I shot this buck at 9:45 opening morning of muzzleloader season and thought I dropped him in his tracks. I was wrong. After following his blood trail approximately 100ish yards, the blood slowly started to disappear. At that point I had to except the fact that the shot was not ideal. I decided to back out and let him lay. Called Matt Burger of Tails On Trails deer tracking out of Jackson. Matt had to work until 4pm and could not make it to my location until 5pm. Matt and his dog came out that evening and were on this deer right from the start, but after almost a mile of tracking he concluded this deer was probably still alive and we were pushing him. We had good blood and several wound beds but the buck needed more time. Fast forward to the next morning. My buddy and I krept into an area where we thought the buck might be headed and while glassing the area my buddy spotted him bedded up and still alive. Had to shoot him again and the rest is history. This buck was well known in my area and was given the name of “Liberty Legend.” He has 17 scorable points with a gross green score of 196 5/8. I will wait the 60 days for drying and see what the final score will be but honestly I’m just grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to harvest a giant Michigan whitetail like this. I couldn’t have recovered this buck without the help of my cousin Nick Wolf, buddy Marty Gilbert, Matt Burger and his awesome tracking hound. Thanks to my wife Bethany for supporting my whitetail addiction. The 2″ of fresh also helped with recovery.