buckwhisperer
Senior Member
First and foremost, I wanna thank God for giving me the opportunity to enjoy his beautiful world and for the whitetails that I'm so passionate about chasing! I've got a long history with this buck that dates back to 2016 when I first got pics of him as a 125 inch 3 year old 10 point. I knew then that he had the potential to be special. Last year, he became a regular late in the season as a low 140s 11 point. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I was already tagged out so I didn't get a chance to hunt him. In early September of this year I got a couple of pics of him and knew he'd be at the top of my list. However, he disappeared shortly after bow season came in. This past weekend I had gone to some family land in middle Georgia to hunt because the rut is early there and was pretty much in full swing. While sitting in my stand Saturday morning I checked one of my cell cams and had a pic of him at 8:30am on a trail near a bedding area. I made the decision to head back home and make a move. The wind was not favorable for a lockon that I wanted to hunt, so I hung a climber to take advantage of the situation as it was. I had a feeling he was bedded close so I rattled and grunted a couple of times once at 5:00 and once at 6:00 but had no luck. I decided to stay quiet after that and just wait to see what happened. At 6:45, the wind had laid and all was quiet. I heard a faint noise behind me that sound like it could possibly be horns rubbing a tree. I grunted a couple of times and immediatley heard the sound of a deer raking leaves making a scrape. The area he was in was super thick so I started scanning the area with my binos and finally saw movement. When I saw the split g2 my heart started pounding!! At this point he was 60-70 yards with no chance of a bow shot. My only hope was to try to convince him to come my way with my grunt call. It quickly became apparent that he was not interested. At this point I decided on plan B and grabbed my rifle. I was able to find him in the scope and watched him for several seconds hoping that maybe he would turn and come closer. The next thing I know he walks behind a tree and I lost sight of him. Now I'm thinking I've blown my opportunity while trying to get a bow shot. As I'm frantically trying to find him again I promise myself that I'll shoot at the next opportunity. Thank God I was able to see movement again and make out body through a hole in the brush. I wasted no time settling my cross hairs and I squeezed the trigger. Upon the shot all I could see was the muzzle flash. I had no idea what had just happened so I listened and heard what could have been him crashing. With light fading fast I climbed down as fast as I could after marking a tree that I thought he was close to when I shot. I had trouble finding any sign of a hit because it was so hard to tell exactly where he had been standing. I began walking in the direction of where I heard the crash hopeing to walk up on him, but had no luck. I decided to circle back to my stand and regaing my bearings and look again. When I got back to where I thought he had been standing I saw a beautiful few spots of blood! About this time my brother had called me back. I shared the news of finding first blood and that it appeared to be gut blood. I'm already thinking of marking the spot and backing out to give him time to die. Ben convinced me to follow for few yards to see what it the blood trail looked like. As I went along, the blood got better and better. I'm still wanting to back out to give him time but the voice in my ear kept urging me to go a little farther. After about 60 yards, I shined my light in front of me and saw a white belly laying 15 yards in front of me and the rest is history! It was an awesome celebration and one that I'll never forget! I'm sure all of Perry Georgia could here Ben hollering and carrying on with me! After reflecting back on that hunt, I've realized that it was truly once in a lifetime. It's very rare for everything to come together as perfectly as it did. As the old saying goes, I'd rather be lucky than good any day!! Thanks for reading!
I've attached trail cam pics of him from 2016, 2017 and 2018. It's a true testament to what letting them grow to maturity can do!
View attachment 947482View attachment 947483View attachment 947482View attachment 947483
I've attached trail cam pics of him from 2016, 2017 and 2018. It's a true testament to what letting them grow to maturity can do!
View attachment 947482View attachment 947483View attachment 947482View attachment 947483
