Colleen Kane Reilly, Holy Cross College '98-99 and one time Secretary of the HCC Student Council gave birth to Brendan Kane Reilly on May 29, 2008 at 7:45 a.m. Brendan came into the world measuring 20 and a 1/2 inches and weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces. Colleen's first son, Nolan is now 2. Colleen lives in Cleveland with her husband Sean and works for KeyBank. (Photo attached)
Barry Threadgold, HCC '98 - 99 and one time R.A. of first floor James Hall is the Manager of the Oak Tree Farm in Clark, SD. Oak Tree is famous for its hunting and lodging. When Barry is not running the facility, he is playing Rambo in the surrounding woods. He miraculously bagged a 28 point elk with a bow and arrow! The prized trophy got Barry on the news and all kinds of acclaim. Check out this video clip from the nightly news and make sure and read Barry's very own story of how he stalked his prey.
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By Barry Threadgold
November 1, 2007
My two farm helpers Luke and Bobby had game cameras up most of the summer to see what kind of deer were in the area. We had recorded several nice deer throughout the summer. This past Sunday we saw a monster that made all the others look like pip-squeaks. We saw this big-boy for the first time when we checked the camera on Monday morning. The camera was placed a half mile East and North of our lodge at the old Louis Brush farm.
Because Luke and I were busy combining corn that day we decided Bobby and his wife would move a ladder stand from a field up north into the area where the camera was and see if we could catch him coming through again. We already had two other stands put up to the east and if we had a south east wind like the one projected, those stands likely would not work.
I got up at 5:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. I had plenty of time to sneak into the stand before sun-up and it seemed as though the sun was taking its time that morning. There were three separate groups of coyotes howling back and forth to each other and then a few of our guest hunters were going home at around 6:00 a.m. There was still another hour-and-a-half till shooting time. I was becoming tired. Minutes later I gave Luke a call to see if he and Bobby had gotten out of bed yet to go hunting.
It turns out they decided the wind was not going to be right and Bobby's wife was in town so they were both in bed. Literally five seconds after hanging up the phone I saw a doe about ten yards away looking up at me. There was a fawn another 20 yards behind being chased around by a little spike buck. This little buck made a weenie grunt as he was chasing this fawn around the tree next to me. All the while, the doe stood under me about 5 yards away. The doe must have caught my scent. She stomped the ground a couple times and the three darted off.
At about 7:45 a.m. a yearling doe appeared 25 yards away from me walking down the tree row across the lane. It suddenly stopped to tinkle on the scrape of the mighty buck and nibble on the broken twigs he had recently ruffed up. I began to think this might be a good time to fill my doe tag. I raised my bow and was ready to pull back when I heard another weenie grunt. I immediately thought the spike buck was back catching the scent of this doe so I set my bow down and decided to wait.
Out of the corner of my eye I see this huge mass of antlers down my side of the tree line cutting across at a steady pace nosing the scent of the doe. I had thought to myself, "Is this the one that we saw on camera?" I didn't have time to count his antlers. From our trail camera picture we counted up to 19 points and I new I only had about three seconds to pull back on this big boy or he would be gone. I had believed that if I saw a monster I would probably be shaking so much that there would be no way I could keep it together to aim. But I felt absolutely sure the second I saw him that he had to be the one, and I had three seconds to do what I needed to do if he was to be mine.
I quickly pulled back. I could tell that he has absolutely nothing on his mind except the lady ahead. As I was pulling back, a grunt of my own crept out from my mouth, making the buck pause for a second. The string sprung and the arrow flew. The buck became startled and rushed into the trees with the doe. Five seconds later, I heard a thud and new in my mind that he was mine. I sat in the stand for the next hour listening to the birds sing as I enjoyed the peaceful breeze.
It was beautiful. I saw my arrow lying on the ground turned 45 degrees back from the angle I shot. I figured it must have passed through him and he either kicked it back or it hit something hard and deflected back. At 8:55 a.m., after an hour of wondering if I did indeed hit him and if this was real, I climbed down and inspected the bloodied arrow and fletching. It looked like it had passed through the lungs. The trail was dark and light liver and lungs were vital enough for sure.
I decided to give a little more time just in case the thud wasn't him crashing down. I didn't want this one to get away, so I went back to Luke's house and woke up Bobby. I showed him the arrow. He agreed that it was a lung shot from the signs of blood on the fletching. After talking with Bobby, it was decided we would give the deer a couple more hours before following the trail.
