse and two sons to share the excellent news.”
Along with his household’s assist, Elsenheimer recovered the buck with a tractor. It weighed greater than 230 kilos subject dressed. The huge 8-point rack has lengthy tines and remarkably heavy beams, and he says it’s almost inconceivable to wrap his hand across the bases.
An official scorer measured the inexperienced rack at 180 1/8 inches, with a internet rating of 176 1/8 inches. That rating simply qualifies for the Pope & Younger Document e-book, and in response to the Maine Cranium and Antler Membership, Elsenheimer’s buck ought to go down as the largest 8-pointer ever taken within the state. The present state-record 8-point, taken in 1973 by Don St. Pierre, scored 168 6/8 inches.
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