Today’s guest post is from Illinois bowhunter Zach Atkins, who along with his wife Ellie make one of our favorite outdoor couples:

IL zach 2016 buck

Hey Mike: Here is the buck I killed on November 19th 2016. We call him “Wild Thing!” This deer is very special to us because he was the first deer Ellie and I ever got on trail camera together. We have been after this buck for 3 years and I finally got it done.

On November 19th I decided to put Ellie in a stand where we had been seeing 7-10 deer every night. I decided to go to a different stand, not knowing what I would see. I never would have imagined that Wild Thing would come out because we hadn’t seen him in 2 months.

But sure enough he appeared, 25 yards and perfectly broadside. It all worked out and I couldn’t believe it. I had 10 days of vacation, and I got him on the last day.

It’s going to be very sad not seeing Wild Thing on our cameras this year, but he’s going to look dang good on the wall.–Zach

IL zach 2