West Bend, Wi – The Hunter’s Moon, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, comes once a year, and is “traditionally a time to hunt and store up meat for a long winter.” This past Wednesday evening the Hunter’s Moon really worked for bow hunter Kevin Gonring of Saukville who bagged a huge 18-pointer.
Gonring, 32, planned to go hunting Wednesday but got out of work late and finally arrived at his tree stand in Washington County around 5:45 p.m. “When I climbed up into the stand, I knew he was bedded down in the canary grass,” he said.
The temperature at the time was about 40 degrees. Gonring said he was with the wind. “I positioned myself to where I thought he was going to come out, and with a cold front, I knew they were going to be hungry.”
Gonring sat by a food plot and it was a “textbook scenario.”
“I saw him getting up out of his bed and walked in and worked his way slowly, right into the food plot. I knew he was big when he was walking at me. I put my binoculars up and tried to settle myself down before I made the shot.
“It was about a 20-yard shot and the rest is history,” said Gonring about the clean shot to the right shoulder.
On a history note – Gonring bagged a 12-pointer in November 2023 and said the buck he got this year was probably a brother to the one he took last year.
“It’s very similar genetics to the one I got last year,” he said. “He’s got a narrow frame and just a lot of points and length.”
The 12-pointer from last year measured a rough score of 162 inches and 3/8. “Not a record but a good size for a 4-year-old,” Gonring said. “The inside spread was 13 inches and 3/4.”
Share your successful hunting stories and photos by emailing judy@washingtoncountyinsider.com
