Rack Magazine

Eighty yards from his ride home, this Indiana hunter stumbles into the ring of a whitetail circus.

After tagging a 10-pointer in 2014, Jeff Berkemeier’s priority shifted from shooting a buck to collecting freezer meat.

About 5:00 one cold and misty evening during Indiana’s blackpowder season, Jeff spotted a doe — venison — approaching from a nearby hill. When he raised his muzzleloader to shoot her, he saw she wasn’t alone.

“It turned out to be an 8-point buck,” he said. “Body-wise, it was perhaps the largest deer I had ever seen on my farm, and I could only watch.

“I knew that within a year or two, the Big Eight would become my No. 1 buck to harvest,” he added.

The first week of February, Jeff retrieved his initial trail camera photograph of Big Eight near the same thicket. He learned more about the deer when he spoke with a neighbor that summer.

The man and his 12-year-old son were keeping tabs on the buck, which they said was living on a farm about a mile distant. The woods-savvy boy seemed to know the most about the deer. He’d named it Skyscraper because of its very long tines.

“I decided to hunt Skyscraper exclusively in 2015, even though I wasn’t getting any more trail cam photos,” Jeff said. “My 12-year-old neighbor wasn’t getting any photos either.

“When I checked my cameras on Oct. 25, I still had no pictures. I was becoming disheartened,” he continued. “Then, on Oct. 29, my dad called to let me know that while he was harvesting corn close to my thicket, he had run a very large buck out of the field.

“Dad said the deer looked a lot like the one in the trail cam pictures from February,” he said.

The sighting lifted Jeff’s spirits considerably.Skyscraper got a pass, however.

On Nov. 2, while hunting the stand from which he’d first seen Skyscraper, Jeff saw another buck he’d nicknamed Y12 start across the cornfield.

“It was obvious the buck was seriously injured. It could hardly walk and appeared to be in pain,” Jeff said. “One back leg was sticking straight out to the side, and a piece of bone was protruding.”

The arrow intended for Skyscraper wound up putting the injured buck out of its misery.

“My buck season was suddenly over, and I had never laid eyes on Skyscraper,” Jeff lamented.

Later that season, however, he retrieved a photo of the tall-tined buck sparring with a smaller one on another piece of property.

Jeff manages hog farms for a living. He also owns a manure-hauling business, which keeps him busy in late summer. He still managed to put out cameras in mid-August.

Photos of decent bucks were sparse until Oct. 20, when Jeff retrieved images of a giant 10-pointer with dark antlers, which he named Chocolate. The deer was no match for Skyscraper.

Jeff set aside three days – Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 – to hunt from a new setup he called the Shorty Stand. He’d erected the 14-footer with the idea of sharing it with his son, Benjamin, who was ready for his first season.

Three decent bucks passed within crossbow range the first couple of hours Jeff sat in the stand. He got down early, though, because he’d promised to haul a load for a customer.

On his way out, Jeff cut through a draw that led him to a 16-acre cornfield. When he was 80 yards from the road, Chocolate stepped out of the woods.

“He was totally unaware that I was standing right there,” Jeff said. “I could have easily taken him. When he stopped to look back into the timber, I focused that way also, just in time to see a doe bursting out at full speed.

“The doe ran right past Chocolate, headed for the draw, and Chocolate followed her,” he continued. “I was stunned.

“I had taken about 15 more steps when Skyscraper suddenly exited the woods at full speed. He crossed the cornfield in front of me, following the doe’s path.

“That was the first time I’d laid eyes on the incredible buck since 2014,” Jeff added.

Although the deer ran within 30 yards, it was moving much too fast for Jeff to even think about raising the crossbow.

Jeff went home, told his wife about the encounter, and then he went off to perform the work he had scheduled.

“I could think of nothing else the whole time I was working,” he said. “I managed to convince my brother, Matt, to come by and relieve me about 3:00, so I could go home and meet my brother-in-law, Josiah, who was going to hunt with me.”

Josiah and Jeff were in their stands shortly after 4 p.m. Josiah went to the Shorty Stand, and Jeff took his climber to where Skyscraper had exited the woods that morning.

The neighbor boy had told Jeff that Skyscraper liked to scan the treetops as he went through the woods. With that in mind, Jeff climbed 40 feet up a tree.

“Just about 5:00, I saw a doe come up over the ridge,” he said. “I fully expected Sky to be right behind her as he was surely the dominant buck on the farm. However, Chocolate appeared a few minutes later.

“He was an awesome buck, dark antlers and very wide. The two were on a trail that would bring them close to my tree.

“When they passed into the cornfield and were about 80 yards out, Chocolate suddenly froze and lowered his head close to the ground. I had no idea what was going on. I thought perhaps he had seen me move and was trying to unnerve me,” Jeff said.

Jeff then glanced to his right and saw Skyscraper glaring at the 10-pointer in the field. Chocolate turned and began walking away like a scolded child.

While this was happening, the doe sped past Jeff’s tree.

“I just naturally assumed Skyscraper was going to follow her at the same speed,” Jeff said. “But he just walked slowly toward me. When he arrived at a washout we didn’t cultivate, he stood at the edge 80 yards away and scanned the treetops just like the neighbor had said.”

When the buck sensed everything was in order, he flicked his tail and came 5 yards closer into an opening the size of a truck at 55 yards.

“I felt very confident I could make a killing shot on the buck as I practiced at 50 yards all summer long,” Jeff said. “I took the shot and immediately knew it was good. He jumped straight up and took off running.

“Strangely enough, he stopped out in the field, spun around and ran back to within 20 yards. I was frantically trying to find a way to re-cock the bow without alerting the buck.

“I managed to hold my leg straight out, anchor the stirrup on my foot, and pull mightily. After I succeeded in getting it to latch, I quickly seated a bolt, aimed and fired. It was another good solid hit, right in the vitals.

“Skyscraper managed about 80 yards before he bedded down on a ridge where I could see him. I watched for about 40 minutes before his head hit the ground,” Jeff continued.

“I quickly lowered my gear, got down and made my way over to the fallen deer. I knelt by the monarch for a minute before calling my wife, Amy. She and the kids – Benjamin, Gabriel and Grace – soon joined me.”

Editor’s Note: Ed Waite is a master scorer and regional director for Buckmasters Whitetail Trophy Records. A longtime contributor to Rack magazine, he has also published four volumes of big deer tales, “Wallhangers” I, II, III and IV, which are available at book stores, on Amazon and through WallhangersUSA.com.

This article was published in the Jan/Feb 2018 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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