The first time I saw this deer was late summer when he was in starting to rub off his velvet. At the start of the archery season, I hunted him but was not able to get a daytime look. I knew soon the rut would start and he might make a mistake. 

I hunted the first week of New Jersey extended bow and did get a glimpse of him but he was too far for a shot. There is a special muzzleloader season on Fort Dix that runs November 10 through 14 (early season) that falls in the middle of the rut and I  thought I would get a chance at him. On the day after the opener,  I hunted my stand in the deep woods but did not see a deer all 

morning. I started to think that maybe I should move to the edge of an open field where I was seeing a lot of does. That afternoon there were several does in the field and out stepped a nice 8-pointer that I would estimate to score around 120 I put him in the sights asking myself should I shoot when he spooked and ran out of range but he was looking back and not at me and he looked uneasy.

I then thought he must be looking at another buck and I turned to my right and the deer I was looking for was behind me to my right. The right side was open and I had to let he walk by first and he came into the open about 60 yards away when I was able to move and place a shot on his shoulder. The 300 grain, .50 Cal, XTP Thompson Center Bullet left the Remington Model 700ML in an instant and he dropped where he stood. 

The deer had an inside measurement of 20 3/8 with a total of 13 scorable points. The rack was thick and palmated and estimated score is 150 plus.—Dennis Bush