A moment of happiness in a difficult year. Official score.

(The official B&C results are on the 2nd page.)

This year had been a difficult one for my family and I. Back in April my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. As a young family with our youngest child turning 1 a few weeks later and my wife just having her 34th birthday a few weeks prior, this news was devastating. Although her recovery from the treatments and surgery has been remarkable and she has plowed through this ordeal with remarkable strength, I still found myself searching for something that would put a smile on my face that I couldn't hide. I had thought back about how I felt a few years ago when I had harvested a nice buck and hoped that I would have the opportunity to have a similar experience this year. I really was just looking for an experience that would help me get away from the cares of life for awhile and experience the outdoors.
To make a long story short, after many days hunting during the muzzle-loader hunt and a few days during the general, I had given up hope of seeing a buck that would put a smile on my face if I harvested it. Then when I least expected it, I spotted this buck bedded down just 75 yards off the trail as my 2 oldest kids and I were making our way back to camp on Monday evening. I was surprised that we were able to quickly form a plan and pull it off. To my delight, I found a nice dead rest on a low branch of a nearby tree. As I put my scope on the deer, all I could see was his front chest, neck and head. I hesitated for a second thinking I needed to wait for him to stand and present me with a good broadside shot. That thought didn't last long as I realized I had a good clean shot at his front chest. So I steadied my rifle and placed my cross hairs just below the white mark on his neck then squeezed the trigger. I just sat there in shock as I didn't see him stand up and could see his antlers laying down on the ground.
Needless to say, the smile still hasn't left my face 6 weeks later. It was a memorable event that I was able to share with my 11 yr old boy and 9 yr old girl. The 3 of us were all alone in that area that night. I think it was something that we all needed and we were blessed to experience it with one another. It was a learning experience I was able to share with them that can and probably never will be duplicated. We were all humbled that night and open to thoughts and conversations that we wouldn't have had if we didn't share this experience. Thankfully, we were able to get this guy loaded on a 4 wheeler with just the 3 of us and get him back to camp.
Since harvesting this buck, I was privileged to have the land owner bring someone over to my home who had some pictures of this deer in the velvet from their trail cam. I knew this guy was big but didn't know how big until I showed him to the land owner. Since then, I have felt like a virgin who doesn't know what to do. Thankfully I have been blessed with some great friends and a trusted sportsman that I have known since childhood to provide answers to my questions and give me some good sound advice.
To answer a few question you might have, it has been measured by a few different people and all have put the green gross score in the mid 190's. 39+ of that score comes from mass. Using the B&C website calculators, he only has between 5" to 6" in deductions. So now it is just waiting through the drying period to see what his final results will be.
As you hear so often, this was my buck of a lifetime and he came at a time when I needed to have the experience the most.