We have been hunting in North Dakota since the opener on Sept. 2nd. Things have actually been very slow other than the encounter I had with a 140 ” 8 point on the second evening. I could have shot him but opted to pass because we were out of camera light. Last night we ended up going to a spot with a horrible wind to find out it wasn’t as bad as we thought. We had been getting trail camera pics of an 8 point with a sticker off of his G2. We thought he was coming in from the north of the stand. After getting into the tree our wind went completely wrong and blew out of the South. Little did we know the buck came over the hill from east and walked directly to our tree. As soon as he crossed into my lane to the north I immediately stopped him before he caught our wind. I put an excellent shot on him slightly quartered to but managed to get lung and liver. He only went 75 yards before dying in the wheat field. This is my first velvet buck and I can’t thank Nate, Mike, Skyler and my dad enough!

Lesson Learned: Although you might always think you know where the deer are bedding there is always a good possibility you’re wrong. Don’t hunt the wind you want, hunt the wind the buck wants. Last night was an excellent case of going in and hunting a wind we thought was horrible, to find out the deer was coming from a completely opposite direction. Trail cameras are great sources of knowledge but going in and being aggressive is the best way to learn the pattern of the deer.