Hunting career ruined for life? Maybe, but I would be happy to be stuck with that stigma as 12-year-old Dylan Beach-Bittner of Motley, Minnesota may be. This young hunter harvested a 27-point, 229-pound Monster Buck in Minnesota in early November of 2012 giving him a story that he will be able to tell his entire life — without it getting old or stale. Young Dylan was hunting with his stepfather from a tree stand on an Aunt’s farm. The buck was well-known to the community with no shortage of pursuers. Nicknamed the “Monster” Dylan received his first sight of the buck from about 100 yards. Dylan waited “patiently” (that may be a bit of a stretch) for the deer to close the distance. At any rate he waited for the buck to offer a high percentage broadside shot. Dylan raised his .270 and took steady aim. Confident in the shot, Dylan fired once and watched as the buck fall. His heart skipped a beat as the buck regained its feet. Fortunately for Dylan, the mammoth-sized buck only made it a few step before going down for good. A solid shot and a clean harvest.
Dylan and his dad approached the fallen monarch, which they quickly determined to be a 27-point non-typical buck. “I was surprised at how big he was,” Beach-Bittner told the Brainerd Dispatch in Minnesota. “It seems like it gets bigger every time I see it,” he said. The buck weighed 229 pounds and required the help of four people to load into a truck.
Bragging rights indeed, though I suppose some “animal rights” nitwit will jump up to criticize the young man’s successful hunt, but he has a right to be proud. A good hunt and clean, one-shot kill. Well done.
I’m 60 and over 30 years of an obsessive lifestyle of hunting something anytime I could be in the woods or reading about and preparing for it in every imagineable way when I couldn’t, I never harvested a Deer with half the body weight, or number of points/rack size that that young man managed to take. And I’ve killed manyDeer, and Preditors, spending many hours alone, sitting on frozen tree limbs etc doing it. Congratulations to that young man, and I hope he truly appreciates that moment for the rest of his life, for the most important aspect of hunting is the the mindset, the patience, the experience, the confidence gained, and the memories retained for life. He just got achieved what many sportsmen strive for and dream of most of their lives. Hopefully, this will inspire the youth of this country to become more interested and involved in the great outdoors, with hunting, fishing, camping, and good sportsmanship and environmental preservation, which will have far greater returns in life than killing Zombies on a game screen with regard, respect for little else.