Shepard Wins Truck-Buck 35

Truck-Buck Shoot-Out 35 went the distance with extra rounds at the egg from 60 feet.

Brad Gill | July 29, 2024

David Shepard receives the keys to his new Trail Boss Package Chevy truck from Shawn Boyd with John Megel Chevrolet.

It took seven rounds and a busted egg at 60 feet for David Shepard to win GON’s Truck-Buck 35 and collect his grand prize, a fully loaded Chevy pickup from John Megel Chevrolet. The event unfolded Sunday, July 28 at the GON’s Ag-Pro Outdoor Blast

Shooters qualified for the 2024 Shoot-Out by having the highest-scoring buck during a week of the 2023-2024 deer season. With a tie for Week 1 and four wildcard opportunities, there were 22 shooters in this year’s Shoot-Out.

Rounds 1-2 were shots from 45 and 60 feet at full-sized skeet. At the end of Round 2, 16 shooters remained.

Rounds 3-4 were shots from 45 and 60 feet at midi-sized skeet. When Round 4 was through, just six shooters remained and would stand on the the 30-foot stage and aim at a Grade A large raw egg.

When the eggs started busting and Round 5 was over, it was down to just five shooters—Nick Tinsley, Tristan Cochran, David Shepard, Brian Bramlett and 15-year-old Smisson Rigdon.

Round 6 was a 45-foot shot at the egg, and it was just Nick Tinsley, David Shepard and Smisson Rigdon advancing to the toughest shot of the event, 60 feet at an egg.

Nick Tinsley and Smisson Rigdon both missed their shots, and David Shepard connected, winning the John Megel Chevrolet pickup.

“I can not believe that just happened,” were his first words afterward.

Tinsley and Rigdon battled it out through Rounds 10-11 for second place, but it was finally Tinsley who broke an egg for the runner-up prize, a Firminator by Ranew’s Outdoor Equipment.

All 22 deer hunters in the Truck-Buck Shoot-Out were already big winners. In addition to killing great deer—the biggest prize of all—the bow season weekly winners earned Mathews Phase4 bows, and the winners during gun season took home Savage 110 Storm rifles. Plus, the winner during the primitive-weapons/youth season won a CVA Optima. All weekly winners were given personalized Shoot-Out shirts from Realtree, HSS safety harnesses from Hunter Safety Systems and prize packages from 4S Advanced Wildlife Solutions. The four wildcard qualifiers won $250 gift cards from AgriSupply and a 30-Can Soft Coolers from Rugged Road Outdoors.

Another year of Truck-Buck begins on opening day of Georgia’s bow season on Sept. 14. Join us for Truck-Buck 36! The key to joining this GON contest is to be a part of the community by having your GON subscription up to date. Then, when you kill a Georgia buck this season, simply enter through our simple online entry form here at GON.com.

You could be on the Shoot-Out stage next year having already won almost $2,000 in prizes as a weekly winner, and with the chance to win one of the grand prizes like another new truck!