EMBARRASS— For years, the deer season has been a near obsession for Joseph Dale, of Tower. But after shooting the buck of a lifetime on a friend’s Embarrass property this past Friday, Dale said he’s giving it up.

“I’m going to sell my bow and my gun. It’s over,” he said, after finally taking the trophy he’d always wanted.

Dale was clearly emotional as he described his encounter with an enormous ten-pointer that he jumped while slowly walking along the edge of a forest opening shortly before 8 a.m. At first, he could only see a huge body, but then it jumped and headed into the woods. Dale had kicked up the enormous animal once or twice before during the season, but the old buck had always managed to elude him. This time, Dale guessed right, assuming it would make its way across a swampy field just over the next ridge. He headed to a high point, looked out over the field— and there it was standing, just looking at him. “It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen,” he said.

Dale raised his rifle and shot. The deer took off, but Dale was sure he’d connected. He found him later, lying down on a ridge. As Dale approached, the animal tried to stand, but it was clear it was mortally wounded and it died moments later. As he stared at the animal, the ten-pointer he’d always wanted, he was both elated and crushed. “I was smiling and crying at the same time,” he said. “It was so magnificent and I took its life. If you don’t feel sorry for an animal you’ve just killed, you’re not a real hunter. I always thank the animal and thank God for the meat,” he said.

Dale, whose girlfriend is vegetarian, said he rarely eats meat other than wild game, which he considers far superior to the commercially-raised variety. He said both he and his girlfriend have a real affinity for animals, which has always left him conflicted about his passion for the deer hunt.

But it was more the quest for a trophy than anything, and with his goal achieved, he’s having a head mount made. “That way, I can remember for the rest of my life,” he said.

While Dale’s success was, no doubt, due in part to his skill as a hunter, he thinks he had a little extra help this year from his best friend, Paul Lilya, who died earlier this year. Dale said Lilya had taught him so much as an outdoorsman, including how to walk up on deer. “He always told me, two soft steps, stop and look,” Dale recalls, who noted it was the first deer season in a long time that the two didn’t hunt part of the season together. “But I can still feel him. He’s still here with me, and he had a part in this,” said Dale. “I know it.”