Flu Fever, Buck Fever, and a Monster Non-Typical

Joshua Gawrysiak hadn’t spent a lot time on the household property since he was a child. Nonetheless, he’s a realtor by commerce, and earlier this yr, his member of the family thought-about promoting the farm. So, Gawrysiak posted some path cameras to help with the itemizing. Ultimately, the landowner reconsidered promoting. He determined to maintain it and subsequently gave Gawrysiak permission to hunt there.

He put out cameras, planted a meals plot, and a whole lot of deer confirmed up. The one mature deer? A monster non-typical.

Main as much as deer season, he continued to scout the buck. He additionally hung an observational treestand to glass from afar. From that spot, he watched the deer within the meals plot a number of occasions.

Apparently, by way of his scouting, he knew the deer entered the meals plot anytime the wind was out of the southeast beneath 2 mph. Gawrysiak knew the buck was utilizing the falling afternoon thermals to scent-check its manner into the open. Every time, the buck entered from the west aspect of the sphere — a low spot that obtained mid-afternoon shade and the place thermals collected.

By his third hunt of the yr, Gawrysiak was sick with the flu and a 103-degree fever. On September 19, 2025, he was too sick to hunt, and as anticipated, the deer confirmed up on cameras. So, given the dimensions of the deer, and its regularity within the space, he determined to hunt the subsequent day.

On the afternoon of September 20, 2025, Gawrysiak nonetheless battled a excessive fever. Even so, he settled into the stand. It was alleged to rain, however final minute, it light from the forecast.

With a Ricola in his mouth to stifle coughs, and battling a fever, he scanned his environment for motion. His setup was a meals plot on a hilltop with tapering ridges and knobs down beneath.

Later within the afternoon, deer began shifting. They alternated between feeding on falling acorns and the brassicas meals plot. At one level, 34 deer meandered within the open.

One was an 8-pointer the massive deer ran with a lot of the summer time. Gawrysiak hoped the deer wasn’t far behind it.

“I turned and noticed it was his working mate,” Gawrysiak mentioned. “After seeing his working mate hit the sphere at 6 o’clock, I used to be like, it’s most likely going to occur.”

Shortly thereafter, it did. Antler factors materialized on the sting of the sphere, and he instantly acknowledged the non-typical rack. The deer slowly fed into bow vary.

As soon as the deer turned broadside, he drew again, however bumped the digicam together with his bow. The buck heard it and went on excessive alert. Nonetheless, he settled the pin and took the 25-yard shot. It linked, however Gawrysiak thought the hit was excessive. After reviewing the self-filmed footage of the hunt, he realized it was significantly better than his preliminary thought.

He gave the deer a while, however seeing incoming rain, determined to take up the blood path. The buck solely went 100 yards.

The harvest was bittersweet, and Gawrysiak famous the method, not the kill, is the very best a part of deer looking. All the pieces that leads as much as the harvest is what he enjoys most.

“I nonetheless take a look at the path cam and hope he exhibits up,” Gawrysiak mentioned. “It’s bittersweet. You shot the deer, and it means rather a lot that you’ve got the deer, however I feel the chase and the establishing are higher than the precise killing half. It honestly is.”

Though Gawrysiak didn’t have historical past with the deer, some neighboring hunters did. One believed the buck to be 6 ½ years previous. One other thought it was 7 ½ or 8 ½. Both manner, it’s a large whitetail. It scored 196 1/8 inches, however the reminiscence is even greater. And he obtained it performed with flu, a fever, and buck fever enjoying in opposition to him.