Oconee Bow Buck Named “Spot” Grosses 140s

Mack Saxon with an Oconee County buck named “Spot” that grossed 143 inches.

When Mack Saxon began accumulating trail-camera photos of a great Oconee County archery buck, he did not waste any time preparing for the 2024 archery deer season. Mack and his wife recently moved to family land on the southwest end of the county that was part of an old hunting club several decades ago. Mack’s new neighbors, who live adjacent to his property, do not hunt anymore, but they have for the past six decades. Their words to him were, “This is the biggest deer we’ve seen in the past 60 years.”

The buck famously became known as “Spot” for an obvious white patch displayed on the deer’s back. Mack has never known the deer without the white patch and believes the deer may have been shot at when he was a 1-year-old buck. Mack has watched the deer for four seasons and remembers when he was a 2 1/2-year-old, 8-point buck.

The evening after Hurricane Helene rolled through, Mack decided to go sit in a stand he had prepared for early season hunts. Mack had not had the chance to hunt as much as he would have preferred, but said he did hunt four or five times with no success eyeballing Spot. Mack explained how he and his wife would soon be celebrating their daughter’s first birthday, so he wanted to try and take advantage of his sits while he could as a new father.

Mack’s foot plot is set up 200 yards from his house, so most of the time he’s able to see if deer are moving in the plot or not. In December 2023, the previous season, Mack explains how he missed the buck at 150 yards with a rifle.

“I shot right over his back last season,” Mack said. “I was glad I missed him and did not wound him.”

Spot appeared on trail camera the evening of Sept. 26, so Mack believed the following evening could set up nicely to hunt him. The evening of Friday, Sept. 27, arrived, and Mack prepared for the evening sit.

“Deer were moving all evening long,” Mack said. “Two small bucks were sparring and playing in front of me around 6:30 p.m.”

Around seven o’clock, several does filtered into the food plot, along with the bucks. Shortly after the deer entered the field, they began to act skittish and within moments left the field. Mere minutes later, a nice buck entered the plot and made a beeline directly to Mack, but it was not Spot. Patiently, he decided to pass the buck, knowing that Spot could possibly make an appearance at any moment.

As the deer settled back down, more does and fawns and young bucks began entering the plot again. Sure enough, as the evening got later, Spot stepped out into the plot that Mack spent the summer prepping for the 2024 season.

Mack describes going into kill mode. Spot walked into 20 yards, and almost as if it felt robotic, Mack pulled his bowstring back, lined Spot up in his peep site and let an arrow fly.

“The hit sounded solid, but I didn’t have a lighted nock, so it was hard to clearly tell,” Mack said.

Spot spun around and ran into the woods out of site. This was the first time Mack had seen the deer in person this season while hunting.

“It sounded like he coughed a couple of times in the woods,” Mack explained.

Mack said he waited nearly two hours, until around 9:15 p.m., before going to look for the deer to give him time to expire and not to bump him.

“I couldn’t find the arrow,” Mack said as he relived the shot that he took.

The deer did not run more than 100 yards from where he was standing when the arrow hit him. It was a near-seamless recovery.

The giant deer weighed nearly 200 pounds and was grossed by a local taxidermist unofficially at 143 4/8 inches. The deer is a main-frame 10-point and boasts nearly 7-inch bases.

The final scoring will need to take place after the 60-day drying period required by official scoring standards.

UPDATE: Mark’s buck was officially scored on Dec. 10 by a certified measurer and netted 138 1/8. 

If you have a buck you would like to include in the GON Georgia Deer Records, email a digital photo of the score sheet that includes the signature and certification number of the scorer to [email protected], and please include a photo of the hunter with the buck. To have a photo added to an existing listing, simply email the image. Visit this page to find a certified measurer.

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