THE “BIG 8”
Hey everyone, my name is Austin Hilligas. I was born, raised, and still reside in Iowa County,
Iowa. This hunt really started out as a surprise, as many in November do, but that surprise
slowly turned into a long roller coaster ride I will never forget.
For the season this year I actually went with a “new to me” tactic of trying out the hunting
saddle. I have been using various mobile setups for several years now and it has been fun
learning new ways to sharpen my hunting techniques. After harvesting my first deer, a doe, on
October 8th out of the saddle I gained more confidence in the entirety of the shot process. It has
its pros and cons and the only reason I say this is because without the saddle I wouldn't have
been able to get into the tree I did to harvest my biggest framed deer to date.
Going into the season my hopes of patterning a deer in the early season was pretty much zero.
Really no mature deer on camera, minus one or two single pictures of deer in early September.
As many know, once their velvet came off they moved on into their fall ranges. With the seasons
change brought a spike of hope as this would be the first time I would get a picture of “The Big
8” on September 28th. With nothing to look at, but a tall wide frame from behind, I was excited
to see a new deer coming into what is mostly a “rut farm”. With past history on this piece of
ground I knew it was going to be a long shot to be here with a mature deer, let alone this
specific deer. I knew I needed to get a couple more cameras out and wait until the time was
right.
November 6th came around and my cameras had started to light up with bucks chasing doe all
over this piece of ground. I snuck in that evening and had a semi eventful sit, watching 3
younger bucks nose a doe around and size each other up. November 7th was nothing short of
an amazing sit. I moved to a different side of this property and throughout the morning and
evening I saw a total of 15 different bucks all pushing does, grunting, sparing, and making
scrapes. With all this going on I told myself I was coming back to this same tree in the morning,
left my stand/setup in the tree, and walked out as quiet as possible with my bow.
Hopes were high going home that night which led to an impatient night of “sleep”. I am the type
of hunter where I typically like to be in the tree about half an hour before shooting light to let
things settle down. I knew the walk I had in was going to be long and potentially out in the open.
Luckily from where I parked my truck to where I had my stand was 700 yards of wet ripped up
crop ground. It made for a quiet walk in and I honestly believe that's what saved my hunt.
I got into my setup and not so patiently waited for what I now know as the absolute best sit I
have ever had since I started hunting. This day came swinging as, no sooner than 15 minutes of
shooting light into the morning, I spotted a doe on top of the hill 70 yards away headed toward
me. With a silhouette of a doe and tree branches, I started to turn to look around when I
happened to do a double take at those “tree branches” that suddenly moved without wind. After
my jaw dropped, I knew I was looking at The Big 8. What I didn't know is that for the next hour
and a half, looking is all I would be doing.
As you can imagine I am already in shock seeing this deer for the first time in person. I have
never gotten this type of opportunity where I am witnessing what the rut really is in full force. I
watched this mature deer, corral this doe into seclusion and watch over her until the time was
right. With every couple yards she would walk he would almost gently cut her off and keep her in
this downfall on this benched hillside. Seeing almost every smaller sized buck you could
imagine, button bucks to 4.5 year old, get hot on her trail and The Big 8 stand his ground as
king of the hill. It was like a movie every bowhunter dreams about playing out right in front of
me. Scrapes, rubs, spars, fights, grunts, roars, chasing, and deer running all around me. I knew
something big had to happen for me to get a shot at this buck.
After a couple failed attempts early in the sighting I decided that this buck wasn't going to
investigate any grunts thrown his way. From what I could tell the only time he was bothered was
when he could see another buck and finally after fending off 5 other bucks everything fell into
place. It was quiet for all of 5 minutes and in comes a nice 3.5 year old chasing another doe.
This doe makes her way up toward The Big 8 and he makes eye contact with this other buck.
Just like that, it's go time. The Big 8 charges this other deer and goes flying past my stand at 10
yards along with the doe. It was heartbreaking to say the least. I thought my chance was gone. I
figured it was hail mary time. I grab my grunt tube and let it rip toward where he had corralled
the doe. The Big 8 slams the breaks, snaps his head back, then comes sprinting back to where
he had been all morning. I gave him the ol’ “MEH” and he hit the breaks again, stopping 20
yards slightly quartering away for a perfect double lung.
The rest is history. After an easy track that even me, a colorblind person, could follow we found
him piled up 200 yards away. It may have been a rollercoaster for what seemed like forever but I
wouldn't change a thing even if I could. He is my biggest framed deer at 144 and 4/8 inches as
an 8. Couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap up my 2022 season than with my best sit in a
tree I have ever had.