Hunter: Colby Nicholson
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Troup
Season: 2020-2021
Hunt Story
A little back story for this hunt includes the purchase of the land he was harvested on. My wife and I purchased this piece of property earlier this year in May. We, along with my in-laws, worked throughout the summer getting the property ready for hunting season with a couple of food plots and a few stands, feeders, and cameras. I began getting pictures of this buck on June 10th. He stuck around on camera throughout the summer and into the beginning of rifle season. I have multiple pictures of him growing through velvet and turning hard-horned. He was of course a vampire. However, he was by far the biggest and oldest deer I had on camera on the property (making him without a doubt my number 1 on the hit list). Brother-in-law and I both said that this buck will surely have get stupid during the rut for me to get a chance at him. This year was my first year ever as a bow hunter. I had already been blessed to harvest two mature does during bow season. I have been in my final semester of nurse practitioner school and recently studying for my certification boards. Friday afternoon (11/20/20) I decided to take a break from studying and have an evening sit in my climber. I got in the stand around 3:30pm and had put out a little Tink's wick hanging from a branch. I sat until right before dark and had seen nothing but squirrels and a opossum. At about 5:50pm I heard a loud splash in a creek that runs about 75 yards or so directly behind me. I thought maybe it was a branch or something that had fallen into the water, but boy was I wrong. At this point I am about to call it quits and climb down. About 30 seconds later I hear two deer barreling through the hardwoods directly behind me making a B-line towards my stand. This stud was grunting and right on the tail of a hot doe. They both stopped behind my stand, the doe directly off my right shoulder about 10 yards away and the buck directly behind me about 15 yards. For most of this sit I had a NE wind, so as the buck stopped he could tell something wasn't quite right and stomped a few times. He proceeded to ease his way up coming closer and closer to my tree over my left shoulder. He stood maybe 5 yards from my tree and proceeded to give the deepest growl, not once but twice. The doe was paying me no attention and had proceeded to walk forward out in front of me about 10-15 yards. The buck then let out a snort-wheeze still only 5 yards to my left up under me. He eased up a little towards the doe but walked directly over the trail I walk on to get to my climber and he spooked. He ran around the back of my tree and stood about 10 yards away over my right shoulder. I had already faced him at this point and was ready to draw but I did not have a clear shot due to some brush. He was still interested in his hot date so he proceeded to trot forward towards her until I bleated at him. He stopped broadside at 15 yards. With only just a minute or two of enough light left to see through my peep sight, I stuck a Grim Reaper right behind his left shoulder. Once I realized what had just happened, I quickly called my wife shaking like a leaf to tell her. My brother-in-law was literally 5 minutes from my property and he pulled in to help track. The buck ran maybe 50 yards and collapsed in a dried up creek bed that runs through my property. My wife, father-in-law, and nephew came out to help load up and take pictures. This hunt was by far one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. Not only was this my first buck kill with a bow, but he is my biggest buck to date. It is a hunt that I will truly never forget. I am truly blessed, as we all are, to be able to hunt and enjoy the things we love to do. God is good!
