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The end of a Legend.....The story of Kreuger

1/5/2013

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In order to get a complete understanding of the story of Kreuger, we must go back to the Wisconsin gun season of 2010.  During 2010 I was after one key buck that had luck earlier in the season when my arrow would strike a sapling directly in front of him.  I had many trail cameras up to capture where this big eight point (known as Santana) was cruising.  During the gun season I had one of my Covert Scouting Cameras overlooking a bedding area with a small quantity of corn.  Everytime I went to look at the pictures I hoped I would get pictures of Santana.  However, a couple new bucks would catch my eye.  Two 2 1/2 year old bucks were making this area there number one hangout area.  One of these bucks would be named Repeat (seen on 2012 hitlist page) and the other would be granted a special name because of his rack looking like that of the horror movie character, Freddy Kreuger.  So that was it, this buck was deemed as Kreuger, and instantly I started thinking about what this buck could become. 

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Well the 2010 season came and went as quickly as the hunting season always does, and once again the season ended which meant that preparation for the next season begins.  The spring and summer started off slowly as I wasnt really getting any pictures of the key bucks or shooter bucks in general.  However, this wouldn't change my pre-season tactics.  I still kept my mineral sites active and the Frigid Forage food plots were flourishing.  Little bucks were the norm for most of the season until the end of July when finally my hopes and dreams were lifted when a buck from the 2010 season would show up and show his impressive ten point rack.  This buck nonetheless was Kreuger.  Once Kreuger showed up on the property, he made the Monstser Raxx mineral sites and Frigid Forage food plots his normal go to places.  I was able to get hundreds of pictures throughout the whole season, but he would never show his face in daylight.  As the season progressed I got a pretty good idea of what he had on top of his head, but was on the edge whether or not I wanted to take this magnificent animal.

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The months kept going by and still no sign of Kreuger in the daylight.  I hunted as hard as ever just to at least get a look at this big boy.  One afternoon on November 5th I would get that opportunity.  However, as sneaky as this future stud was, he eluded me and snuck up through a thorn/briar patch and that was the last I would see of him.  After the rut started come to a close, our Wisconsin gun season opened up.The only thing I could think about was if Kreuger had eluded the "orange army".  Thanksgiving day I thought I had seen the last of Kreguer when a tall racked buck came busting out of the woods.  With no time to think or hesitate, I pulled back the hammer on my T/C Omega and let the Barnes Bullet fly at the big ol' whitetail.  However, when I came up to the buck I would realize that I had not ended the saga of Kreuger.  Instead I had unleashd the jaugernaut at a mature buck we had named "The Ghost" (See his story under the hunting stories link on the news page).

Gun hunting ended, and I was happier than ever, having harvested my biggest whitetail in Wisconsin to date. However, Kreuger was still on my mind, and I wondered if the ten point had made it through the shotgun and muzzleloader seasons.  My cameras were placed over a Frigid Forage turnip plot in hopes that I would get him feeding.  Leaving my cameras out, I headed down to Iowa to film a buddy for Haastyle Hunting.  While sitting there in stand I wondered if the big boy would waltz into the plot.  Upon my return I hurried back and checked my camera.  I was overly excited as to what I saw. 
Kreuger was in the plot everyday and well I even watched through videos as he would slowly come back with both antlers, then one, then none. However, after  countless hours shed hunting I would have nothing to show other than  finding the buck known as Santana dead in a fenceline.

Now with the 2011 season over and Kreuger shedded out on my property.  Once again we were back into "preparation" mode.  The cameras went up, the food plots got planted, and the wait began for the 2012 hunting season to begin.  The summer started off just like 2011 had.  No big shooter bucks were showing their face except for the buck that roamed the woods with Kreuger back in 2010, Repeat.  The summer cruised on and I began to think that all I would be chasing is this small racked four year old whitetail known as Repeat.  There was nothing wrong with chasing a mature animal like this, but all I could think about was if or when Kreuger would pop up on the Covert cameras.
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Well on the morning of July 13th, 2012 Kreuger finally would show himself on one of my Covert cams, and boy did he make a statement with his first picture of the season (seen in picture to right).  He was back, and well as you can see his rack absolutely exploded from the year prior.  Like the previous years Kreuger kept on coming back after his first appearance of the season, but once again all at night.  I can easily say that he had my full attention throughout the season.  All I could think about was getting a chance at this unbelievable Wisconsin whitetail.
The season progressed this way as the calendar kept pushing on.  July....gone, August...gone, September...gone, October....gone.... November... FINALLY HERE!!!!

