subscribe
feed
Buck of a Lifetime!
Every deer has its own story and this one is no different except for the incredible size of this beast know to many as “Lesnar”. Lesnar is a story about a 27-point buck shot by 23-year-old Kelly Gustafson in her hometown of Welch, MN. Years and years of hard work and determination paid off for this hunter on opening morning of the 2008 Minnesota Firearm season.
The hunt didn’t start at sunrise, the hunt started years ago when Kelly and her family started practicing Quality Deer Management (QDM). Every landowner has different rules and ways that they manage their land but it is all for the same reason, to grow bigger bucks. The idea is to let the little ones grow and increase the general size and quantity of the bucks that roam your property and area. The Gustafson’s only own 120 acres but that doesn’t stop them. “120 acres isn’t that much, but when you get neighboring properties to do the same you can accomplish a lot.” Says Gustafson. A lot of people think that you need a ton of land to practice QDM but like everything else it needs to start somewhere.
Hunting is something that the Gustafson’s take serious and even before the season starts they are monitoring what is going on in their woods with trail cameras. Surprisingly the deer that Kelly shot on opening morning was never caught on film or even seen until 3 days before the hunt. Stories of ghostly deer like this are what gives every hunter motivation while sitting in their stand. You never really know what is out there. These old mature bucks keep an extremely low profile and if they do not want to be seen that is the way they will keep it. It wasn’t until a doe peaked his interest that he was seen.
Three days before the season Kelly and her husband were driving home and while driving along a dirt road they saw a deer cross being followed by a large bodied deer. They knew the deer was large so they slowed to look in the field that the two deer crossed into. There he was, not 30 yds away, “He’s huge” uttered Kelly, “I’m calling him Lesnar.“ There he was, little did he or she know they would meet again. Hopes were not too high about this deer as they had never seen him on their property and he was coming from private land and heading into other private land that they do not hunt.
Opening morning arrived and Kelly woke up to sleet, snow, rain and wind. Not the best weather to head out in. She had originally wanted to set her alarm clock for 4:00am and get to her stand very early but her husband suggested that they wait until 5:00am to get up. He reasoned that if they got to their stands that early by sunrise they would be soaked, miserable and wanting to get off stand. Kelly agreed but that didn’t stop her from waking at 4:15am. She laid in bed in excitement waiting for the alarm to go off so she could jump up and get in the woods.
After a busy summer and fall Kelly had not had a chance to hunt as much as she would of liked to. The birth of a new baby, friend’s weddings and her own wedding in September had kept her away from getting into the woods as much as she usually does. With a babysitter on opening morning she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to hunt as hard and long as possible.
Once up for the day she put on her scent blocker base layers and headed out the door. Her scent blocker suit was kept on the porch in the wind to keep as much human scent off of it as possible. Once suited up she noticed that the light in her father-in-laws house was off. Seeing that light off she knew he could use his stand. The night before they discussed the possibility. He said if the light is on I’m going out and if its not I’m not. Kelly preferred to hunt in his ladder stand, as it was only a 300yd walk. Her stand was much farther and after the tornado that came through in July there were trees down all around her stand making it much more difficult to get to in the dark. Anxious to start hunting she headed to the ladder stand.
She had good feeling about this stand. Two days before she was in it and had seen a ton of scrapes and rubs and walking out that morning had counted 6 more rubs and scrapes. There were obviously active deer around.
By 5:30 am she was in her stand waiting and by 6:45 she had seen or heard nothing. It was a quiet morning besides the swirling winds, sleet and snow that was falling. Kelley stated that her biggest challenge that morning was the wind “It was crazy. One minute it was a straight East wind, and the next minute it was southwest. I couldn’t believe it. I knew that stand was in a valley, and that the wind would change, but I never knew it changed so much. I knew after watching the snow swirl around me, I was going to have a rough morning.”
It was 7:00 am when Kelly finally heard some crunching in the distance. It sounded like a deer but she could not see anything. She looked and waited and then it happened, “All of a sudden a doe bolted to my left. She was running straight for me. I knew something had to be chasing her by the way she was running, and whatever it was she didn’t seem to like it” said Kelly. It was only a few moments later when the deer that was chasing the doe revealed himself, “He was facing the East and his head was hidden between two trees, he started jogging through the brush and I brought up my binoculars. My eyes instantly fogged up the binoculars, but I could see a rack, so I put them back down. The doe who was still running stopped at about 20yards and looked up at me and then took off running up the ridge in front of me. The buck grunted two times and picked up his head in mid-jog. I picked up my muzzleloader and put the scope on him to see his rack. To my surprise, I couldn’t even count the points. His right side was facing me and the mass of his antlers was phenomenal. He was 30 yards away and jogging, I made a weak attempt at a homemade grunt, he ignored me and I shot. The smoke filled my vision and as it dissipated I saw the deer fall. It was only 10yards from where I shot him.”
