Brothers Bill and Eric Howard were sharing a pair of buckets in the brush along a fence line bordering a large “L” shaped, picked cornfield. From their vantage point they could see on the left a small dense woodlot about 200 yards away, about 100 yards to the right was a deep, brush filled gully bordering the field. To the front lay the cornfield and the base of the “L” ran straight away from them for another three hundred yards. The inside corner of the “L” was 150 yards just opposite where they sat. “We had been there since before light and it was now about 9:30. There was a slight drizzle and we were getting wet and cold and well, miserable,” Bill recalled.

Eric said, “It seemed time to get up and move to better cover because it was starting to rain. We collected our gear and as I stood up, I saw five does come out of the gully to our right. They were more than a hundred yards out and at full speed, heading for the woodlot.”

It was the last day of Ohio’s shotgun season and time was running out for Bill. Eric had tagged his buck two days before. Three days earlier, on this same farm he had missed a huge buck. They were back here now in hopes of getting another crack at this big one. The plan was set. In the hope the does had ended their flight in the dense cover, Eric would back off a hundred yards and move to the far side of the woodlot. Meanwhile, Bill would move across the open cornfield and set up at the inside corner of the “L” just by the fence. The wind would favor that spot, and he would be closer to where they expected the does to run if they came out.

At the prescribed time, Eric would enter the woodlot and try to drive the does back towards his brother. When the time was at hand, Eric started to cross another fence into the woodlot. Before he was over it, he came eye-to-eye with a huge buck. It had been trying to destroy a medium sized cedar just 50 yards into the trees. The ‘Surprised’ buck bolted into a dead run through the woods and out into the cornfield. What Eric didn’t see was a big doe exit the woods first and head right for Bill.

“When I saw that doe come out, I knew I had venison in my sights. As I turned to get ready for the shot, I saw this monster buck break from the trees about fifty yards behind her,” Bill spoke excitedly now as he recalled the moment. “I immediately changed my focus to the buck as it came charging at me, bent on escape. The buck was coming right around the corner where I was standing. I brought the 12 ga. to my shoulder and dropped to my right knee. As the end of the barrel caught up to the fast moving buck, he must have seen or sensed me, for in that instant, he changed direction to run straight away from me. It was too late, I had the left shoulder in my sights and pulled the trigger. He went down in a crash about XX yards from me.”

Not to say that he was excited or anything but Bill told me, “I was hurrying to reload the borrowed shotgun, I ejected the empty, loaded a live slug and then pumped it out on the ground, too, as I ran to the downed buck.” Bill was really into the hunt now as he recounted coming up to the still kicking buck, “Suddenly, he jumped up and tried to run off. I pulled up the gun and put one in the spine, putting it down for good. Good thing too, my gun was empty.” (The big 13 pointer would not have gone very far anyway as the first shot had taken the front of both lungs and the slug lodged in the right shoulder.)

Eric arrived on the scene 2 or 3 minutes later and the brothers stood and gazed in awe at this great buck, counting and recounting the points. It was by far the largest rack either had ever seen while hunting. Eric went for the truck while Bill did the field dressing. They loaded the buck on the truck and headed for home, with a few stops along the way to show the trophy. A special stop was made to show it to the owner of the borrowed shotgun.

The Bruiser was a typical 12 point, with one sticker from the left burr. The BTR score is 173 6/8 Typical. The local warden guessed it at 3 1/2 years old. When they got it to the meat processor, it was weighed in at 173 pounds dressed.