Jones County Buck Grosses 182 Inches

Seth Daniels, 17, of Gray, is the talk of Jones County High School this week after killing a 182-inch non-typical buck off his family’s 300-acre farm.

“There’s history behind this deer,” Keath Daniels, Seth’s dad, told us earlier today. 

“Seth actually shot this deer last year with a bow. When he shot the deer, it was quartering away from him, and when the arrow hit, it just kind of flopped and fell out. It was one of those shots that hit the shoulder bone and cut the fur. The deer took off, and we didn’t find anything but one little drop of blood. We looked around for him and came back and looked, but Seth knew that when that arrow just flopped down, he didn’t get any penetration. We were worried that maybe the arrow caught an artery.”

Seth Daniels with his Jones County 15-pointer.

Seth hunts on the farm with his dad, uncle and grandfather. His grandfather has actually been on the land for 70 years and hunting it for more than 60 years. Seth’s buck is the biggest deer to ever come off the family farm. 

“After Seth shot the deer with his bow last year, we didn’t get any more pictures of him,” said Keath. “We picked him back up on camera this year the end of September (2018), but they were all taken at night.”

Early on Saturday morning, Oct. 27, Seth climbed alone into a double ladder stand along the edge of a thicket that looked over a roadbed. A doe and a small buck came through early, but then things went quiet. 

“(Around 9 a.m.) He texted me as we were trying to determine what time to leave, and we agreed to wait another 20 minutes and see what happened,” said Keath, who was also hunting the farm.

That fourth-quarter sit in the stand made all the difference. At 9:15, with about five minutes left in the hunt, two hot does crossed the road Seth was watching.

“After that, Seth said three different bucks came out,” said Keath. “They came out at different times but within a few minutes of each other. It was happening so fast as they were coming through that he couldn’t get a shot or determine how big they were. Finally, after just waiting to see if any of the bucks would circle back, the (big one) steps out, stands there, takes a look at him, and Seth shoots him.”

Seth was shooting a .270, and the buck dropped in its tracks at about 100 yards.

Seth’s buck had 15 scoreable points and should end up with a non-typical net score in the low 170s. 

“It was just one of those mornings,” said Keath. “I’m excited for him. Last year it was definitely a low with the bow. It’s part of it. But this was as fun a weekend as you can imagine.”

Once pictures of Seth’s buck started to get shared around, he discovered that some of his high school teachers recognized the buck. 

“Some of Seth’s teachers at school hunt near us, and they had been watching the deer all summer,” said Keath. “We went this summer without hearing anything, but we didn’t know they had it on camera until after the fact.”

Pictures showed that the buck also had about a 3-inch drop tine that was broken off by the time Seth shot it. The main-frame 10-pointer weighed 220 pounds.