Tim Elsenheimer\u2019s long relationship with a massive 8-point buck came to an end in early October. The 61-year-old from LaGrange, Maine, finally notched his tag on the deer that\u2019s eluded him on more than one occasion while hunting the 75-acre farm where he lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have thousands of photos of him, and passed shooting him several times when he was a younger buck,\u201d Elsenheimer tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cThree years ago, I missed him with a muzzleloader at 80 yards. It was late in the day, tough to see, and I missed him clean with the gun.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsenheimer never saw the buck in 2021. In 2022, he had the deer at 43 yards while bowhunting, but he didn\u2019t like the shot and passed. This year, the buck that Elsenheimer had gotten to know so well started showing itself around his homestead during the summertime.<\/p>\n \u201cI got photos of him last April and he was very skinny, and I was worried about his health declining,\u201d Elsenheimer says. \u201cThen, I was on my tractor this July and saw him bedded on the edge of a field. I got within 20 yards of him before he got up and moved.\u201d<\/p>\n On Sept. 30, Maine\u2019s archery season had just started when Elsenheimer spotted the buck a second time on his property as it fed on apples from a tree along the field edge. For two evenings in a row, he watched the big 8-point and a smaller buck walk along a fence line across the field from an old ground blind Elsenheimer had built.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided to move to the old ground blind for the following evening\u2019s hunt to get him into bow range,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Three days later, on Oct. 3, Elsenheimer hustled back to the farm from his job in Bar Harbor just in time to get in the ground blind. It was around 60 degrees that evening.<\/p>\n \u201cI rushed home from work, grabbed a bucket to sit on, and got into the blind about 5:55 p.m.,\u201d Elsenheimer says. \u201cI knew I didn\u2019t have much time to hunt because legal [shooting] hours ended at 6:42 p.m. I still had all my work clothes on when I got in the blind, which was only 400 yards from my house.\u201d<\/p>\n The big 8-point and a smaller buck stepped out of the timber at 6:15. But instead of heading toward the ground blind, they headed in the opposite direction and away from Elsenheimer.<\/p>\n \u201cI used my grunt call a couple times softly to turn them back toward me, and it worked,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The buck was feeding in the field when it reached a spot he\u2019d previously ranged at 60 yards. Elsenheimer raised his crossbow and shot. He completely missed the buck and saw the arrow sail over its back.<\/p>\n \u201cThe buck was walking, and was closer than I thought,\u201d he says. \u201cThe deer turned and looked to where the bolt whistled over his back, and I struggled to get my crossbow cocked again and put in another bolt.\u201d<\/p>\n Loading the crossbow inside the old, weathered ground blind was difficult without alerting the buck. But Elsenheimer got it drawn and reloaded, and re-ranged the distance between him and the buck.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was 42 yards, standing looking at the blind broadside, when I touched the bow\u2019s trigger. Then I heard the broadhead hit.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsenheimer thought he\u2019d hit the buck a bit high, so he left his blind and waited at home before tracking the deer. About an hour later he walked back to where he\u2019d shot the deer. Using a flashlight in the dark, he found the back half of his arrow and assumed the other half was still in the deer.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was light blood on the half I found, but not much sign of a lung hit on the deer,\u201d Elsenheimer recalls. \u201cI knew the woods he went into was a gnarly, tangled area. I decided it best to call in a tracking dog team so I wouldn\u2019t jump the buck and lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n The tracking dog wouldn\u2019t be there for an hour, so Elsenheimer decided to circle the woods where the deer entered and check it himself.<\/p>\n![\"maine](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/uploads\/2023\/11\/08\/maine_record_8_point_3.jpg\")