Hunter: Lindsey Smith
Points: 10 (5L, 5R)
County: Twiggs
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
This was the first time I'd been in the woods this season. I work for a generator company and had been working the past month in support of Hurricane Helene and Milton. Finally with a break in the storm activity I put in some PTO and took the week of 10/27 to head down to camp and get setup for the rest of the year. I got to camp on Saturday and spent the day setting up. Sunday morning I setup in the woods in this ladder stand that's been set for the past 4 years or so. I typically see deer movement from it as it overlooks an old road bed on our property deer typically use to move. That morning, I had two pass through quickly, but didn't have enough time to really see what they were. I went back to the same stand that evening. That night I had a buttonhead and a 3 point buck come out to graze in the clearing until it was dark. Since I was seeing some action, and the wind was perfect for the stand I planned to go back to it on Monday morning. It was warm enough not to wear a jacket, so my hopes weren't high to see a lot of movement. However, at about 8:45am, the same 3 point that I had seen Sunday evening came out to graze. While I was watching him, I saw some antlers coming through the underbrush. They were extremely white and I could tell they were tall. However, once the deer came into view it was another young buck with a really tall 4 point rack. After about 5 minutes of those two grazing around in front of me, I caught some more movement in the same direction these two had come. This time I could see at least 4 points on one side and locked in on it as it moved towards the clearing. It took a few more steps and I could see the buck's head and neck. By this time I was convinced it was a shooter as I could see the grey in his fur and how thick his neck was, this was not a young deer. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity although it was probably only 30-60 seconds. I debated on shooting him through some brush where he stood, as I have seen larger deer turn before entering a clearing and never see them again. However, I decided to wait. After a short while he took 2 more steps and revealed his front left shoulder in the clearing. Once there he turned to look the opposite direction from me and I took the shot. He dropped right where he stood, kicked a few times and expired.
