That's right kids, THIRTY-TWO verifiable points. Had I been told of this animal, I would not have believed it. THIRTY TWO points. Wow.

Sitting quietly under a large old tree, overlooking the crest of a hill on one side and the top of a large valley on the other, has proved very lucrative for me over the years.

Over the years the stand itself has sunk into the ground and has started to lean. Every year I promise myself that "this" is the year I straighten the stand. What generally ends up happening instead, is that I simply buckle myself in, around the tree and lean.

Many a deer have met their fate right here. I've tagged deer from the stand, from the crest of the hill and from the floor itself as they attempted to run past. This place is jammed packed with animals.

Here is just another shot of the valley where I've been very successful over the years. This was taken at dusk, after a long days hunt.

Flesh ... give me more flesh! This deer was taken as I was sleeping. I'm not kidding. Crashed on a hillside after a hard night with Jim Beam, 0430 comes mighty early. By 0800 I was sawing logs of my own, resting against the hill. I was awakened by the rustling of leaves as this deer ran from the creekbed through the valley floor and towards me. I awoke, drew down and took the shot in about 05 seconds or less, as the rustling leaves woke me up. How cool is that? I kill deer in my sleep. I'm not saying that pounding down the bourbon the night before is the way to go, but at least in this case, you can see what it yielded.

Beginning to clean my deer, once again.

I enjoy deer hunting. I'm not a freak, I simply enjoy it. Here I'm up to my elbows in deer blood & guts.

Taking the deer in to get her tagged.

I'm finally finished boning out the ribcage.

How many deer can you see? I caught these one afternoon, quite by accident. By the time I got my lens on them and focused, they were already on the move.

I took this young buck from a tree stand. Here we see he's been strung up and skinned. I don't like to pay some dude working in a meat locker to process "x" amount of pounds of venison, then give me someone else's deer, three months later. This way I get "MY" deer, in about four hours.

This guy was taken with two shots. The first shot caught him in the rear quarter as he was passing through a distant field. He went down but wasn't dead. He began to crawl away and I ran up as quickly as I safely could and put one through his brain pan to bring him all the way down. Not a good kill, but dinner nonetheless.

Now this one has a story. I don't tag many big bucks, because frankly, I don't have the patience. I was sitting in my tree stand when this young button buck came practically running across the creek, right at me. He stopped just under my tree stand, some four feet away from my rifle. I drew down on him and took the shot, however since it was so close my sights were way off. I aimed for his front section and blew the top of his little head off. Lucky I even hit him at that range. He was young, sure ... but goooood eatin man.

A friend of mine took this shot just as I was field dressing her and preparing to take out her insides. She took one right through the heart, at a full run. It was an amazing shot, trust me.

This little girl took one right through her brain pan as she bent down for a little salt lick.

Another amazing story. I told you I was impatient. I was out for about three hours and saw nothing. I had to pee & figured, "what the hell". I leaned my rifle against a tree, opened up my cover-alls and began to relieve myself. Just then, this four point buck came walking up on me. I dove for the ground, grabbing my rifle. With my cover-alls still down, I took the shot and tagged him right through the heart and lungs. He was dead before he hit the ground. Usually they run a little, but this guy just plopped down.

THIRTY TWO points. They call this an A-Typical antlered buck because it's points are all over the place. This guy was a monster. Don't yammer to me that all I take from the woods are does and button bucks.

Just so you don't think I'm sexest; I take my wife along on my deer hunts when I can. She's wonderful company and a better "natural" shot than I am.

My baby hunts in a pink jacket, sitting on a blue plaid blanket. Now, honestly, how many of you can say that?

My wife will hunt the deer, but once it's strung up, she isn't too keen on skinning it. She's not squimish about it, she just doesn't know how to do it.

It's sixteen degrees outside and the barn smells like deer hair, poop and guts. Salena turns her head as she laughs about the situation she's found herself in.

Don't mess with the Finns. She laughs, she giggles, she smells good and she wears a dress. She also kills. Just ask this buck how hard he's laughing at her now?

My girl smiling with her buck skull. How many guys can say that about their wives? Mine is the coolest.

Again, with this guy. I could fill this gallery with all of the shots taken of this wonderful creature.

Cavemann was my nickname in college and "Dirty Cavemann" was a reference to Dirty Harry, because of my love of firearms. Dirty Cavemann strikes one against hunger in this shot.

I took a lot of does and button bucks before this guy finally walked into my gunsight. He graced my freezer and my table for weeks afterwards. Thank you so much Mr. Bambi's dad.

