The Hunt For Polk County’s Megatron

By Daniel Krause

It all started on Sept. 17, 2019. One Friday evening while checking my trail-camera pictures on an 88-acre piece of private land in Polk County, I was excited to see a monster buck standing with light beaming from his rack like a halo on an angel.

I was in shock. In all of my life, I had never seen a deer like that on my camera. I clicked to the next picture and realized it was not a dream. This 11-point beast was staring my camera down like a deer in head lights. Since that time I lost several nights of sleep dreaming about the buck.

As the season got further in swing, temps began dropping. Every Friday during the entire month of October, I pulled cards and looked at pictures, hoping to get a glimpse of the monster.

My 16-year-old son said we should call him Megatron, which is exactly what we called him. Only having pictures of him at night, I began to plan and plot my approach. I began thinking where he was bedding, feeding, traveling, etc.

My good buddy Terry Garrard told me he sold Black Widow mock scrape products and that they worked great. I bought some, put it out and started getting Megatron four to five times a night. He was definitely visiting more frequently, but I still had no daytime pictures. However, I felt like it was a matter of time before he showed up in the daylight.

Daniel Krause (right) with his giant Polk County buck killed last November. It later netted 138 5/8 and is currently No. 8 in the county. Daniel is pictured with dog handler Matt Wilkes and his tracking dog Beyla. Matt has been on GON’s Dial A Tracking Dog list for many years.

The temperature on Halloween day was a high of 74 degrees and at night the temps would dip into the 30s. I decided to take Friday off from work since the temperature was dropping below 40 degrees. It was the coolest morning we’d had all year. I went hunting that Friday and saw seven bucks and one doe. I did not see Megatron, so I stayed out of the woods until Saturday, Nov. 2 since the temperature was dropping even lower.

I knew it was going to be another great morning, so off to the woods I went.

That morning at the crack of daylight, I had bucks chasing does and grunting every step. Bucks were sparing with one another, creating the whole rut experience. Being a fairly new hunter, I thought to myself that even if I did not see Megatron, I have seen some spectacular things in the wild. Lunch time came and there was still no sign of Megatron, so I climbed down.

On the afternoon of Nov. 2, I made it to the blind without bumping anything and arrived around 3:30 p.m. It was a little earlier than I normally get there, and it was a good thing because the deer were moving. Not more than two minutes after settling in my stand, I had a great shooter 8-pointer come out of the woods and walk down a treeline full of scrapes and rubs. If I had not been chasing the monster I had on camera, that 8 would have been harvested.

Next a young buck came out pushing a doe. They both stopped to feed a short time before the buck ran her off. About that time, I saw movement coming through the woods. About 50 yards away the deer stopped just out of sight in the woodline protecting itself. It was 6:27 p.m. and sundown was 6:45 p.m. The deer took a couple more steps, and I realized I was seeing rack, so I picked up my binoculars and saw the drop tine. I knew at that point it was Megatron.

He came across the shooting lane, turned and started feeding broadside at 50 yards. The only thing was a tree blocking his vitals. No shot. I sat there, and it felt like a year and a half went by. I kept saying, “I just need one step, come on baby, one step.” About that time, he started licking his nose, head up licking, smelling and licking some more, which went on for about 30 seconds.

He did not like something, and he was ready to bolt. He took two steps and stopped, and I let a round fly. He did not mule kick like I expected but just hunched over and ran off. I could not believe it. This would have been the first time I had pictures of this deer during legal shooting hours.

Thirty minutes went by, and I got down to the sight of the shot but found no blood. I began to head in the direction that he ran, still finding nothing. I knew I had hit him, but I started to get light headed and sweat so badly that I had to shed some clothes. I sat in the 30-degree weather until I cooled off, and by that time, it was completely dark.

I was looking around while I was getting dressed, and I saw something shining in the light, which was guts.

“Oh no,” I said, “No way.”

I immediately called my buddy Terry Garrard over at Southern Style Archery, and he advised me to back out. He said that if I bump him, he will run for miles. So, as hard as it was, I backed out and went home.

As soon as I got home, Terry sent me a phone number to Matt and Terry with North and West Georgia Big Game Recovery. I immediately called Matt and told him what happened. He said I did right by backing out and calling him. We agreed to meet at 11 a.m. the following morning.

We met and then drove to my hunting spot. Matt and Terry, along with Beyla and Yada, got ready to track. I got them to the sight of the shot, and Beyla started her track through the timber. We went in the same direction where he bolted off the previous night, and I was very hopeful at that point.

Fifty yards, 100 yards, 150 yards, 200 yards, and I started to worry. Up, down, back, forth, zig, zag, 300 yards, 350 yards, 400 yards and 450 yards. Beyla began to circle, she smelled him, but she did not know where. When she stopped, I thought he was gone forever. About that time, I heard Matt say “Good girl, good girl, good girl.”

I started screaming, “Is it him? “Is it my buck?”

Matt replied, “Yup, it’s him, he’s a monster.”

Approximately 464 yards later, Beyla was on his 17-hour-old line and tracked his every step. Without people like Matt and Terry of North and West Georgia Big Game Recovery, I would not have harvested this amazing creature. The greatest thing about this hunt is when we found him, he did not have the first fly on him, and he was still warm. He had just passed within the hour.

Still at 17 hours, he was alive. If I would have gone after him, he would have made it to the other county. After shooting this buck, someone took a picture of the buck in the back of my truck and posted it on Facebook. My phone started ringing non-stop.

Apparently people in that area had been after Megatron for several seasons now. It was also known as the Antioch Buck. Many people have sent pictures of Megatron, saying they had been chasing him for years. A man wrote, “Glad to see someone got him legally, and he wasn’t poached.”

I’m blessed to say the least and I give all glory to God. I was in the right place at the right time and so was Megatron.

A big thanks to my buddy Rickey Alford for taking pictures of this monster for me and helping me cape him out. I would also like to thank Matt and Terry with North and West Georgia Big Game Recovery. If it was not for Beyla and those fine gentlemen, I would not be writing this story today. Thank again. Best hunting.