When my Dad Cecil and I arrived at Solitude Ranch for a September Whitetail hunt we were greeted by a very excited Mike Schmid.

Mike's QDM program was showing fantastic results as evidenced by several stacks of trail cam pictures showing big bucks. Before even unpacking we were sorting out pics of bucks and debating over gross scores, We were trying to pick the top ten bucks out, or "10 Most Wanted" but ended up having to make a list of the "Dirty Dozen". There were just too many big bucks to narrow it down any further.

I have always liked the unusual or non typical bucks, the critters with style, and several of these bucks had it with sticker points, double brows or split points.

Mike had targeted a big 150 class 10 point and had been hunting him for few days. Several close encounters had almost lead to the buck's demise, but as they often do, the mature buck seemed to live a charmed life and always managed to escape.

Mike had patterned the buck in his early fall mode and he, as well as his 2 big traveling buddies, were surprisingly consistent. Each evening they would slowly feed from their bedding spot high on a pine and oak covered ridge, cross a saddle then work their way down to the green fields a mile away. Of course their timing was such that they didn't hit the fields until the cover of darkness.

Mike had hung a stand in the one gnarled, windblown pine in the saddle that offered a bowshot at the bachelor group.. most of the time. They would often pass just out of range. We hunted for a few days, passing up shots at many smaller bucks while trying to close the deal on one of the big boys.

I grew up hunting whitetails in NW Florida and back then, to see a doe from a stand was a thrill, to kill one was cause for some real celebration, and to bag any buck would make you a local celebrity. Now here I was passing up bucks on every sit while loosing count at the number of does. I would smile and shake my head. What a place.

Mike's big 10 had abandoned the bachelor group but the other bucks, a 140 class 8 point and a 130 class basic 10 point with a nice drop tine and sticker points were still keeping the routine. Mike graciously offered his stand to me, "if I was interested in the drop-tine?" Interested....? I think his question was still hanging in the air as I was belting myself into the stand with high anticipation.

Those next hours were the longest I have spent in a tree, wondering if the Drop Tine would show, would he present a shot, would I make the shot? Show, the drop-tine did, feeding on the edge of thick oaks a 100 yards away where he stayed for an hour. I was wound up tight by the time the buck finally started through the saddle for the fields below. My Muzzy broad-head laced his heart and the drop tine buck slid to a stop after a short dash. Now it was the "Dirty Eleven".

Thanks Mike for my " Buck with Style". He'll be hard to top but it will be fun trying.

Warren Hatcher