December 12 - Tim Sylvia

Hunter: Tim Sylvia
Animal: 167" 10 Point Whitetail
Location: Iowa
Weapon: Shotgun

The story for “Mr. Perfect” began about a month ago in a SE Iowa bean field. After a lot of appearances, training and hunting on the Lindsey’s farm, Tim finally had a chance to hunt on his farm. He was looking forward to chasing a couple of the big bucks he had located this summer, however “Mr. Perfect” was not one of them. As far as the shooter list in Tim’s mind, “Mr. Perfect” did not exist, matter of fact he had no idea that this really wide 10 pt. called his farm home. Mr. Perfect is the kind of buck we deer managers love, a bonus buck, a shooter buck you had no idea lived on or near your hunting area but magically appears sometime in deer season to add to the shooter tally you had running. But 3 close encounters later, “Mr. Perfect” was no longer a bonus buck in Tim’s mind. He was now the main target of one of the most successful Ultimate Fighters in mixed martial arts history, a target no one wants on their back.

Tim’s passion is bowhunting whitetails, but when the Iowa shotgun season rolled around, he picked up the firestick to even the score. The conditions were perfect, a foot of snow, falling barometric pressure and near zero windchill temperatures is the perfect recipe for deer movement in December. Tim headed out to the bean field where his targeted buck lived and little did “Mr. Perfect” know but his time on earth was fading fast. Tim was situated in a set on the edge of the field but after watching a big 10 point and several does passed by his warm, cozy box blind- he decided to go get in the blind. Not long after the move was made, one of the first deer in the field was....you guessed it, “Mr. Perfect”. After watching him for a few minutes, Tim quickly realized his buck wasn’t coming any closer and he squeezed off a 160 yard shot and watched the buck run out of the field. The shot felt pretty good, but Tim wasn’t sure about it so he gave the buck a couple hours to expire and went to retrieve him. At 8 o’clock he started following the blood trail, tons of blood but the deer was going pretty good to be hit with a firearm. Tim was worried he hit the buck back and planned on just coming back first thing in the morning to get him.

After an exciting tracking job the next morning in the snow, Tim had “Mr. Perfect” in his hands. The deer he had been after for nearly a month was his, what a feeling and what a late season buck for Team Sylvia/Lindsey! - Jeff