Hunt leaves archer trembling

Ever wonder how exciting it might be to shoot a trophy buck with a bow and arrow?

Ask Mike Yauk, a 37-year-old state trooper whose training and experience provide exceptional qualifications for staying cool in hot situations.

“I was shaking so much I couldn't climb down from my tree stand for 20 minutes. I tried to phone and send text messages to friends, but I couldn't do that either,” said Yauk, whose Nov. 1 Boone and Crockett buck was his sixth trophy in 19 years as a bow hunter.

The Fayette County archer said the first day of November, his fifth in a tree stand this season, was crisp and calm. Having seen considerable deer activity in a pasture next to a timber, he had recently moved his stand to the only nearby tree -- a spindly specimen that was barely big enough to hold him.

Before dawn, Yauk said he could see shadows of deer moving through the pasture and a succession of smaller bucks at first light.

Then around 8 a.m., at the timber edge 300 yards distant, he laid eyes for the first time on an exceptionally large buck walking with a doe. Ignoring the other deer in the pasture, they disappeared into the timber.

An hour later the buck reappeared at the timber edge, and Yauk told himself that he had a chance to get him.

Yauk said he really had to bang his rattling horns to get the buck moving toward him. At 200 yards, the buck got distracted by a fresh scent and veered off course, but more gentle rattling put the buck back on track.

At 100 yards, the deer could see the buck decoy that Yauk had set up about 20 yards from his tree stand. “He came in acting kind of curious but not aggressive at all,” Yauk said.

With the buck quartering toward him at 30 yards, Yauk said he could tell the buck was getting antsy. “That's not my favorite shot, but it looked like it was the best shot I was going to get so I took it,” Yauk said.

The arrow struck the deer in front of its right leg at an angle that convinced the archer it had pierced the buck's heart.

“The buck spun around and began to run back to where he'd come from. I was able to stop him by grunting at him. He stopped to look back, then he walked another 20 yards before falling over,” Yauk said.

The best part of the hunt, he said, was sharing the thrill with his 6-year-old son, Korbin, whom he will introduce to bow hunting one of these first years.

Yauk said Korbin had told him just two days earlier, “Good luck, Dad. I hope you get a 20-pointer.”

“I was so excited to show it to him,” Yauk said.

Aaron Grimes, proprietor of Big Timber Taxidermy in Elgin, said the buck's non-typical rack had 26 scorable points and measured 207 4/8 inches – well above the 195-inch threshold for inclusion in the Boone and Crockett trophy registry.