Just returned from a week-long vacation deer hunt here in Wisconsin (our annual gun season).

The conditions were near perfect, with morning temperatures in the high 20s/ low 30s and daytime highs just cresting 40. A rather slow opening morning turned into one to remember very quickly.

Situated high in a red oak, I was scanning a clearing when the sound of crunching leaves caught my attention at about 7 a.m. I look up and spied a mature doe sprinting wildly through the woods. She stopped every 10 yards or so to urinate and check her back trail. That's when I noticed a second deer! I could almost immediately see his antlers when he was still 100 yards out. The buck closed so fast that I merely confirmed he was mature before getting ready for a possible shot. That didn't take long. I would like to say that the hunt ended that quickly, but it didn't. At the shot, the buck ran out of sight and crossed a property line. However, all is well that ends well. The kind property owner graciously allowed me and my hunting party to enter his land to trail my deer. We found the deer within 75 yards of the property line.

The 13-pointer features 11-inch G-2s and G-3s, 6- and 9-inch brow tines and three 2-inch stickers at the bases. He grosses in the high 150s.

The rut was still in full swing in our area, with mature bucks actively pursuing does. It appears that the D&DH Calendar predictions were about as dead-on as could be expected. Lots of season to go! I will be heading to Kansas next ... after trying to fill a few more doe tags here at home, of course!

--Dan Schmidt