iowa paul hein 2011 1Let’s end the week with the story of a 200-inch buck from the Big Deer archives. In November 2011, high-school welding instructor and assistant football coach Paul Hein shot the awesome beast: 

Got to my ladder stand at 3:25 pm. Hunting 30 yards from an unpicked corn field and 70 to 100 yards from some bedding areas. Wind was from the NW 10-15 mph and temp was about 40 degrees.

I started rattling, grunting and bleating and repeated that every 20-30 minutes. About 4:50 I called again. The wind had calmed down by then. I heard movement a bit to my right and noticed a small buck heading in my direction from the NW. He looked very nervous and kept looking over his shoulder. I figured another deer was coming behind him so I stood up.

The big buck was right on his tail! I noticed right away he was a shooter with those double main beams. He came straight in looking for a fight, and he walked 20 yards in front of me. Made a double-lung shot; he ran 40 to 50 yards and I heard a loud crash in the timber.

Got down and found my blood-covered arrow. Blood trail made tracking easy. When I got to him I just sat down in front of his rack to calm down! Spent the next few minutes just admiring him. Had been hunting 5 days a week since the archery season started, and had not been seeing much at all.

Buck had 27 points and scored at 219 green. Thanks, Heiner