Lukus Troyer, 26
Location: Indiana
Gear: Phantom Saddle, Predator Platform, Skeletor Climbing Sticks
Hunting, for me, doesn’t start when I pull on my camo in the dead, still morning or even when I make my quiet trek to a carefully selected location to hunt… it starts with education. It’s watching the newest episode of “The Hunting Public'' as soon as they drop, listening to podcasts every time I commute to work, putting boots on the ground of every location I’m able to hunt, and watching the Tethrd team take on a new piece of property in search of a hunt of a lifetime. Through these different methods of learning more about how to make the most out of my own hunting seasons, I learned about ‘the Saddle Game”… and that’s where this story begins.
In 2021, I pulled the trigger on purchasing the phantom saddle kit and used it throughout the entire Whitetail season. Although that season didn’t produce a deer, it did sprout a passion for a new method of hunting. Having the ability to hunt in areas that were never possible before became a reality with the mobile setup. The product of that season was experience.
In 2022 I was determined to continue utilizing the saddle to hunt those hard-to-reach areas that I knew some of my target bucks were traveling. One of which was a heavy eight point that I had multiple times in velvet, but no hard-horned pictures. On the opening day of firearm season, I went into a ravine bottom between two bedding areas wearing the phantom saddle and with a Mathews V3X in my hand. That morning I got a shot at a mature eight point that was hot on a doe. Not accommodating for the ducking of the buck, I shot just over his back at 30 yards. Although I never had another opportunity at that particular buck, my shed dog Maylee and I searched countless acres that winter for both his sheds and the lost eight that I only had in velvet, but came up short of finding them.
By 2023, I hadn’t received any new pictures of either eight point. At that point, I assumed another hunter had taken one of them in the fall of 2022, but I continued scanning local Facebook groups and remaining optimistic that they made it through the winter.
Throughout the summer and early fall, I was getting pictures of decent deer on this particular property, but the pictures never featured either of the heavy eights. I began wondering, “are they still in the area?”
On October 26th, I once again took advantage of the flexibility of the saddle to hang in a new spot along the corn field bordering a ridge that doubled as a common bedding area for does. Being the only standing corn around, my goal was to use the edge of the field as a pinch for a cruising buck, scent checking that bedding area. I encountered multiple smaller bucks working the edge that evening and when I left that night on my walk out, I hung a cell camera over a scrape I had noticed a buck using that evening. To my surprise, I picked up a few different bucks over the next few days walking that edge… including what I believed to be the big eight that I only had in velvet from the previous year; But he was no longer an eight point as he had added points and mass. We named him, “The Big 10”.
So my wife and I have this deal… I only get to skip two Sunday church services per hunting season, so I have to choose them wisely. On November 5th, I decided to cash in my first Sunday. The air was crisp that morning and the frost blanketed the woods. With the blue jays singing, I knew there had to be deer on the move, but as the morning progressed, I only saw a handful of does and one young buck. As it inched closer to noon, I packed up and headed to my car for a quick PB&J break, streamed the morning church service on my phone, and created a game plan for the afternoon hunt. Using milkweed, I confirmed that the wind had shifted and was now coming out of the southwest… a perfect opportunity to try the north end of the property.
The north end of the property is a bit of a paradise for deer. The cut bean field, only a couple acres in size, is surrounded by woods and bedding areas on all four sides making it completely secluded and a safe sanctuary for deer. I approached the field cautiously knowing that deer could already be out cruising. I scanned the far north fencerow and chose a tree on the east corner to be upwind of the bedding area I anticipated deer coming from. I swiftly and carefully attached my skeletors to a red oak and settled in with my Mathews V3X, camera gear, and high hopes. Moments later, does started filtering into the field, followed by a young one-and-a-half year-old motivated buck. I watched the young buck feed and chase the aggravated does for an hour when I caught movement to my left. A clean eight point was heading straight for the young buck to claim the field and does in it for himself. As he made his way quickly through the open field, I made my decision: if the opportunity presented itself, I would take a shot.
As he displayed his dominance in the field for a few minutes, a lone doe popped out to my far right and all of the deer in the field became extremely cautious. I have never seen the demeanor change in a group of deer like this as they immediately were timid and attentive to the doe and where she came from. I began wondering, “why are they on such high alert for just a doe?” As she fed her way out toward the rest of the does, a button buck spooked and ran right to my stand and halted below me. With that, the eight point began working his way to the west. In an attempt to turn him back around, I hit a grunt call, and the does scattered. Desperate to grab the buck’s attention, I then hit a snort wheeze, and the buck instantly made a b-line towards me. With the wind in my favor, I knew I would have an opportunity to shoot at this buck. The only thing that I didn’t expect was what happened next. With the eight-point about 55 yards in front of me, he stopped with an intent stare on the field that the lone doe perused from. That’s when I caught a flicker of another buck, bristled up and determined to chase off the competition. I now understood why all of the deer in the field went on high alert as the lone doe approached; She had been bedded down with this mature buck. My attention up to this point had been on the eight point, who served inadvertently, as a decoy. But now, my attention was focused solely on the second buck approaching fast who was clearly the more dominant and bigger buck of the two.
Without hesitation, I drew back knowing this buck was going to walk right through the spot I had ranged earlier. Knowing time was limited before he left my shooting lane, I let out a soft grunt to stop him. With a deep breath in and trembling breath out, I squeezed the thumb button of my release, sending a 600 grain arrow straight from the lone oak I was hanging in, to the vital V of this dominant deer. Then fear set in. The buck reacted as if he hadn’t been hit at all. “I watched the arrow hit him. Why isn’t he going down?” Like a true warrior, he fought his way through the cut bean field for 90 yards until he fell, and never stood back up.
Before I felt anything else, I felt respect. I’ve hunted whitetails my whole life, but I had never witnessed the miraculous strength of a mature deer fighting to push on until his literal last breath.
At this point, the sky was lit up in streaks of burnt orange and amber. I carefully approached the deer, trembling, whisper-yelling, and praising God for allowing me to harvest such a miraculous animal. It only took a few moments to realize that this buck was “the Big 10”. The same deer that I only had in velvet in 2022. The same deer that I caught only a few days earlier on the edge of the uncut corn field. The once main-frame eight was now a main-frame ten with a split brow and split g-3s on both sides and added a significant amount of mass on both sides.
As I sat in the field, with my hands around his antlers, I thought to myself, “Where has this deer been for the past year? How did I get lucky enough for him to show back up and to be sitting behind this magnificent animal?” Typing this today, I still don’t have any answer to those questions. However, what I do know is that I will continue to take every opportunity that I have, to hunt. After marrying my wife and moving over an hour away from all of my hunting locations in the summer of 2022, hunting looked a little different. My new lifestyle required that I choose my time and hunting locations wisely. It required utilizing changing weather fronts and weekends scouting to make the most out of the opportunities that I did get to go out and hang.
The reason that I got this buck was not because of luck. It was because of the opportunity to hunt mobile, allowing me to reach new places. It was the evenings and weekends spent scouting. It was the knowledge gained from other members of the hunting community through friends, podcasts and videos. But most importantly, it was because of my Lord and Savior for giving me an able body, appropriate gear, and a passion for spending each fall in the woods.
