movement. During a wait that seemed like an eternity Chad and I were able to share some stories and have some laughs while constantly scanning the brushy edges of the bluff for any action. The geese flying over and cold gusts of wind kept us on our toes as we tried to keep warm. Overcast skies caused sunlight to darken sooner increasing odds of Norm rising early. During mid conversation I suddenly froze, looked Chad’s direction and asked “You hear that?” “Yes” he replied as I gently crawled to the edge of the hill. Once I peaked down into the brush I could see a chocolate brown rack sticking up in clear view. He stood up out of his bed and was looking directly through me; I thought I was busted until he began scratching his hind quarter with his gnarly antlers. I turned to Chad and waived him into good range for the camera before Norm went back to alert mode. Just in the nick of time Chad was able to setup before Norm started looking around again. My full body began to shake and my eyeballs were likely popping out of their sockets at the size of this legend. He took two steps forward exposing his front quarter from behind a limb and I sent a 150 grain ballistic into his boiler room. After a solid crack I was convinced that I just made a great kill shot on the biggest mule I had ever seen! Norm disappeared back towards the bluff with Chad and I on his trail, as we approached, we spotted him laying motionless at the very edge of the cover. After a gratifying hand shake, I found myself hugging my newest friend as we celebrated our accomplishment like school girls. With caution I greeted Norm with both pride and sadness as I lifted his rack Cody with one of the sheds off out of the tall grass. ‘Big Norm’. It was similar size A bittersweet feeling to the antlers the buck carcome over me as I ried, showing he was a mature sat at his side appreanimal. ciating how stunning he was. Everything from his faint double throat patch, paddled out tines and big flyers I couldn’t imagine anything better. Chad and I returned to my father’s hunting lodge where we celebrated our achievement and the life of Big Norm. Spending my spare time in the outdoors is a huge passion for me and plays a vital role in being successful. It is very important to not judge your success by the score of your animal but by the challenges you overcome in order to get
the result. It just so happens that an animal that scores high is highly sought after making it more weary and smart after years of eluding hunters. For me it is the ups and downs a hunter faces when pursuing a dream buck. This sport has been very good to me and to have the unique opportunity to pursue an animal of such beauty is a dream come true. I have tremendous respect for these animals and look forward to many more adventures in the wild. At this moment I would like to thank Chad Wilkinson and the rest of the Big Game Illustrated team for assisting me with this hunt. Catching it all on video and sharing the moment with an experienced hunter like Chad who loves it as much as I do was truly remarkable. The staff from Exsile Outdoors in Lloydminster deserves a huge thank you as well for accommodating me and going over and above to ensure I had the equipment required to get the job done. And of course I can’t forget my family and friends, without the support from my cousin Beau, my sister Nina and my parents Colleen and Hugh, scouting season would have been a lot more difficult. I owe it all too each and every one of you. Special thank you to Bentley Coben for scoring my deer for the second year in a row, thanks to Lyle Waddington of Prairie taxidermy for mounting my deer for the second year in a row as well as Darryl Sanders from Sander’s Meats in Beechy for processing the deer meat and last but not least, the farmers and landowners who make it all possible.