Monster buck stories just aren’t the same without a photo
This column originated as “In the End Zone with Jim Johnson,” and shortly after branched off into “Going Deep with Jim Johnson.” (See athletic alumni in sports section)
The mug shot hasn’t changed since its inception in 2004, and the content has ranged from ineligible athletes to draft busts (see Williamson, Troy) to fan behavior. Good friends have attempted witty spin-offs like “In the Woods with Jim Johnson,” (golf related), and “Over the Backboard with Jim Johnson,” (basketball related), but nothing stuck.
What did stick is the current title, which was creatively — and surprisingly — forged at deer camp by my old man’s long-time hunting buddy. Chalk it up as one of the countless stories from another annual weekend in November.
Every hunter has a deer camp or shack story. Most have too many to recount. We bagged two bucks this year — one was a career-best and the other shot by yours truly had its antlers busted off at the base. By the end of the weekend, the “educated guess” for the story was it used to be 16-pointer before its unfortunate broken antler incident. Jokes aside, we suspect a battle with a vehicle took its antlers and know for a fact it wasn’t poor marksmanship.
That said, the career-best typical 8-pointer shot on opening morning in our camp was the highlight, and numerous photos will help carve a memory to look back on for years.
The next four big buck stories are also accompanied by photos in the print edition, proving that local hunters Joe Kennedy, Trent Wimmer, Jace Junker and Bryce Hjelle bagged memorable deer.
Joe Kennedy
Persistence paid off this season for Kennedy, whose 10-pointer was no stranger to his hunting grounds.
“I’ve got scouting pics from three years ago,” Kennedy said, noting his monster was believed to be around 8 1/2 years old.
It weighed in at 190 pounds, but Kennedy’s taxidermist estimated it could’ve been as big as 240 pounds had it not had a broken jaw.
“I knew he was coming. I had him really scouted,” Kennedy said. “I had a pretty good idea I would be on him this year.”
The buck won’t officially be scored for about a month, Kennedy said, but he was told it could score as high as a 150. It’s the biggest deer Kennedy has bagged in 16 years of hunting.
Trent Wimmer
Wimmer also registered the biggest deer in his hunting career, which spans 29 years. His 12-pointer, which is currently the third heaviest in a competition in the mill at 213.5 pounds, was shot in a slashing off Highway 65.
“I didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t do. Nothing magical. Just glad it happened to me,” Wimmer said, noting the buck was following a doe through the slashing before he took it down.
He’s getting a head mount.
“I have a couple other ones mounted that were smaller, so I had no choice,” he said.
Jace Junker
“The buck I shot this year is by far my biggest and I’m definitely getting a head mount,” the Littlefork-Big Falls graduate said.
The 9-pointer weighed an impressive 225 pounds, and Junker plans to get it officially scored.
“As far as the story goes, I guess I was just at the right place at the right time and got lucky,” he said. “It all happened when I least expected.”
Bryce Hjelle
While Kennedy, Wimmer and Junker are celebrating career-best hunts, Hjelle is quickly compiling an impressive hunting resume.
This year’s buck, a 10-pointer, weighed 200 pounds.
He unofficially scored it around 130, and it could’ve been higher had it not been such a fighter.
“You can tell by just looking at the buck’s rack that he was a fighter,” Hjelle said. “He has a split G3 with the outer split broken off — which would’ve made it an 11-pointer — a broken brow tine and the tip of the right main beam has been broken off as well.”
Hjelle got in the state record book last season for bagging a buck that grossed 157 1/2, and already this season he’s taken down a 9-pointer on opening day (which his grandpa tagged) and the big 10-point fighter.
“I would have to say these past two seasons have been my best two seasons by far,” said the Bemidji State University student. “ ... I’ve seen around 8-10 bucks so far that I’ve passed on, looking for the bigger ones. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I’m pretty sure the 9-pointer I shot on the opener was the same buck I missed with my bow back in early October.”
Hjelle’s heaviest buck was only a 5-pointer, but it weighed 215 pounds back in 2007.
“Hopefully my luck hasn’t run out for seasons to come,” he said.
