168-inch “Mufasa” Taken In Lamar County

Christy Nash, of Gay, with “Mufasa,” a 171 6/8-inch gross 12-pointer taken on 100-year-old family land in Lamar County.

Christy Nash, of Gay, is one of those blessed hunters able to hunt a piece of property that hasn’t been hunted in more than two decades. It’s a 275-acre piece of Lamar County dirt that’s been in her daddy’s family for more than 100 years. Her daddy is 88 years old, and he now gets to put his hands on the result of this family land—a giant 12-pointer that grosses near 170 inches that Christy named “Mufasa” when she first saw the buck in 2022.

“I just began hunting last season and got my first deer ever, which was a nice 9-point buck out of Meriwether County,” said Christy. 

Mufasa’s first appearances on the Lamar County trail cameras were like that of most mature bucks. He chose mostly to move around in the middle of the night. Christy and and husband Lee got pictures and one video of him in 2022 and in 2023, but she says she had maybe five trail-camera pictures total and had never actually seen the buck while hunting. That all changed on the afternoon of Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.

“I had been in my stand for almost three hours and was about ready to leave, having not seen anything but a few does, when I heard a grunt and then limbs and leaves crackling,” said Christy. “Suddenly a big, beautiful doe walked out of the woods with a smaller doe behind her, and then it looked like a buck coming behind them, but I had no idea which buck. I could see an antler out of the corner of my eye, then I saw more points and more points, and then I knew it was Mufasa. He took me by surprise coming out in the day so early in the season. He was on the tail of a that big doe.” 

Christy said that since Mufasa coming out in the daylight wasn’t on her radar, she wasn’t as prepared as she wanted to me.

“I didn’t have my gun up and ready, and my heart was pounding out of my body, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but I held it together,” said Christy. “I got positioned, took a breath, let it out and fired. I had a clear, clean shot of about 60 yards.”

Christy’s .308 did the trick, dropping the giant buck right where he stood.

“I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” said Christy. “I called my husband, who was hunting another piece of property, and told him I’d shot him.

“I feel blessed for a clean kill, meat for our family and that I can show my daddy what his land produced. He has limited mobility and sight, and my dream was to be able to harvest this deer for him to put hands on and be proud of.”

Christy has done well in her young deer-hunting career.

“The two deer in my life are both going on my wall,” said Christy. 

Two seasons of deer hunting and two mountable big bucks for Christy. She holds the rack of Mufasa. The top deer came off a Meriwether County tract last season.

We spoke with her husband Lee, and he’s really proud in the confidence that she’s gained as a new hunter.

“She’s really worked on her shooting and now hunts by herself in a box blind and works hard to control her scent with her clothes,” said Lee.

A biologist looked at photos of Mufasa’s jawbone and was surprised to say that he believes the buck to only be 4 1/2 years old. Mufasa weighed 215 pounds and is a main-frame 4X6 with two abnormal points. Glenn Argroves, a G.T.A. Taxidermy in Gay, grossed the buck unofficially at 168 3/8 inches. Christy is excited to get it officially scored in 60 days for GON’s Georgia Deer Rankings.

“I’ve been told by many that Mufasa is a once-in-a lifetime-buck. We’ll see. I think Lamar still hides some brutes. For me though, Mufasa will be the one always,” said Christy.

Christy got some additional encouragement when she took her buck to York’s Processing in Barnesville.

“There were probably 15 guys standing around that night,” said Lee. “Some of them are seasoned hunters, and they all had to have a picture of that deer.”

Mufasa in July 2022, a rare daytime picture.

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