Ben writes, "My buddy and I could not hunt the opening weekend of the rifle deer season, but that turned out to be for the best. When we did get to go hunting during the middle of the next week, we found that we had the public land where we hunt all to ourselves. I saw this deer about an hour after I began hunting. With the rut just beginning, I figured the buck would be looking for does. After watching the buck from a distance of about 1/2 mile, I noticed that he was headed in the direction of a small group of does. I took a chance at trying to intercept the buck. When I got to the spot where I expected to see the buck, he was no place to be found. When I spotted the buck again, he had already passed through the small group of does and was on his way toward some pretty rough country. But, I managed to get into position to make a 200 yard shot on this deer".

Ben took his 5x5, 27-inch, South Dakota buck with a Remington 700 rifle chambered in 7mm Remington Ultra Mag and a 140 grain Nosler Partition bullet.
Ben's daughter, Sierra, was thrilled to see her dad bring home a big buck.