Knowing the deer was down she didn’t wait. Kelly got down out of her deer stand as fast as she could and ran over to the buck. She stopped just before him making sure that he was dead and then approached. As she approached she got a little nervous, as she could not see the antlers. She though to herself “Had I dreamt this deer?” but then she saw the antlers “I realized his neck was all the way back and his antlers were stuck in the ground. I kneeled next to him and picked up his head. I tried counting the rack three or four times and couldn’t get my brain to function. Now, looking back, I can say 27 points was just too much to count at the time. I took my time admiring the monster we called Lesnar.”
The next hour and days following have been pure excitement for Kelly. Hunters everywhere dream of deer this size. It is truly a monster.
The first person she talked to was her husband and he was in disbelief. Kelly recounts the conversation between her husband and her the morning right after finding the deer “I went in the house and hung out for a few minutes before I called my husband. My husband answered whispering. "Did you shoot?" I said, "Yes." "Did you miss?" I said, "No, I think I shot Lesnar or Big Boy." He continued to say, "Shut up, whatever, Shut up, what did you really shoot." I very calmly said, " I swear to you, its either Lesnar or Big Boy, I don’t know which one it is, but its dead and its huge." He asked me " does it have two non-typical points in the middle?" I said "Yes, and I don’t know how many points but I know there are more then 15." He said, "Come pick me up." From there I hopped on the four wheeler and headed his direction, as I drove up the field road I seen this orange blob running down the road, I swear he was more excited then I was.”
A morning Kelly and her family will never forget. It is also a story that many will never forget. Every year thousands and thousand of deer fall to hunters yet only a handful of deer this size will be harvested. When a deer of this magnitude is shot the story spreads quickly and everyone wants to hear about it. That is how I got in touch with Kelly. Of course I wanted to here the story as well. As the story spreads the story changes and bits and pieces are altered. What you read here is straight from Kelly and she is proud to tell her story, a story she will be telling the rest of her life.
.jpg)
FACTS:
DATE: November 8th, 2008 @ 7:00am
TAKEN BY: Kelly Gustafson
WEAPON: TC Omega Muzzleloader .50caliber
GROSS SCORE: 204 6/8" B&C Scoring System
WEIGHT: 200LBS
POINTS: 27PTS
SCORABLE POINTS: 22PTS
The hunt didn’t start at sunrise, the hunt started years ago when Kelly and her family started practicing Quality Deer Management (QDM). Every landowner has different rules and ways that they manage their land but it is all for the same reason, to grow bigger bucks. The idea is to let the little ones grow and increase the general size and quantity of the bucks that roam your property and area. The Gustafson’s only own 120 acres but that doesn’t stop them. “120 acres isn’t that much, but when you get neighboring properties to do the same you can accomplish a lot.” Says Gustafson. A lot of people think that you need a ton of land to practice QDM but like everything else it needs to start somewhere.
Hunting is something that the Gustafson’s take serious and even before the season starts they are monitoring what is going on in their woods with trail cameras. Surprisingly the deer that Kelly shot on opening morning was never caught on film or even seen until 3 days before the hunt. Stories of ghostly deer like this are what gives every hunter motivation while sitting in their stand. You never really know what is out there. These old mature bucks keep an extremely low profile and if they do not want to be seen that is the way they will keep it. It wasn’t until a doe peaked his interest that he was seen.
Three days before the season Kelly and her husband were driving home and while driving along a dirt road they saw a deer cross being followed by a large bodied deer. They knew the deer was large so they slowed to look in the field that the two deer crossed into. There he was, not 30 yds away, “He’s huge” uttered Kelly, “I’m calling him Lesnar.“ There he was, little did he or she know they would meet again. Hopes were not too high about this deer as they had never seen him on their property and he was coming from private land and heading into other private land that they do not hunt.
Opening morning arrived and Kelly woke up to sleet, snow, rain and wind. Not the best weather to head out in. She had originally wanted to set her alarm clock for 4:00am and get to her stand very early but her husband suggested that they wait until 5:00am to get up. He reasoned that if they got to their stands that early by sunrise they would be soaked, miserable and wanting to get off stand. Kelly agreed but that didn’t stop her from waking at 4:15am. She laid in bed in excitement waiting for the alarm to go off so she could jump up and get in the woods.
After a busy summer and fall Kelly had not had a chance to hunt as much as she would of liked to. The birth of a new baby, friend’s weddings and her own wedding in September had kept her away from getting into the woods as much as she usually does. With a babysitter on opening morning she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to hunt as hard and long as possible.
