Georgia’s No. 2 Crossbow Buck Officially Has 24-Inch Spread

The Crawford County crossbow buck that was a huge hit on GON.com and social media back during mid September has finally been scored at 160 6/8 net inches, giving it the status as the No. 2 Georgia crossbow buck of all time.

Killed by James Roberts on Sept. 18, this buck will always be remembered for its jaw-dropping 24-inch inside spread. There was speculation on whether the rack would shrink just enough after the 60-day drying period to knock it back from the 24-inch mark, but according to official B&C measurer Bobby Bond, the inside spread is exactly 24 0/8 inches.

According to GON‘s Georgia Deer Records, James’ buck sits just behind the state-record crossbow buck, a 186 6/8-inch non-typical killed by Jason Gardner in 2018.

Best Crossbow Bucks Of All-Time

The Crawford County 9-pointer taken by James Roberts is also the 6th highest-scoring Georgia buck of all-time with less than 10 points. Here’s a story on those bucks — The Amazing 8s: Georgia’s Best 8-Pointers 

James, of Atlanta, killed his buck of a lifetime on the evening of Sept. 18. 2020. Nicknamed “Super 8,” this buck was actually a 9-pointer that grosses just over 170 inches.

James made the trip down from Atlanta on Friday afternoon with his son, Tristan, after promising his wife he would be back Saturday.

Once arriving, James’ dad, Robbie, and Tristan loaded up to go fishing while James got ready to climb in a stand.

“I didn’t even check the wind, I knew the temperature was dropping, and it was my only chance to sit, so I was going either way,” said James. “So I sprayed a lot of Scent Killer and headed to the stand around 5:45 p.m.”

He headed to a 20-foot ladder stand.

“When I got to the stand, there was a really pretty, very nice 9-point already there that my dad had let walk two days prior,” said James, “It didn’t blow or anything when it saw me, thankfully.”

The buck just ran off, and James went on to the stand. After roughly 20 minutes of hunting, a deer parade of does, yearling and small bucks showed up to feed, followed by a different 9-pointer that hung out the remaining time of James’ hunt. Around 7:50, he once again saw the 9-pointer that ran off when he arrived at the stand.

“He was looking at me, then looking at the other deer but finally committed to feeding,” said James, “But then he ran off a short distance and came back quickly, and that’s when all of a sudden, I saw a bigger deer to my left.”

“I said to myself, ‘That’s a giant.’ I’ve seen pictures of him but never saw him off camera.”

James was using his dad’s crossbow since he hadn’t had time to practice very much with his bow. James’ dad let him know the middle pin was dialed in at 25 yards.

“He wasn’t quite broadside, but I saw a big crab claw, and I didn’t look at the horns again,” said James.

He let the Rage broadhead fly.

James Roberts with his dad, Robbie.

“I heard it hit, he peeled to the left and into the wood line,” said James. “I was scared he may have moved a little just before the shot. I could hear him running hard, but I never heard him crash.”

At that point, James still wasn’t sure exactly which deer it was. He immediately called his dad to let him know he shot.

“We found the arrow with a lot of blood and bubbles, a clean shot,” said James. “We started looking, however, but couldn’t find any blood.

James decided to call Brandon Bunch and Jillian Spires to help look because they were close by. After walking for quite some time, they decided to call Jimmy Oller with Outer Banks Tracking. Unfortunately, it would be two hours before he could make it.

After anxiously waiting, Jimmy showed up with his chocolate lab, Bella. James and friends would wait near the stand while Bella did her work. After sniffing the arrow, she initially took off in the opposite direction James saw the buck run. Bella would leave for a few minutes, then return.

“Jimmy finally said we got blood, which was one small drop, so we all met in the woods,” said James. “Bella would go about 300 yards then come back. We kept walking toward her and finally found more blood.”

They were close to an opening near a swamp when Brandon decided to use his thermal scope, the kind that is often used in predator or hog hunting after dark, to see if he could find anything, which he did. At first, he couldn’t tell exactly what he was seeing through his scope, but after realizing it was a deer, James approached it first. James kept looking for a white belly but the buck was facing away.

“Once I saw it, I was just like ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” said James. “We all just started high-fiving, hugging and thanking Jesus!”

Bella the tracking dog helped make the recovery.

The buck ended up being 500 to 600 yards from the initial shot. After celebrating, they came up with a quick plan to get him out, which consisted of dragging him about 125 to 150 yards to the nearest dirt road.

James and his dad have been hunting the same land for eight or nine years now, religiously putting out Advanced 4S Wildlife Solutions protein for the last five years.

This giant 9-point buck kept his nickname of “Super 8,” which he first got as an 8-pointer in 2017 when they got him on trail camera.

In 2019, “Super 8” was an 11-pointer, but he dropped back to a 9-pointer this season but had more mass. He is estimated to be 7 or 8 years old.

“This was such a neat experience for me and everyone, I’m just very grateful. I’m glad my son came with me”, said James. “I took him by the next day to see the deer since he wasn’t able to be with me (that night).”

James’ buck ends up No. 8 all-time in Crawford County.

All-Time Crawford County Top-10 Bucks

James his his son, Tristan.