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The rut was finally here and well, all I can really say is that I was super pumped to see if Kreuger would finally make a mistake.  As the intense rut progressed I never did see Kreuger.  However, one night while up at my girlfriend's, I got a call from my dad.  He had spotted Kreuger while scouting from his gun stand.  Finally a daylight spotting of this big boy.  I hurried up back home. I checked a camera near my main stand that was set up in a big willow tree overlooking a turnip plot.  I climbed up into my stand, but couldnt wait to get home and check the card. So what can a guy do in this situation? I put the card into my video camera and checked out the pictures.  Sure enough I had a daylight photo of Kreuger in my food plot! I couldn't believe it.  I made a commitment to this stand and had a feeling it would be "The One".  However, saturday night would only give me a 2 year old nine point to watch.  The next night however would be a different situation.   I was back in in the willow stand waiting for the action to start.  I wathed multiple bucks chasing doe, but no Kreuger.  Around 4:00 pm I scanned back to a trail leading up to my plot, and sure enough there was the beast standing on other edge of my plot.  I couldn't believe that I could possibly get a shot at this stud buck with my bow!  However, as luck would have it, Kreuger saw a doe across the marsh and walked out of my dreams.

Finally I had a sighting of Kreuger while on stand.  However, between working and other filming obligations for Haastyle Hunting, I wasn't able to hunt Kreuger again until the Wisconsin gun season.  My Covert cameras would end up telling me that Kreuger was making the Monster Magnet Frigid Forage food plot his stomping ground during the rut.  I was torn as I saw picture after picture of Kreuger by this stand in the day light hours.  All I could hope for would be that payback would be served by a 250 grain TEZ Barnes Bullet during the gun season.

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Saturday November 17th, 2012 was opening day for the Wisconsin firearm deer season. Like   all of the years prior I loaded up my T/C Omega with Blackhorn 209 and a deadly 250 gr. TEZ Barnes bullet and headed to my stand. The morning started off to a  great start with seeing five bucks chasing and dogging does. However, not one presented a rack big enough to make me want to cock the hammer back on my   smokepole.

The morning then got very interesting when I heard four shots coming from my neighbor only about 300 yards away. I watched the direction and caught movement. A doe came cruising through an open CRP field and ran up into my hardwoods. I waited for something else to come behind, when all of a sudden, I  seen a big body deer coming out of my marsh. I put up my gun and sure enough it  was my big hitlister "Kreuger". He was zig-zagging like a mad man with his nose  to the ground. All of my mouth grunts and yells couldn't stop the big boy . Off  into my woods he went. 

Once in the woods I could still see his big 11  point rack glistening in the sun and right next to him was HIS doe. I thought  "Oh yeah, keep on lockdown and stay with your girlfriend". I was able to glass  and film the buck all day in my hardwoods with no shot. Around 1 pm he decided  to come back into the CRP for a snack but I could tell he almost sensed that  something was up and with that he went back into the woods. I thought that this  was the last time I was going to see him. I put my head in my hands with frustration.

The day continued and light slowly drifted away. However, within a half hour of last light, deer started piling into the field, both bucks  and does. With only minutes to spare before the first day of season would
end I  watched a yearling doe come out into the corn field, and right behind her  was  "Kreuger". I settled into my T/C and let him walk into my crosshairs at 100  yards.  BOOM SHAKA LAKA!!! The Barnes Bullet went on its way!!!

After the shot he stood  there all rutted up and still trying to tend his doe. So with my nerves making me shake like a leaf, I attempted to reload my muzzleloader.  With powder spilled and the dropping of primers I finally got the gun loaded and shot again at Kreuger. His doe took off and he  followed.  I couldn't even comprehend what had just happened.  I called my dad and we discussed a game plan.  It was decided to let him sit for an hour and then we would go track him.

After thirty minutes the anticipation got the best of me.  I had to get out and look for blood and potentially the best buck of my life.  We drove our Kawasaki Mule out to the spot where I figured Kreuger stood when I shot.  NO BLOOD! I started getting worried that I may have missed.  Not once, but TWICE!  My dad and I searched vigorously for blood but no such luck.  I turned to my last ditch effort, deer trails and body searching.  I wasn't in the woods for more than ten minutes when my flashlight would catch the body of a big deer on the ground.  Attached to this body was none other than a 160inch 11 point rack.  I GOT KREUGER!!!!  I couldn't ask for it to happen any better.  My dad and I together when I find my biggest buck to date, simply awesome.

