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I only started hunting a few years ago. I can truly say that I have "Buck Fever". Over Thanksgiving I was given the chance to hunt with some family members at a place that was known to have some big bucks. Up until now all I had ever seen were does. I took a doe with my bow earlier in the month but I was anxious to take a buck. Well, I was blessed when this 8 pointer walked out on the same fence line I was sitting on. There are just not too many things more exciting than getting your first buck.

As this deer walked along side a doe, he made his way directly to me. If he had not turned he would have walked directly on top of me. But as luck would have it he turned broadside at about 75 yards and my 270 short mag. found it's mark. What a great Thanksgiving night that was!

My biggest bow kill ever! He would have been a 14 point buck, but a few of his tines were busted off so he is now a 12 pointer. I am very happy with this kill.

This is my 8 pointer I shot in Pulaski county Indiana.

Andy started bow hunting with his friends when he was fifteen years old. He grew up in a rural area and his grandfather owned a farm. Since then, many years have gone by, and Andy has trodden through life and through fields, harvesting deer, and raising a family of his own, and still holding onto a dream of getting a shot at a monster buck!

It was a November day during gun season of 2007. Andy had gone out to the field late the day before to see if there was any action. He walked to the corner of the woods where two fence rows came together. He hunkered down in the fence row to observe this new area. Andy saw lots of deer sign, and after last shooting time he quickly scouted around and picked a tree stand location for the following day. He would be back with his Thompson/Center Omega .50 caliber muzzleloader .. hoping to smell the black powder as it burned through the barrel for a victory shot!

You see, Caleb is neither an early riser nor one to sit still for minutes let alone hours. Every year he tells me how he’s ready ’cause he’s older and wiser now. Kolby, his eight year old brother and the youngest of my wife, Kathy, and my four children, thinks hunting is “boring”. I don’t know if Caleb had been allowed to watch or listen to too many campaign ads or what, but he began applying pressure to go along hunting way too early this year, just like the candidates, and he was relentless, just like the candidates.

Little did I know that his campaign promises held about the same amount of “take it to the bank” truth as the politicians’. He must have caught me in a weakened state after a barrage of candidate phone calls and ads when all I could think about was getting to the mountains to shoot at something, because I told him he could go – big mistake to give in too early, as I then heard “how many more days till we go” at least twice a day for months.

Here is my 8 point, 140 pound buck that I shot just today. Today is my Dad's 66th birthday and we had planned to spend it hunting together. We walked into the woods at 6:30am, Dad went to his tree stand and I sat in my tree stand for a couple of hours and after having heard only one gun shot, I thought it was going to be a long, slow, cold morning. I was looking in the direction of where I thought the deer might come from and heard the leaves rustling, thinking it was a squirrel, only to discover that this buck was 10 yards away from the tree in which I was sitting. I took aim and fired one off. The shot entered the buck's left shoulder, breaking it's leg and exited out the right leg, breaking that one too. The deer dropped to it's knees (in honor of the the God we serve) and struggled with it's chest to the ground using it's rear legs to propel itself forward until it dropped 50 feet from where I shot it. My kids were so excited when I came home that they drew a memorial photo of my kill with window markers. You can see the deer hanging behind their art work.

One of the BEST parts of West Virginia is enjoying the outdoors with my sons. Levi, my 11-year old younger son, had an early-out of school on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We shared a cold, windy tree stand for the better part of the afternoon when he spied the deer, held steady and placed a shot right through the vitals to score his first buck. That's when we BOTH started shaking! Yep -- I'm one proud dad. ~ Geoffrey Schiefer

The rut was just around the corner so we both were rattling antlers. I had one big buck come Running in on me so fast It caught me off guard. So I sat there dejected and running the scenerio over and over in my mind and after I quit crying I hit the antlers again.

After enough time to make me start weeping about my missed opportunity I rattled another VERY nice buck in and had plenty of time to get set and just wait.

After what seemed like hours he gave me the perfect shot.

Not so much for it's size as it's significance... I had been wanting to take my son out hunting for some time (he turned 7 this year). We had the opportunity to hunt with "Papa," my father-in-law, on his family land above the Clearwater River in Idaho. The two older sisters decided they would enjoy coming along too, so at the crack of dawn we set out on a couple of "quads" to see what we could see. In the end we were able to watch Papa bag a nice four-point white tail buck. The field dressing proved to be a bit much for my second born, but the overall experience was a wonderful family bonding experience. We are so grateful that we had this opportunity to hunt on the family land in Idaho! ~ Rich Haugo With Bethany - 9, Westin - 7, and Richelle -12 Bothell, WA

I just wanted say how proud I am of my own personal Familyman - he truely is that! He always makes sure his boys get their game, and that they all have a good time hunting. I can't wait until he's taking all 6 of his boys hunting - that will be some incredible pictures! As of now, his 4 girls are either not interested or not old enough (12 in MT). My hubby might not win your biggest buck contest, but he's definately The Winner around here! ~ Dana