The Buck of a Lifetime
By Dick Ellis, Publisher
On Wisconsin Outdoors
Clifford Hudson sent “On Wisconsin Outdoors” photos of his son’s archery kill from Oxford, Wisconsin earlier in November with a short letter. Bowhunter Scott Hudson added his own quote to the note about the buck that would measure 161 inches.
“I waited 40 years for this buck and it was worth it,” Scott said.
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“Scott Hudson took his once in a lifetime buck near Oxford.” |
We called former Marine Scott Hudson for a few more of the details. First a bit of background; Hudson was a store manager long ago in the first Wisconsin Gander Mountain located in Wilmot after returning from Nome, Alaska where he worked as a fishing guide. Without going into detail, he also said he had broken his back, and with little money had sold a hunting rifle to purchase a Mission Bow made by Mathews from Roger Peterson at Timberline Archery Bait & Tackle in Wisconsin Rapids for his son. Later, he would also sell another rifle to buy a bow for himself from Timberline; the Mission Endeavor. He said he was very impressed with the charity work that Mathews Founder and CEO Matt McPherson has done for people in need around the world, including building wells where fresh water was scarce.
Hudson was hunting with his family including father, brother Bob and son, Mitchell on October 28 on private land in the Oxford area. The Hudson group had found permission to hunt a new, small parcel which included just 8 acres of woods and 12 acres of crop. The hunters could see each other on stand. The same square mile piece of land the family had hunted had been sold. After select timber harvest, the land had no cover, no food or bedding area and deer numbers declined.
“Once that habitat disappeared so did the deer,” Scott said.
The hunters arrived in rain on October 27 and walked around to find a deep ravine and ATV trail with perfect bedding areas for whitetail, Scott believed. For the first time, it was not Scott but his brother and Dad who set up the tree stands and trimmed shooting lanes for the hunt.
“It was the first time in 40 years that I didn’t do all the work,” he said. “I was fine with that. But they put my stand 21 feet off the ground. I thought it would take an act of God to place a fatal arrow in a deer from that angle.”
He was also very pleased that nature had sent rain with the rut moving into high gear. The bucks would be moving and refreshing scrapes after the storm, he hoped. By 2:00 the next day he could see his son just 50 yards away from his own stand with a perfect north wind blowing and temperatures in the low forties.
“At 5:20 on the 28th I saw a doe coming down the ravine and go into thick brush,” Scott said. “I wished it over to my son. It would be the first time he would ever see a deer while hunting. I heard a branch snap up the ridge and wondered if it was another doe. All I could see were legs.”
He estimates that he had three seconds to make a decision and shoot from the time he first saw the deer as it came around three trees due to the terrain. With his mind glimpsing brow tines and registering “spike buck”, Hudson released the arrow. And with his grunt and bleat calls and other tools of the trade still in the backpack, he calls the shot at 12 yard despite the angle a gift from God and watched as the buck retreated with arrow protruding but heard no crash from the thick cover beyond. He did hear the buck moving in thick blow downs and guessed the animal was either sneaking out or bleeding out.
“Four or five minutes later there was still no crash,” Scott said. “I got down to look for blood or hair and a couple minutes later I did hear a crash but was afraid the deer might have gotten another adrenalin rush. I looked over and saw his white belly. When I saw the buck and what it really was I started shaking. I did think it was a spike.”
Lying before him was a 12-point monster that easily dressed out at over 200 pounds and scored over 160. After 40 years and some difficult times along the journey, Scott Hudson had truly taken the once-in-a-lifetime buck.
“I yelled and my son came running over,” Hudson said. “He thought I had fallen out of the tree. I told him that if I had fallen 21 feet out of the tree he would not have heard any yelling out of me. I’d be dead.”
“But I still get excited when I think about what happened out there.”