The Rusch Family

Many hours of sitting in a treestand came to a successful end. I was able to fill my buck tag during the regular firearms season. This is by far the biggest deer I have taken. It weighed a little over 200 lbs, Nine point rack, with an inside spread of 15 inches.

I was watching some deer being run out of a harvested wheat field to the south of my treestand. Two great bucks, a small buck, and a doe were being chased by a coyote. The largest buck turned, put his antlers to the ground, and chased the coyote away. I decided then to try to climb down the tree and sneak over to the edge of the wheat field. At this time, the doe bedded down in the wheat field and the 3 bucks were standing around her. The wind was right so I decided to make a move. I was half way down the tree when I looked to the east of my stand and saw this buck walking about 30 yards away. I quickly hid behind the tree, repositioned my feet, one on a branch of the tree and the other on the treesteps I had in the tree. I leaned around the tree, put the crosshairs on him and fired. I gut shot him. He hunched his back and ran about 40 yards. I regrouped, aligned the crosshairs again and dropped him in his tracks. He wasn't the biggest I saw that morning, but I couldn't pass that shot at that distance. I am very excited.

I took Addie into the garage because she wanted to see the deer. We touched the antlers and looked at the deer. I had plastic under the hanging deer to catch any blood. There was a little bit of blood and Addie commented...

"look daddy, he's painting!"

To which I replied.. "Yes he is, yes he is!"