The year 2020 will be one deer hunting season Jacob Kulkay of Andover will never forget.
Kulkay shot an 18-point buck Wednesday, Dec. 2, with a muzzleloader in the Pillsbury State Forest west of Baxter. He estimated the deer was about 270 pounds.
“I was walking in the Pillsbury State Forest on my second day of hunting there and hadn't seen a deer the whole time,” Kulkay said. “And this deer got up and ran about 100 yards from me and then looked back, just long enough for me to get a shot. A shot that resulted in it going down right on the spot.”
Kulkay, who admitted to getting a little bit of buck fever, shot the buck behind the front shoulder. It was no easy task in getting the buck from the forest to his truck. In fact it took him about six hours.
“I was just dragging it because it's such rough terrain, but it was well worth it and, you know, a once in a lifetime deal,” he said.
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Kulkay said dragging the buck to his truck could have been even a longer process, but he had some help. Kulkay posted his trophy buck on Facebook and his mother saw the post and asked him if he needed some help. He was like “Yeah, that would be great.” As it turned out his mother called Eric Sullivan, who purchased her house in Sylvan Township years ago. Sullivan and his two daughters helped Jacob Kulkay drag the buck out of the woods for the last part of the trek.
Kulkay’s family is originally from the Sylvan Township area. His grandmother still lives in the township and his parents, Glen and Lynette Kulkay, moved five years ago.
Jacob Kulkay said he shot the buck about 12:30 p.m. and got it into his truck by about 6:30 p.m.
“This is the biggest deer I’ve ever shot,” Kulkay said. “It was almost hard to believe. When you see it — you just imagine seeing something like that in your dreams — but when you see it in real life, it's like, it kind of throws you a little bit. So even when I walked up to it I wasn't quite sure, you know, if this was real or not.
“To have an opportunity like this ... to come up to a state forest and see something like this is truly amazing.”
Kulkay, who has hunted since he was about 12, loves to deer hunt and he also is an archery hunter.
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JENNIFER KRAUS may be reached at jennifer.kraus@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5851. Follow me at www.twitter.com/jennewsgirl on Twitter.
