Hunter: Brandon Shiver
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Mitchell
Season: 2017-2018
Hunt Story
For the two weeks prior to the kill, the rut finally began in South Georgia with the onset of the cold weather. The morning of Sunday, 1/7/18 started out around 25 degrees, which is an odd occurrence in Mitchell County. I climbed up in the house stand and added another layer of clothes. As I settled in for the hunt, a doe walked out into the edge of my food plot. The doe walked over to a water hole and tried to take a drink of water, but the water hole was froze solid. The doe meandered back in to the woods. A few minutes later, I looked down a road to the north. A very young spike made his way down the road and began grazing in the food plot. The spike fed a while and made his way to the feeder. The spike continued to graze on corn that was on the ground. At approximately 7:48 a.m., I saw a large body crossing the far end of the road. I picked up my binoculars and saw a large set of horns. The buck was on a known trail. The trail crossed the road, which is only about 5 yards wide. In the past, there is a 50/50 chance of whether the deer walks toward the food plot or if they cross out of sight. I quickly grabbed my rifle and could tell the buck was a shooter. Lucky for me, he was slightly quartering away and occupied with the corn we poured out to slow down the deer crossing the road. I aimed just behind his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The buck kicked his back legs and ran to the west. I watched the deer for a split second before he went out of sight. It was apparent that the buck was hit. I decided to give the buck plenty of time to expire before I went looking. After about 30 minutes, I could not wait any longer. I had trouble finding where the buck was standing. Finally, I found a small drop of blood and picked up the trail. The blood trail was not a large as the usual trails created by my .300wsm. The trail led through a large bottom of palm fronds. As I looked ahead, I could see large amounts of blood on the palm fronds about 2.5 feet off the ground. I felt better about the situation. I continued to follow the trail and located the buck 75 yards inside the woods.