He is by far my best  buck to date and ends a 3 year quest for him. Still on cloud nine about harvesting this incredible whitetail. I thank God still for letting me follow this buck for three years and ultimately harvesting him.  Also, a big thanks to my sponsors for helping me grow, capture, and harvest this whitetail.  Thanks to my family and friends.  The biggest thanks I have easily goes to my father, Dan Haas.  He stuck with me from season after season following this big whitetail, helping me put out mineral, working on our food plots, and putting game plans together.  GOD IS GREAT!

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Welcome Our Two Newest Sponsors.... Barnes Bullets and Frigid Forage!!!!!!!!!!!

1/16/2012

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We would like to take the time to welcome two new sponsors on board for Haastyle Hunting.  The first company is a leader in bullet production and we have used their bullets religiously for the past several years, WELCOME TO TEAM HAASTYLE BARNES BULLETS!!!!  We will be putting your bullets back to work for shortly here, when myself and pro-staffer Kevin Pettit head down to Arizona for Javelina at the end of February.  Check out their great bullets at www.barnesbullets.com

The second company you all know from my "Frigid Weekly Updates".  Welcome Frigid Forage to our team.  We can't wait to get back out and get your seed into our food plots for another outstanding year.  Below is a video of some deer in one of our annual food plots with the Big N Beasty Brassica seed blend.  Make sure to check out this great seed company at www.frigidforage.com.
 
p.s. The camera used to capture this great video was a DLC Covert Extreme TL... Talk about great IR Video!!!!
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The Thanksgiving Day Buck...."The Ghost"

12/8/2011

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Now that the Wisconsin firearm season has come to a close, its time to share with all of you my story of the buck I took this past thanksgiving day, otherwise known as "The Ghost"
    In order to understand this story to the fullest, we must go back in time to early September before any hunting season had opened up here in Wisconsin.  Trail cameras were up and the food plot was still growing, and well the big bucks just didnt quite want to show themselves on camera yet.  After months and months of checking our DLC Covert scouting cameras, no mature bucks were showing up on Haastyle Acres other than a nice 3 1/2-4 1/2 that we had named "Krueger" in the previous season, in which was just on the borederline of being a shooter buck.  I was down in the dumps at the end of August (which is usually when I get my mature bucks on cam).  However, the week of September 4th thru September 10th would prove different from the past few months.
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  As I went around my property picking up SD cards, I didnt expect anything big to show up on camera.  I replenished my mineral sites, swapped out cards, and headed back to the house.  I plugged in the various cards and ran through the pitures and the usual suspects showed up, yearlings/2-year olds/does/and raccoons.  However ,as I went through the card from my Covert ll that was down in the bedding area of my property, I came across a somewhat eerie picture of a big buck coming to my mineral site.  I could tell this was definitely a big buck but with somewhat of the rack almost being seethrough, but I could not tell just how big he really was.

    In order to get a clear opinion, I instantly clicked a photo with my cell phone and sent it off to some of the Haastyle Crew.  Instantly I received responses from Joe, Seth, and Jeff. All gave me the some opinion...SHOOTER BUCK.  As Jeff came by later we came up with a name, "The Ghost", due to the eerie appearance of this mature buck in the picture.  The saga had now begun to harvest this impressive animal.
    Before I knew it, archery season had come and gone.  Though it was successful due to seeing many deer and even a couple of three year olds that I had on camera throughout most of the summer, I still did not see any sign that "The Ghost" was still running around the area.  With my head down, and my dreams of taking this animal going down the drain, I had almost chalked up the season as a failure when it came to harvesting a mature buck.  However, maybe the Wisconsin gun season will be the time to redeem myself.  The week before the opener was upon us and I was as excited as a lil' kid in Toys R' Us. 
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    Opening day arrived and I sat, and sat, and sat longer until finally I seen my first shooter of the season.  An eighteen inch wide eight point came out of a pine plantation on our property and stood on top of the hill just as if he were Bambi's dad.  However, this ol' buck knew better than coming down the hill.  He stayed out of the comfortable range of my muzzleloader (255 yards).  As he walked off, I figured that would be the only shooter I would see all season.  As the opening weekend came and went, I went back to work with my head down once again and a feeling of defeat slowly coming upon me.  As Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday came to a close, my mindset changed from being down in the dumps to a feeling that a buck is going down this coming week.

