Road-Kill Buck Hurt Somebody’s Feelings

After creaming a big buck with his pickup truck on Sept. 11, Matt Shurley, of Cordele, likely hurt some poor hunter’s feelings.

Matt’s truck.

Ironically, Matt owns Buck Country Wildlife Consulting. On Sept. 11, he was driving on River Road north of Lake Blackshear and just south of Flint River WMA in Dooly County on his way to meet a client about improving his food plots.

“I was just driving, drinking my coffee, and all of a sudden, he was there,” stated Matt.

The buck darted out of a cotton field, and Matt simply didn’t see him until it was too late.

Matt did not want to just leave the deer on the side of the road. As he assessed the damage to his Ford pickup, Matt decided to call Cpl. Greg Wade with the Georgia DNR Law Enforcement.

Matt said most of the meat was not salvageable, but he was given the OK by Cpl. Wade to keep the antlers.

The beautiful 9-point buck was still in velvet and had just began to shed. The green score on the buck was 135 2/8 inches, which included an impressive 21-inch spread. The deer’s right main beam was broken during impact, but Matt still plans to have a European mount done.

Thankfully, Matt was not injured. Although he sure hates that he now has to deal with fixing his truck, he also knows that rolling a big buck like that across the pavement means somebody didn’t get to harvest the trophy animal.