I first wrote about this giant way back in 2008, and thought I’d post it again to get you fired up for early bow season. Colin (who would be 32 today) if you see this shoot me an email!–MH

After supper on August 29, 2007 Colin Bourrier, who had just turned 15, dressed in unscented hunting clothes and pulled a scent-blocking suit over them. He reminded his younger brothers to keep the noise down and especially not to rip and ride the trails on their dirt bikes because he and Pete were going hunting out back. He packed up his bow and arrows and other gear and headed for the tree stand he and his dad had set. They only had one stand up, so Pete would ground hunt along another trail closer to the alfalfa.

Colin climbed into the stand and heard his brothers in the yard, singing and playing basketball. One of them cranked up a bike and roared up and down the driveway. Colin had to laugh, but he figured his chances of seeing a doe, much less a buck, were pretty remote. Maybe hunting this close to the house wasn’t such a good idea, he thought.

Twenty minutes later Colin was happy, if a bit surprised, to see a doe wander by at 35 yards. Where were her fawns… Two minutes later he spotted another deer–a buck! It seemed to materialize out of nowhere, ghosting from the willows without a sound, walking slowly and sniffing the ground, very much at ease. Its coat still shone summer red; its rack looked dark and big.

Colin grabbed his bow, stood up, clipped the release to the string and drew back as the buck strolled to within 10 yards and stopped broadside. The boy carefully aimed behind the shoulder and let the arrow go. He heard a loud whack; the buck lunged forward and ran off low at top speed. Was this kid really just 15? He had handled that knee-buckling encounter, and the draw and the shot like a much older pro.

Colin sat and waited for a few minutes in disbelief, wondering: Did what I think just happened really happen? He packed his gear, scurried down the tree like a squirrel and ran over to get Pete. He told his brother-in-law that he had just shot a buck, a nice buck he thought, and that he had heard cracking sounds not far off in the bush the way the deer had sprinted off.

The beautiful evening clouded over, and a light drizzle set in at dusk. Colin and Pete picked up flashlights at the house, headed back to the stand and took off in the direction the buck had fled. They didn’t track far. Their lights shone on a magnificent sight–huge, velvet-clad antlers beamed back.

Pete ran to the rack, picked it up and counted off 18 points. Colin stood frozen, staring in disbelief. I knew I had arrowed a good buck, but this was an unbelievable buck, a giant! he thought. He was pretty certain no one in the area had ever seen this buck before, or he would have heard about it.

What a shot the kid had made. The buck ran 80 yards before expiring. It lay dead just off a trail barely 100 yards from his house.

Colin and Pete laughed and high-fived all the way home. They still couldn’t believe it. Back at the house, Pete called Colin’s dad Albert, who was driving home from a hunt miles from home, and told him that Colin had shot a spike. “Too bad you guys didn’t see at least a 6-pointer,” Albert replied. He’d be there shortly to look at his son’s first bow deer. Pete smiled and hung up.

While they were waiting, Colin told his mom, sister and brothers about his prize buck. Yeah, right… They were skeptical to say the least, and insisted that Colin and Pete take them down to see it before Albert got home. They grabbed umbrellas and flashlights, hopped on quads and took off down the trail.

Colin’s mom had seen a lot dead game in her life. She was awestruck by the giant deer. She hugged her son and congratulated him over and over as they stared at the velvet antlers.

“I’m sure that was the deer that was grazing in my flowerbeds all summer, that’s how he got so big,” his mom said with a laugh. Colin looked at his buck once more and thought, Wow, it really does look massive.

Standing there in the dark and drizzle, they made a pact to keep fooling Albert. The ruse was all in good family fun. And besides, Dad wouldn’t believe this story if they told him the truth anyway. Who would?

Albert pulled into the driveway and began unloading his gear. He told Colin and Pete that he had seen a few deer, but nothing major. He was hungry and wanted to grab a bite before he headed down to check out his son’s two-point buck.

Colin, Pete, mom, sis and brothers waited anxiously, hovering as Albert ate, encouraging him to hurry up so they could go see the dead deer. They finally got him going, and the group headed down the trail on quads. Colin flicked on his light and led his dad the short ways through the bush. Albert froze and stared at the buck and then at his son. “He was speechless,” Colin remembers. “I’ll never forget the look on his face. When he finally could talk, he asked me if I knew what I had just done. He told me that was every hunter’s dream buck.”

The boy looked at the velvet giant again and shuddered—it was finally beginning to sink in now. There were many more high fives and hugs amongst the family in the dark, drizzly Manitoba bush that summer night.

Epilogue

The next day Albert, a taxidermist, scored Colin’s buck at 205 inches. The monster had 18 points, long beams, killer brows and good mass throughout the rack. A mature buck for sure, 4 ½ or 5 ½. They decided to mount the buck just as Colin had seen it that afternoon, in full velvet. Albert reports that once the water was gone from the velvet and the rack had dried, it scored 199 inches and change. From my research I am convinced this is the largest wild buck ever shot by a 15-year-old bowhunter in North America, though I cannot positively confirm it. But I cannot imagine a bigger one.

The achievement was made even more incredible and special since Colin shot the buck on his family’s land, 200 yards from his bedroom window.

One last thing: Albert, Colin, Pete or any of the neighbors had ever seen the titan before. The buck showed up for the first time one August afternoon and walked within 10 yards of a 15-year-old boy who had never shot a deer with a bow before, how cool is that?