Chuck Fenger's giant muzzleloader kill tallied a gross score of 176 4/8 inches and netted 165 2/8. Photo courtesy of Hugh Price.

Chuck Fenger was watching a group of 10 does and fawns about 30 yards in front of his tree stand. It was late in the muzzleloader season, with snow on the ground and an intermittent, swirling wind. He felt the wind hitting the back of his neck, and watched as the deer looked up, wheeled around and ran across the field.

I better get out of here, Fenger thought. I'm ruining my spot with this whirling wind. I'm educating all of these deer.

As he started to climb down from his stand, Fenger heard a deer coming from his right. He looked and saw deer feet under the cedar trees. A few seconds later, he saw the deer's body. It was a buck -- and it was a shooter. There was a small opening in the brush that the deer would reach in moments. Fenger raised his muzzleloader.

Chuck Fenger is a lifelong deer hunter. He hunts with a bow during the archery season and with rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader or whatever is legal during the long Minnesota deer season that stretches from September to December. He's out there hunting deer from the heat and bugs of the early season to the cold, snow and brutal wind of December. During the 2006 muzzleloader season, he noticed a lot of deer activity on a nearby farm. Using his binoculars, he could see that not only were there a lot of deer on that farm, there were also some big bucks on the property.

A couple of brothers farmed the property, and Fenger was anxious to get permission to hunt it. "I asked if I could bowhunt in there after the muzzleloader season," he said. "At first, they told me they didn't let anyone hunt in there, not even family. I kind of knew the one guy and I did some real talking, and he finally gave me permission to bowhunt only. So, I bowhunted the area in 2007, but I didn't get a shot that season."

Fenger thanked the brothers for letting him hunt the area and gave them a bag of seed corn to replace some of the corn they leave for the deer and other wildlife every year. The brothers gave him permission to bowhunt again after the 2008 muzzleloader season. "After the 2008 rifle season, I went back into the property and set up my tree stand for bowhunting," Fenger said, "and then I got out of there and stayed out. I just watched the area from the road with my binoculars."

The wooded area is along a river, and once the river freezes up, the deer start coming across to feed in fields on the farm. The woods act as a funnel through which the deer pass when they come across the frozen river. Fenger's tree stand is set up in those woods.