Once up for the day she put on her scent blocker base layers and headed out the door. Her scent blocker suit was kept on the porch in the wind to keep as much human scent off of it as possible. Once suited up she noticed that the light in her father-in-laws house was off. Seeing that light off she knew he could use his stand. The night before they discussed the possibility. He said if the light is on I’m going out and if its not I’m not. Kelly preferred to hunt in his ladder stand, as it was only a 300yd walk. Her stand was much farther and after the tornado that came through in July there were trees down all around her stand making it much more difficult to get to in the dark. Anxious to start hunting she headed to the ladder stand.
She had good feeling about this stand. Two days before she was in it and had seen a ton of scrapes and rubs and walking out that morning had counted 6 more rubs and scrapes. There were obviously active deer around.
By 5:30 am she was in her stand waiting and by 6:45 she had seen or heard nothing. It was a quiet morning besides the swirling winds, sleet and snow that was falling. Kelley stated that her biggest challenge that morning was the wind “It was crazy. One minute it was a straight East wind, and the next minute it was southwest. I couldn’t believe it. I knew that stand was in a valley, and that the wind would change, but I never knew it changed so much. I knew after watching the snow swirl around me, I was going to have a rough morning.”
It was 7:00 am when Kelly finally heard some crunching in the distance. It sounded like a deer but she could not see anything. She looked and waited and then it happened, “All of a sudden a doe bolted to my left. She was running straight for me. I knew something had to be chasing her by the way she was running, and whatever it was she didn’t seem to like it” said Kelly. It was only a few moments later when the deer that was chasing the doe revealed himself, “He was facing the East and his head was hidden between two trees, he started jogging through the brush and I brought up my binoculars. My eyes instantly fogged up the binoculars, but I could see a rack, so I put them back down. The doe who was still running stopped at about 20yards and looked up at me and then took off running up the ridge in front of me. The buck grunted two times and picked up his head in mid-jog. I picked up my muzzleloader and put the scope on him to see his rack. To my surprise, I couldn’t even count the points. His right side was facing me and the mass of his antlers was phenomenal. He was 30 yards away and jogging, I made a weak attempt at a homemade grunt, he ignored me and I shot. The smoke filled my vision and as it dissipated I saw the deer fall. It was only 10yards from where I shot him.”
Knowing the deer was down she didn’t wait. Kelly got down out of her deer stand as fast as she could and ran over to the buck. She stopped just before him making sure that he was dead and then approached. As she approached she got a little nervous, as she could not see the antlers. She though to herself “Had I dreamt this deer?” but then she saw the antlers “I realized his neck was all the way back and his antlers were stuck in the ground. I kneeled next to him and picked up his head. I tried counting the rack three or four times and couldn’t get my brain to function. Now, looking back, I can say 27 points was just too much to count at the time. I took my time admiring the monster we called Lesnar.”
The next hour and days following have been pure excitement for Kelly. Hunters everywhere dream of deer this size. It is truly a monster.
The first person she talked to was her husband and he was in disbelief. Kelly recounts the conversation between her husband and her the morning right after finding the deer “I went in the house and hung out for a few minutes before I called my husband. My husband answered whispering. "Did you shoot?" I said, "Yes." "Did you miss?" I said, "No, I think I shot Lesnar or Big Boy." He continued to say, "Shut up, whatever, Shut up, what did you really shoot." I very calmly said, " I swear to you, its either Lesnar or Big Boy, I don’t know which one it is, but its dead and its huge." He asked me " does it have two non-typical points in the middle?" I said "Yes, and I don’t know how many points but I know there are more then 15." He said, "Come pick me up." From there I hopped on the four wheeler and headed his direction, as I drove up the field road I seen this orange blob running down the road, I swear he was more excited then I was.”
A morning Kelly and her family will never forget. It is also a story that many will never forget. Every year thousands and thousand of deer fall to hunters yet only a handful of deer this size will be harvested. When a deer of this magnitude is shot the story spreads quickly and everyone wants to hear about it. That is how I got in touch with Kelly. Of course I wanted to here the story as well. As the story spreads the story changes and bits and pieces are altered. What you read here is straight from Kelly and she is proud to tell her story, a story she will be telling the rest of her life.
FACTS:DATE: November 8th, 2008 @ 7:00am
TAKEN BY: Kelly Gustafson
WEAPON: TC Omega Muzzleloader .50caliber
GROSS SCORE: 204 6/8" B&C Scoring System
WEIGHT: 200LBS
POINTS: 27PTS
SCORABLE POINTS: 22PTS
Congratulations to Kelly and the deer of a lifetime!
Share and Save This Article
Digg
Facebook
MySpace
del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
You must be signed in to comment on this Article
