Troup County 14-Point Buck Tops 160-Inch Mark

Terry Stuart with his 14-point Troup County buck that has been green-scored at more than 160 inches.

Some hunters get lucky and kill a deer of a lifetime in a few sits. Other folks have to work for them. Terry Stuart, of West Point, has been deer hunting for 38 years. It’s safe to say that he has put in the work. This season, Terry killed the buck of a lifetime.

If you asked him how he did it, he’d tell you, “Spend time in the woods. You aren’t going to kill a big buck going once a week on Saturday morning and only sitting until 9:30.”

That’s exactly how a three-year relationship with one finicky and careful buck ended—Terry was putting time in the woods.

He began seeing this particular buck in 2020, and at that time the buck was a big 8-point buck that Terry estimated around 135 inches. He had a lot of trail-camera photos of the buck at night but never saw him during the daytime. The buck reappeared in 2021 as a 13-pointer that Terry estimated was probably in the high 140s. He said he regrettably missed all of November because of work and didn’t get to hunt until December. His target buck never showed. But don’t feel too bad for Terry because he killed a 150-inch 10-point and an 11-point within five days of each other. He said after he’d tagged out, then his target buck really started showing up on a daily basis, and all Terry could do was wait until 2022.

Terry planned on hunting the buck hard during bow season and just never could get lined up with him.

“He would always show up either just before I got into my stand, or right after I left. He really had me figured out,” said Terry.

As bow season came to an end, Terry moved to rifle hunting for the extended range in hopes of getting his target buck. He hunted both the Saturday and Sunday of opening weekend with no luck. On Monday, Oct. 24, Terry was running late, and when he got to his blind he could see a big buck feeding out in front of it more than 200 yards away.

“I got in the blind as quietly as I could and just sat there and watched him. I knew it was either him or another big 10-point, but I really wanted to shoot the 14-point. He was facing straight away from me, feeding for about five to ten minutes. It seemed like an eternity, but when he finally turned broadside I knew it was him. I squeezed off a shot at 225 yards and felt really good about it,” said Terry.

Because the buck was across a large ditch, Terry had to drive around the property to get to where he shot it. But when he got there, he couldn’t find any sign that he’d hit the deer.

“I started to get a little nervous at that point like I’d missed completely. But I knew which direction he went so I just started walking that direction. He had piled up about 75 yards away. When I walked up on him, that’s really when I lost it,” he said.

After 38 years of hunting, Terry said to realize he’d just killed a buck that will likely score more than 160 inches was very surreal.

“You put all this time, and all this money into trying to kill these big bucks. And I got in the blind and in less than 10 minutes it was over and there he was, the biggest deer I’d ever killed. It was very surreal,” said Terry.

Terry credited his practice time with the ability to make longer shots. He shoots a Christensen Arms 6.5 Creedmor, and during the summer he consistently shoots four boxes of bullets per weekend at distances of 200 to 400 yards.

“It’s an expensive thing to do, but I’d rather spend the money than have that feeling of regret when I can’t find that big buck I made a bad shot on because I didn’t put in the time to practice,” said Terry.

His buck hasn’t been officially scored, but Terry said he rough scored at around 166 inches. The buck will likely be in the top 10 in Troup County if he scores close to what Terry’s estimate is. The current Troup County No. 1 buck was killed by Claude McKibben Jr. in 1984 and scored 176 2/8.

Terry is entered in Week 7 of the Truck-Buck Contest.

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