ABRAMS, Wis. — Every hunter has a story about that incredible shot or the great memory with family, but for most people it’s that prize buck. So imagine a Wisconsin hunter’s surprise when his prize buck this year actually turned out to be a doe.
Wayne Douville has been a deer hunter since he was 16 years old. He said he has shot nearly 130-140 bucks over his lifetime, but he said he will never forget the day he shot the 8-point doe.
“No matter how many years you hunt, you don’t expect this to happen,” said Douville.
For the past four years, Douville has been hunting on Mel Buckmaster’s 141 acres in Abrams. For the past two years, he has been taunted by one particular buck on his night camera.
“I would say to my wife this deer is huge. I am going to go after this deer,” said Douville.
So when the buck finally showed itself Monday afternoon, Douville didn’t hesitate.
“It was just safety off, on the trigger and the deer went down,” said Douville.
“I was in the woods just about to come out when he shot. We were just 100 yards apart so that kind of wakes you up, but he just said he got a nice big buck,” said Buckmaster.
Douville hung the deer up and got ready to dress the 222 pound buck, but when he went to gut the deer he realized something wasn’t right.
“You can see right here that this has mammary glands,” said Douville. “When you start the dressing process, you go to the masculine part of the deer and it wasn’t there and I didn’t know what to think about it.”
“Mel was over at the barn and I yelled over to him, ‘Mel you know the best part of this story is this is a doe,” said Douville.
“I am going yeah right. I don’t know what kind of BS this is this time and he said, ‘No, come and look at it’,” said Buckmaster. “I’m a trained scientist by nature so I was examining and there was nothing there to make it a buck, not on that end anyhow so it’s a doe.
“I’m still kicking this around in my head,” said Douville.
Jeff Pritzl, a wildlife biologist with the DNR, said it has to do with testosterone levels.
“In deer those females that might have a higher testosterone level it’s expressed with antler growth,” said Pritzl
Pritzl says it’s rare, but it does happen.
“One out of 100,000,” said Pritzl.
For a man who usually only shoots bucks, he’s glad the 8-point doe fooled him.
“This one I made an exception,” said Douville.
Because it’s a story, he said, you just have to see to believe.
“Every hunting season until I am not on the planet anymore, this one is going to come up and I am sure I won’t be the only one bringing it up,” said Douville.
“It will come up at Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and every year, the doe will get bigger, the buck will get bigger,” said Buckmaster.
Douville said he plans to have the entire deer mounted.