North metro produces jaw-dropper nontypical

By Rob
Drieslein Editor

Otter Lake, Minn. — She’s a hardcore bowhunter, and last Friday
– after years of bagging dozens of antlerless deer – Deb Luzinski
took what appears to be one of the top nontypicals by bow in state
history.

The Woodbury resident was participating in a hunt for the Metro
Bowhunters Resource Base in Ramsey County when the massive
nontypical walked within 17 yards of her stand.

“I’m still running on adrenaline four days later,” Luzinski, 38,
told Outdoor News on Tuesday morning. “It still hasn’t
sunk in, and it’s absolutely unfathomable to me that I was blessed
to see this animal.”

The buck has 25 scorable points and a preliminary green score of
approximately 220 nontypical, which could place it in the top five
of state nontypical bow kills. That’s based on an Outdoor News
review of the fifth edition of the Minnesota Record Book, published
by the Minnesota Deer Classic. The sixth edition of the recordbook
is slated to appear late this month.

The professional landscaper from Woodbury said she posted her
stand around noon last Friday at the Otter Lake Regional Park in
Ramsey County, where the metro bowhunters group had permits to
remove deer via bow and arrow. She climbed into her stand at 3:50
p.m. and saw another decent buck, but when the big boy appeared,
she focused her attention on him. A quick, clean, 17-yard
double-lung shot followed. The relatively small-bodied buck had an
estimated live weight of 190 pounds.

She placed the time of the kill at around 4:56 p.m., because
“that was the time I left a message for my husband on his cell
phone.”

Keith Edberg of Cannon Falls, an official Pope and Young scorer,
did the preliminary scoring on the impressive, albeit highly
nontypical rack. The antlers feature three drop tines, multiple
sticker and kicker points, and large palmations on the right
side.

Luzinski has worked with the Metro Bowhunters Resource Base for
11 years and has taken 69 deer via bow in her lifetime. Of those,
all but five have been antlerless deer, a fact she considers a
badge of honor. The MBRB works with metro area municipalities in
culling overabundant whitetails, and she’s proud of her role in
maintaining healthy deer herds.

In 2003, she arrowed an impressive 10-pointer that scored 134
typical, but last week’s buck tops that by far. The monster buck
won’t be her last deer of 2006, Luzinski insists.

“It better not be!” she said.

A board member of the Minnesota Bowhunters, Inc., Luzinski
resides in Woodbury with her husband, Mark, and their two children,
ages 8 and 10.

Chris Wallace of Wings and Things Taxidermy in Ham Lake will be
doing a full body mount of the deer, Luzinski said.