Fenger continued: "Anyway, it was muzzleloader season and I had all of my gear for muzzleloader hunting in the car. I'm hunting some different property but keeping a watch on deer movement on this farm. So, I go down there one evening and check for tracks and see that nothing has been coming across the river. The next night I go back and check for tracks, and again there are no tracks. The (third) day I go back down to the farm again and check for tracks, and it's like a highway.

The deer had moved through there big-time. All I had with me was my muzzleloader hunting gear. I went up to the farmhouse to see if they would give me permission to hunt with my muzzleloader, but no one was around. I knew the other brother had another place nearby, so I called him and talked to him about letting me hunt with my muzzleloader. He told me 40 does and fawns crossed through there shortly after I left that second night around 4:30. He said he didn't see any bucks in the bunch that went through. And he said I could go ahead and hunt with my muzzleloader."

Fenger went back to the farm and made a loop around the property so he could come in the back way. He was hoping to be able to get to his stand without spooking any deer on the way in. He was trying to keep his footprints in the area to a minimum. He got up in his stand and settled in. It was cold, and there were 6 to 8 inches of snow on the ground. The wind was blowing strong and variable.

"I'd been sitting there about 15 minutes when I heard something coming in behind me and to my left," Fenger recalled. "I looked back and could make out a deer coming through the brush. After a few minutes, I could see that it was a buck and I estimated he'd (measure) about 130 inches or better. After watching him for a few minutes, I felt the wind hitting the right side of my face and I knew he'd smell me in a minute. He did and he took off back the way he came.

I sat there for about another five to 10 minutes and then I heard something coming from my right. I watched that area, and in a few minutes, a doe and two fawns came out into the cut bean field about 30 yards out in front of my stand. In a few minutes, another group of does and fawns came out into the bean field to my left. Now there were 10 deer about 30 yards out in front of me. A short time later, I felt the wind hitting the back of my neck. The deer all looked up in my direction, then ran across the field and crossed the road. When those deer ran off, another six came up out of a gravel pit off to my right front, and they ran off in the same direction as the first group."