Hannahatchee WMA Repeat Buck Magic

By Robert Gossett

My father Keith Gossett and I love hunting Hannahatchee WMA. We have one corner of the WMA we like to hunt and have just about always stayed in that area.

My recent 10-pointer marks the fourth big buck taken from Hannahatchee between the two of us. The first came in 2002 when my father took a really nice chocolate-horned 9-pointer. The second was in 2004 when my father struck again with a big 8-pointer. The third was in 2007, a 9-point I harvested that is currently the No. 1 buck on GON’s Triple Digit WMA Bucks list. The fourth buck came this year on Thanksgiving Day, a 10-pointer that I killed.

I am writing this story because we always hear people say that you can’t kill big bucks on public land. My father and I always look at each other and laugh when we hear this. The big bucks are there, but you just have to work at killing one. You may not shoot one every single year, but when you finally take one, it makes for a great memory.

I haven’t had the chance to get in the woods as much as I used to, mainly because of my little girl being born in 2011. I always had to stay home on the weekends while my wife worked, and I am usually too busy at work during the week to hunt. So this year I was determined to go, but work got in the way again and again. So this was only my third time getting to go hunting this season. That’s certainly one reason why this buck is kind of special to me.

I got out to the WMA right at sun-up. Without any scouting, I didn’t quite know exactly where I was going to go that morning. So I headed to the corner my father and I have always hunted. The sun was up already when I parked, so I decided just to go in and climb a tree and just take the chance of maybe getting a doe that morning.

I got situated in my stand around 8 a.m. and was hoping to see a doe move through early, so I could go to my parent’s house to eat lunch. After all, it was Thanksgiving.

The hunt started slow with nothing really going on. Then I heard a loud crash on the other side of the bottom from me. I saw about five deer moving fast, coming off the ridge, but I couldn’t make out what they were. They hung out in the bottom for about three or four minutes and then went back up on the ridge where they had come from. They were gone just like that.

Then around 10:30 a.m., I had a really nice 8-pointer and a smaller buck chase a doe within 75 yards to my left. I thought for sure they were going to come right to me, but they took a hard right and went into some heavy brush. I kept seeing the shrubs bending down as they ran around for nearly five minutes, and then they were gone, too.

Well, by then I was wondering if anything was going to give me the opportunity to take a shot that morning. I decided that I would stay on the stand until at least lunch time and then head to my parents for Thanksgiving.

Around 11:30 a.m., a doe walked within 30 yards of my right side. Then, I heard movement coming from behind me and up the ridge to my right. That’s when I saw him. I knew right away the buck I was looking at was a shooter. My only problem was trying to either wait for him to walk past me or get up and try to turn and take the shot.

Robert Gossett with his 2016 buck from Hannahatchee WMA. Robert also has the No. 1 buck of all-time from Hannahatchee, a 138 6/8-inch buck he killed in 2007.

I made the decision to make my move and turn to him. I thought I was surely going to get busted, but he was only worried about that doe. I got into position but still didn’t have a clean shot. That is until the doe moved back up the ridge and made the buck turn to his right, which gave me a small window to shoot.

After the shot, the buck jumped and sort of flipped back and started running, but he didn’t go far. He dropped about 80 yards from my stand. When I finally got out of my stand and went to him, I got to see just how big he really was. He’s not a monster, but he is a really nice 10-pointer. I was beyond excited to see that he was big enough to go on the wall. He’s going to look great on the wall next to my 9-pointer.

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