Hunter: Tim Sylvia
Animal: 144 4/8" Whitetail
Location: Iowa
Weapon: Thompson Center Encore Pro Hunter

Well Tim was up to bat again in Iowa and this time with a smokepole in his hand. Tim headed to our farm with high expectations of harvesting a mature whitetail, the bucks were on their feet and he was anxious to add to Team Sylvia’s running death toll. Since I had filled my tags, it looked like I was gonna be hunting with Tim, we had several deer in mind and a pretty good idea of where we would find them. One of the bucks we were after was a deer we called Lowrider, a 6.5 year old super wide 8 point. After heading out to our blind I tried to save us some steps in the 2 foot of snow, went to far and we were stuck in a snow drift, not good! After over an hour of digging out the snow, we were finally able to hide the truck and head towards our stand. At this point we were running very late but soon as we got settled in, the movement began and we watched several does and bucks come into our field, but none that Tim wanted to harvest.

That night while Jeff was going through some Reconyx pictures from a camera we pulled on our way out, he had a picture of Lowrider, only problem was that he was only sporting 1 side of his 8 point frame. However, there was another massive 8 point on that card that was coming to that field that was just as nice so we switched our thoughts to him and it kept Tim’s hopes alive of shooting a giant 8 point, something he has always wanteds

Day two we were going to be smart and take the Bad Boy Buggy and head out to the blind early. Its a good thing we did because this day we got the Bad Boy stuck, what luck! Thankfully the winch worked like a charm and we were able to get it out. Finally we get settled into our blind and the fun started- the deer were moving as good as I had ever seen and we had a couple mature bucks in the field at one time, it was shaping up to be a good night. Pretty soon, Tim said “big buck” and the chocolate tined 8 point stepped into the corn field that we had just gotten pictures of. This deer looked older on the hoof than he did on our Reconyx photo of him, he had a huge body and a really dark wedge head. This would be a great buck to take if he gives us the shot.

The buck finally turned broadside at about 80 yards and Tim settled in for the shot. Boom! Smoke fills the air and when it cleared the big 8 was laying in the field, no tracking tonight! Tim had the big 8 he had always wanted and it had one of the nicest capes you could ask for in late season, we were pumped! As soon as we got back we told everybody the news and Jeff informed us he had shot a giant as well. A Team Sylvia double and we were on the board for the 6th time in 8 days- what a late season!

This truly had turned out to be a Dream Season for the three of us and what a way for us all to tag out in the same week as a team! - David