Honetsly, I don't usually cut these animals up this way, but this thirty two point rack was too much to just let rot. It's unheard of almost.

Off with his head. I took the head of this buck so that I could proudly display his antlers. They hang in my office, next to a twelve point buck my grandfatehr took some forty years ago.

Count them up. Simply, unreal.

This is only one of a select few of the antlers I've chosen to keep. This one hangs in my office at home.

Here is the same skull as seen form the other side.

The bottom portion has to be glued to the top as the jaw is held together by sinew and muscle.

I like the jawbones glued together, but some folks prefer just to have the top half of the skull.

The teeth are used to chewing grass and other plant life. There are only two canine teeth up front for pulling apart plant skins.

Up close and personal, as seen looking through the nasal cavity while it hangs on the wall.

The first step is removing the head from the body. It's much more of a mess than one would imagine ... trust me.

Next you scrape away as much of the hair and flesh from the face as you can. Periodically dipping the skull in boiling water will help soften the tissue for pulling it away from the bone.

Once you have the skull free from most of the flesh you can begin to boil in earnest. Boiling will take away any of the remaining hair and flesh, kill any bacteria present and take away the smell. Some people, myself included, like to use a little bit of bleach in with the water to aid in the process.

Once it's boiled clean, let the skull sit and cool for a time. If you boil it too long or use too much bleach the bone in the skull will soften and begin to come apart.

Just look at that magnificent finished skull. The antlers are nothing less than amazing.

The finished product. Had I reported it, it would have been a trophy winner, no doubt. However, I hunt for meat, not for trophies. It's beautiful and I am proud of it, but I don't need a trophy, given to me by strangers, to tell me this is a special piece of Missouri history.

It's not all sitting in the stand you know. I'm a complete hunter. That means I take my deer, clean it & process it myself. That way, I get "MY" meat, and I get it done right, the same day. A meat locker will weigh your deer & figure you get "x" amount of meat from it. That means you may or you may not get the deer you brought in. You'll also wait 30 to 90 days for that meat. That's just not my style.

Once you clean out the organs such as the heart, the lungs and the liver, your rib cage should look like this.

Shown above is my wife, Salena. I would cut up the meat and she would take the fat off the pieces I handed her. We then took turns with the grind. The front half of the animal is pretty much all grind, for sausage, hamburger and stew meats. The rear half of the animal and the top portion of the back is where you get your steaks from.

Electric grinders are a heck of a lot more efficient and quick. They're also a lot more money. This takes time, but it works so well. Just be careful with your fingers.

Soon the table is awash in venison steaks. Yummy. Once cleaned, you wrap these up in cellophane, removing any air pockets. Then do that again, in the opposite direction. Next you wrap that up in some white butcher paper and mark what it is, with the date. You're done. For the cost of a bullet an a few hours of work, you can get up to one hundred pounds of steroid free meat.

The hook you see lying on the table is a wonder tool. It aids terribly in pulling meat from the bone and saves your fingers too. Another really great tool to invest in is a steal mesh glove. If you're digits are worth fifteen or twenty bucks, then there you have it.

Sometimes when you check your deer in, as in this instance, the game officers look for disease.

This is such a cool tool. It usually takes me fifteen or twenty minutes to take the head. This guy did this in seconds.

I loved that movie; the original, not the bloody remake. Off with a snap, or a saw ... whatever.

He saws right through the skull, in order to get to the brain, looking for disease.

It sort of made a suction sound when the man pulled the top portion of the skull free. The brain looked good. Okay, now let's eat it.

I love this pose. I stole it from my friend John, but I love it nonetheless. I do this pose with virtually every deer I clean.

There is nothing better than a Jeep to go off into the woods, looking for deer. Here we see this one looking quite cool.

They tell me you can't hunt deer with a MAK-90. They say it's too small a round. They say it won't bring down a full sized buck. I say nonsense. This is my world out here, and this is my favorite deer medicine.

Sure I own other rifles. But for some reason, I love this little ride. It's small, it's light and it was cheap, so if I drop it or scratch it in the brush.... it won't cost me a nervous breakdown. I've brought down many deer with this little weapon.

Out here, I'm King. I'm not wrong, nothing is my fault ... all is right with the world around me ... out here. I love this place.

Ask Mr. Monster Buck about the 762x239mm round coming out of the MAK-90.

The true face of deer hunting. I begged my wife at this point to go on up to bed. She wouldn't. She demanded to hang with me until this buck was cleaned, dressed and in the freezer. She was also pregnant at the time. I love that woman of mine.