    Thanksgiving Day had arrived and all of Team Haastyle was excited to hit the woods up again for a big ol' swamp buck.  My dad and I went over the game plan in our wood shed and finally headed off to our stands one hour before light. I arrived at "The Log Cabin in the Sky" and climbed up into my home on stilts for the day.  Up went the shooting windows and in went the Blackhorn 209/Barnes TEZ/ and CCI primer into my Omega.  I was now ready to put the whack n stack on a big mature buck.  The sun started to rise in the east just as a doe came out of a stand of pines to the west.  However, she was not just walking on out, she was zig-zagging and trotting across an old food plot of mine.  Right behind her was another deer, ITS A BUCK! I grabbed my binoculars and glassed the deer.  It was one of the two year old bucks I was watching throughout the year and he was hot on his girlfriend's trail.  I watched as the two lovers trotted into my marsh.  As I watched these two deer disappear into the jungle of cattails, I heard several low grunts coming from the same direction from which the two deer had came from.  As I swung to look out that window, a tall racked, big bodied buck busted out of the woodline.  I instantly knew that this was my shooter buck for the year.  As if it were a part of my body, my T/C Omega went up and the hammer was cocked back.  The big ol' buck stopped for one last time before busting in the marsh.  However, what he didnt know is someone was about to get Haastyle on him!!!  With a squeeze of the trigger, I ignited the Blackhorn 209 and the 250 gr. "Fist of Death" went barreling into his body cavity. 
    Smoke filled the air as I watched the magnificent animal barrel back into the woods from where he had originally came.  The buck barreled through the woods like he just stole somebody's wallet.  I thought that I had seen what I call "the death run".  This is when the animal's body is mere inches from the ground and it almost appears as if their legs are above their head due to them running so hard.  It had happened so fast that I sat back in my chair in awe.  I tried my hardest to give the buck a half hour of time just in case it wasnt a very good hit.  I got down from the "Log Cabin in the Sky" and headed to where the excitement happened.  I looked around for blood but could not find any sign of a hit.  I started to worry, but knowing where I had seen him last in the woods, I started to head that direction.  As I slowly walked up the trail I noticed something bright white catching my eye in the wood line.  Could this be my buck?  I went from a slow walk to almost a jog.  I came up to the spot only to be disappointed that it was just a downed hickory tree.  I instantly went from a little worried to about ten times more worried.  As I turned to the right to head back to get my dad to help me track, I noticed a tall, tall rack attached to a deer laying on its side. MY BUCK! MY BUCK! OH MY GOSH!! HE'S HUGE!!!  I walked on up to the animal and the rack only grew larger as I came closer.  As I went to grab the rack, I realized....it's "The Ghost".  
    I couldnt believe that the buck that I had only one eerie picture of from Sept. 6th had made a mistake on Thanksgiving Day.  The season had finally turned around and surprised me with this great buck. I went to my knees and bowed my head, thanking God for this magnificent animal.  I went back to get my dad to show him just exactly what I had just harvested.  I will always remember my dad's first impression going up to my buck and the sense of pride that he had that his son had harvested such a great animal.  What an incredible experience to give thanks for.  I also give thanks for the friends and family that have celebrated this remarkable animal with me.  What a great Thanksgiving Day!
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Mid Summer Update

7/10/2011

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The middle of the summer is upon us and bowhunting is getting closer.  The Haastyle Crew has been working their butts off putting in food plots for this fall/winter.  The blend we are currently using is made from Frigid Forage.  The main seed being implemented in our food plots this year is called "Big N Beast Brassicas".  The seed includes brassica, turnip, sugar beets, carrot, and radishes.  We will be posting weekly updates of the sites so you the viewers can see what to expect with the plots for growth and see how great this seed blend works.  Stay tuned for the weekly "Plot Pics" which will be posted right here on my blog page. 

Another big event happening right now is our first annual trail cam photo contest.  We are giving out a lot of great prizes this year and cant wait to see all of your pictures.  Please stop by the Trail Cam Photo Contest page on the website and start sending me your pictures.

Lastly,  we know you have all been waiting for our 2011 promo and it is coming together nicely!!! Cant wait



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