By Kevin and Sid Hartvig

On the first day of Wisconsin's 2007 youth deer season, we woke to rain. Sid, my son, thought it would be better if we stayed at home. I agreed with his suggestion.

The showers cleared up by the afternoon, and it was nearly 85 degrees in the shade. Our hunting buddies thought it was senseless to go hunting on such a hot day. The old wife's tale that deer do not move around when it is hot is wrong, and Sid's buck proved it.

We headed out to the woods as the bugs followed us. The first hour passed by with no sign of a deer. We watched time tick away at a slow pace. Then a doe showed up. Sid wanted to take a shot, but I told him to wait. Some more does entered the field and he asked me again if he could shoot. Once more, I told him to wait.

The afternoon dragged on and we were down to 15 minutes of daylight left. I looked to the northwest and noticed movement in the brush. Sid looked through his riflescope and counted eight points.

Immediately, buck fever kicked in. "Dad, I'm shaking so badly that I cannot keep the crosshairs on the buck," Sid said.

I had never seen buck fever before and told him to breathe deep and try to calm down. I needed to calm down his (and my) emotions or this buck of a lifetime would be gone before we knew what happened.

Finally, Sid squeezed the trigger and the rifle barked as the deer jumped but then just stood there looking around. He pulled the trigger again. This time the buck took off like a flash of light and crashed 50 yards away from where it had been shot.

I was so proud of Sid that tears came to my eyes. The first thing Sid said is that his sister, Becca, was going to be mad (she chose to go to a dance rather than go hunting with us).

We found the monster on the ground. I expected him to be a decent buck, but I never thought it would be a dream buck. Sid had to count the points at least 10 times before he determined that it had 18 points!

And who said big bucks do not move in hot weather?

Kevin and Sid Hartvig
Rosholt, Wisconsin