Mn.CO makes great shot to save a monster buck

[palisade1kid]

Crack shot conservation officer spares trophy buck (November 6, 2007)

When Minnesota DNR Enforcement’s pistol team enters competition, they can count on Conservation Officer (CO) Greg Oldakowski of Wadena for both his accuracy and focus on the firing line.

The former Marine was among the members of a CO team that took first place, for the fifth consecutive year, in a multi-state pistol competition this fall.

He recently used his shooting skills in another trophy situation where the prize thankfully got away.

While working north of Wadena recently, he received a call of two large bucks with locked horns. One of the large bucks, a 10-pointer weighing about 180 pounds, was already dead. A 14-pointer that weighed probably more than 200 pounds was dragging his dead sparring partner out of some cattails.

“He still had plenty of fight left in him when I arrived, so there was no way he was going to let me get close enough to free the dead deer,” Oldakowski said. “He was throwing the 10-pointer around like it was a rag doll.”

Because of the strength and agility left in the 14-pointer, Oldakowski made the decision to attempt to shoot the tines off the dead animal to free the live buck.

Using his .40 caliber pistol, Oldakowski closed within 15 feet of the deer before blasting off one tine of the dead deer. A couple of other shots missed their mark.

“The 14-pointer was trashing around quite a bit by this time; when I got another clear shot I fired, breaking off a second tine of the dead deer,” Oldakowski said.

Finally free, the 14-pointer ran away, unharmed except for maybe some ringing in his ears, but with no broken antler points. Oldakowski said it was one of the biggest deer he’s ever seen.

[Royce Aardahl]

Where's the action pics??