We all dream of taking down a massive whitetail buck to fill our freezer and adorn our walls, but it's easier said than done. Trophy bucks aren't exactly the new kids on the block; they've been around long enough to earn their rack and learn all the tricks in the books on how to evade hunters. It takes a whole lot of planning, strategic thinking, and time in the stand to bring home a big guy. Ben Rising of Whitetail Edge did just that, bagging a 7.5-year-old 10-point buck with his bow in Illinois.
In a YouTube video with The Deer Society, Rising walks us through how he got it done. Key to his success was being able to hunt on a private farm in exchange for a free land consultation. "Scissors", a massive 180-inch whitetail, was known to frequent the area and hunters had been pursuing the buck for years.
Rising had never set foot on the land, so he spent hours studying aerial footage, analyzing the property for topography and deer signs, and talking to locals about Scissors patterns and habits. He placed his stand in several different areas without any sign of Scissors.
Finally, Rising works his way to an area of particularly thick cover where Scissors just happens to bed down. He sets up a stand on the edge and uses a calling and grunting sequence to bring the trophy buck in for a perfect shot.
Rising makes an incredible shot at 10 yards and Scissors runs just 20 yards before going down. In the footage, Rising is clearly emotional, telling his partner that it was the biggest buck he'd ever taken down and that he "was in shock".
Rising credits his success to his planning, particularly his intense study of the topography, the timing of his calls, and being able to bring Scissors in close for the money shot.
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