As time went by, I did everything I could to not let anyone know the anxiety I was feeling. I called my wife and told her I thought I hit the big one. The thing was that no one had any idea how big this big one actually was. The only people who new about the trail camera picture were myself, Luke, Bobby and his wife. As I was walking up to the lodge, other guides and customers started coming out and asking if I got a big one, knowing that I went out this morning. I said, "Well, I think if I got the one I think I did, then it is about a 20 pointer." I was met with jeers of "Yeah, right, huh... huh... huh... huh..."
In order to get these guys to believe me, I pulled out the image from my pocket and showed them the trail camera picture. "Holy Cow...Wow…Oh my God...That's him?" I quickly snatched it back. We had a Bass Pro-Shop camera crew at the Lodge along with a Pheasants Forever crew and I knew the timeliness of having them here. Word would travel fast and none of those guys even saw the picture.
I began second guessing myself more and more, the longer I waited to find out if it was the buck in the picture. If it wasn't, and this camera crew followed me onto the trail for this deer and it turns out to be a little buck, I knew how embarrassed I would be. They were going to do some pheasant hunting until noon so I thought I would take Luke and Bobby and his wife out to make sure it was the right buck before I embarrassed myself on camera.
After going into town to get some ice for the deer, we decided to head up and get on that trail exactly three hours after I let the arrow go. I couldn't wait anymore. Once we got to where the arrow rested, we noticed a shower of blood at the spot, and then a steady stream. We knew it wasn't going to take long to get there. Through some thickets and up about 50 yards lay the buck.
From about 25 yards back, he looked like a bigger, typical five pointer on the side of the rack that was up. Bobby said, "No, that's not him, but it's a nice deer." He turned around and gave me a high-five. I felt somewhat deflated for a second, but then I heard Luke, who continued ahead belt out, "Oh Yeah! Yeah, that's him!!! That's him!!!"
The rush of success filled me with a sense of joy you couldn't believe. We were all jumping up and down, high-fiving, giving each other hugs and congrats and thank yous to all. The feeling was unbelievable. I was in awe. We took a couple of quick pictures with it and got out of there because the camera crew wanted to film the actual trailing of the deer so we left it as it was. No one took time to count the points. The moment was not about that. It was really something special.
The teamwork that went into the whole thing was amazing. Luke found these nice scrapes and rubs along the tree line and put his game camera in the right place. Bobby, along with his wife's approval, put the deer stand in a place where I would not have had time to get nervous and blow the shot. I woke up early and got it done, like my wife told me to do the night before. I had asked her if she could take Olivia, our daughter, into day care. She said in these exact words, "Fine, But Get It Done!" I had promised her that if she let me go, and I got this one, than I would hang it up.
I called Tony Stokely, the Conservation Officer to come verify that it was indeed taken legally. I hate rumors and didn't want to ever regret that I didn't call him. He came out, took pictures, and congratulated me. I then called the Pheasants Forever and Bass Pro guys and told them that I was wrong saying it was a 20 pointer. It was actually closer to a 30 pointer!
I left for the Taxidermist in the Twin Cities at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning because I couldn't sleep and I wanted to get it in good hands to get it mounted before something happened to it.
What a beautiful animal! Many people who have seen his antlers say they look like an old oak tree so I have named him "OakyDoaky." His official green score is 212 and 3/8 inches with 28 measurable points. There were 4 points that were broken off which were too short to count and a few other small ones that were also too small.
The buck is at our hunting lodge. I had the original deer full body mounted. I also had a set of antlers replicated and had a replica shoulder mount done too. We will use the shoulder mount to take to shows as it is a little easier to haul around than the full body mount.
The Bass Pro Shops TV crew created a segment the same day I shot the buck. It should air later this fall on their TV show. I was offered $34,000 for the deer, but did not take the offer.
Since the event, we have had a lot more interest in our white-tail deer hunts. The hunters that stay with us come from all over the U.S. and many of them have seen the deer on the Internet.
This deer is the state record holder for Archery White-Tail deer hunting. Around town, people now refer to me as, "the guy that shot the big buck".
Thanks for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed it.
Barry Threadgold
Oak Tree Farm Manager
16862 425th Ave
Clark, SD 57225
Oaktreefarm.com
(605) 690-5992
