Doug Nelson grew up on a farm in Central Illinois. At an early age he began trapping and hunting coon, squirrel, and rabbit. No one in his family hunted deer. He said he probably knew the farm better in the dark than in daylight from years of coon hunting during his high school years. 12 years ago, he got permission from his father and uncles to deer hunt on the land. Over those years, he set up trail cameras and learned a lot about how deer move on the property.

During the 2021 season, he noticed a cool-racked young deer that he saw regularly during a few archery and gun seasons. He was young and showed promise, so he watched him grow. Seeing him again in 2022, he saw his rack was a lot bigger than any of the other bucks, he was 17 or 18 points with several stickers and kickers (smaller points coming off the main antlers). He was a big-framed deer, skeletally speaking, and he guessed him to be 4-5 years old. Doug had three hunting mentors, and they all told him not to shoot that deer as he had the age class and potential to be a great deer. That’s when Doug named the deer Powerball. He didn’t play the lottery regularly and said he’d likely never win, but harvesting a buck like that one would be a jackpot of a lifetime, a powerball so to speak.

That season, Doug got hundreds of pictures of him in front of the cameras. He also identified one of his three main bedding places on the farm. The last day of the second muzzle loader season, he encountered him and had him in his scope. It was all he could do to let him walk away. That season, he poorly hit a mature 8-point deer that he never found, which made that decision not to shoot Powerball even more difficult. Now this pursuit went from watching and hoping to a full-blown obsession.

Doug anxiously awaited camera season the next year to see if he made it through and stayed on the farm as he had in the past years, as well as to see if he made a jump in size. In 2023 he added even more trail cameras on the farm. It was then he got his first velvet picture of him and boy did he blow up. He went from being a 140-150-inch class deer to a 180-class deer. He was his target buck from now on!

He saw him many times hunting that fall. In November, he saw him give a 8-point buck a whopping then dominantly run him off behind his stand bringing him within 40 yards, but he didn’t have a good shot with his crossbow, so he didn’t feel comfortable chancing the shot. All the other encounters were 100-plus yards out during bow season or 200 yards out during gun season, but he continued to be a homebody and stay on the farmstead.

In 2024, he added more cameras and six new stands. In October, he saw him ease down in a shallow creek and begin to drink. He ranged him at 50 feet and felt comfortable out to six feet with his crossbow, but a tree limb obstructed his shot, and once again, he opted not to shoot. On December 14th, he stayed home that morning with his wife, Jen, and his daughter, Ryen, and son, Porter. He planned to leave for a hunt before the freezing rain started about 11:00 o’clock. The drive to the farm during the freezing rain was slick. As he parked the truck, he went through his pre-hunt prayers and walked across the neighbor’s 80-acre farm into freezing 15 mph rain. He got to the blind and started up the heater. About an hour later, the heater would not stay lit. His frustration with the heater and being cold and damp began to erode his optimism for the hunt. It was the last day that he would be able to gun hunt, as he had family plans the next day. Then, from the south, he saw a big-bodied deer step out and start feeding...it was Powerball!

Doug tried to calm himself with deep breaths as he grabbed his 45 CVA Optima and got up and ranged him. Powerball was at 146 yards, head down, perfectly broadside. Doug made a mental effort not to jerk the trigger, verbally saying, “squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.” Slowly squeezing the trigger, the gun went off in a thunderous boom, then hearing a loud crack, not a thud or a thump, he knew he had hit him. He saw him arch up, then tentatively he took 4-5 steps north, tried to jog, then crashed 20 yards from the hit. He tried to get up a couple of times, but then quickly and humanely passed. He put the gun down and sat with the biggest rush of accomplishment, shaking and praying in celebration of a true Central Illinois monarch that he had so much respect and admiration for, one of God’s truly beautiful creations. He called his wife and kids to tell them he got him! He got tears in his eyes when he heard the joy and congratulations from them coming over the phone. Doug says, “My patient wife Jen is the real hero of this story. She spent countless days and nights at home with our children as I was out hunting all those years.”  

Doug then walked over to Powerball. The overwhelming sense of compassion for his friend that he had been following and chasing for 4 years was a flood of emotions that was hard to explain. He knelt down beside him and patted him on the side and said, “Thanks, big boy.”  Kneeling there, he got teary-eyed and prayed again for thankfulness for a safe hunt and a lean, ethical harvest. He then tagged and field dressed him and managed to get him into the truck by himself. Powerball weighed in field dressed at 240 pounds. 

On the way home, as the adrenaline began to crash, he felt such a sense of relief and clarity as the amount of mental space Powerball had occupied for the past years was now clear and free. Doug says, “I look forward to one day teaching my kids about safe hunting and enjoying and respecting the good Lord’s beautiful creations.” This is truly a memory that will last a lifetime!