Sonny Datoli had an obsession for three years.
“I named him Weezer, because on the trail cam his gut hung down and, in my mind, he probably wheezed when he walked,” he messaged.
Three years ago he told partner Mark Anderson, “From this point forward Weezer is the only deer I will hunt and nobody else in our spot would be allowed to shoot him. We made the deal. I sat up in the tree for days, weeks and years, to the point people made fun of me and called me a bird watcher, etc. . . . Just waiting for my chance at Weezer.”
On Nov. 18, the chance came.
“Now hunters sit so long they dream of a perfect scenario in their heads, well this was it,” he messaged. “Weezer was gonna walk five yards from my stand. When that happened, I was ready. I drew back waiting and I had a perfect shot but my trigger/ release wouldn’t work! You believe this?”
He got the release replaced and spent the next day in the tree stand.
“[At] 5:45 p.m., I see the does running towards me and a giant shinning rack chasing them!!” Datoli messaged. “Weezer. Now the does can do a bunch of stuff to help or hinder a hunter .”
These walked right past at 26 yards with Weezer closing in. Datoli drew but had to let off.
“At this point, he saw me let off, but the doe to my left caught his eye again and he walked forward six steps into my lane,” he said.
He had a tough quartering shot.
“The shot was dang near perfect, if you don’t mind me saying,” he said.
But tale goes on as they had to get a tracker to find the deer. The tracker’s fiancée suggested where the buck would be found. And it was.
The McHenry County buck green-scored 193.
“Oh, little added feature: we found his sheds last year,” Datoli concluded.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22134073/botw12_02_20shed.jpg)
