"Kirk's First Buck"
Written by Kirk Andersen
Featured in the spring 2002 issue of Trophy Hunter Magazine

It was the fifth day of the rifle season in 1999. I was hunting with my dad, Kelly Andersen, and my brothers Kaleb and Kolby. Overall, we hadn't seen very many deer, but we did see a few does and a few small bucks - not really what I was looking for.

We were getting a little frustrated because the dry, hot weather kept making the deer move, so we decided to go to a place where there was supposed to be some big deer. As we were hiking, we noticed some deer and when we looked at them through the spotting scope, I could tell that the buck in the bunch was the one that I was looking for.

After sneaking to within 200 yards of the deer, we noticed the buck was on the move. We watched it walk into a little patch of pines in the middle of an open field but it did not come out - he must have bedded down in them.

We decided to split up and move around on each side of the pines. As we walked around the pines, the deer could be seen moving around in them but I couldn't get a shot. We kept sneaking until we were within 150 yards, where I could see it walking around and had a pretty good shot. I figured that it was probably the best shot I would get. As the report echoed, the buck came running out with a limp. I had hit him - a couple well-placed shots and he was mine.

As I walked up to him, I could see clearly that he was the one I had been hunting for. My buck is a five by five that is 32 inches wide.