Keith Wilkerson

My name is Keith Wilkerson and I wanted to share my buck that I shot on the evening of October 28 in Ionia county. I green scored him at 183″ 5/8 and he has 15 scorable points. I’ve been an avid hunter since I was 12 years old and I’m now 43. I’ve shot many bucks over 100 inches but never have I even seen a deer in the wild like this one. I was hunting him two years ago when he was a 10 point with a flyer off his right G2. I had two very close calls with him but couldn’t seal the deal. He disappeared on me last season, so I figured someone had shot him during the firearm season. My 14-year-old son and I went on a hunt together on the 27th. We saw a nice 9 pt shortly after arriving and I tried to grunt him in. About 3 minutes later a 4pt walked up to us as we were ground hunting in a standing corn field. The deer was about 10 feet from us and couldn’t figure out what we were. He stood there looking at us for a few minutes before he finally spooked running out in a CRP field. Instantly I noticed movement to my left when this monster ran out following the smaller buck. I attempted to call him in for about 40 minutes until it got dark. At that point, my son and I slipped out as quietly as possible. I couldn’t stop thinking about the deer all that night and the next day. We returned the night of the 28th and I decided we should split up for a better chance at the giant.
That spot can only be hunted with an east wind and we happened to have that both nights. I got my son setup in the same spot we were the night before and then began sneaking across the grass field. I reached the back corn field and noticed the 9pt had just stood up from his bead. I then stalked through the corn field when the buck wasn’t looking trying to get in the best ambush point. Shortly after that a 2.5-year-old 8pt, a 3.5-year-old 6pt and a 4.5-year-old 11 point that I had been watching the last 2 years stood up. I let out a series of grunts in which 3 of the bucks then walked within 30 yards of me. Around 6:15 the small 4 point entered the field and began chasing a doe. Shortly after that the 4.5-year-old 11 point busted back out chasing the same doe. I couldn’t help but wonder if the big guy would step out. Within a minute or two he did just that. He ended up circling around into range when I sent an arrow that made contact. I saw that I had a good blood trail however I decided to leave the buck overnight. I returned at first light and recovered the buck shortly afterwards. I’m still in total shock after shooting this monster. He’s the buck I’ve been dreaming about since I was a young boy.