Truck-Buck 2019-20: Week 3 Winner, Darrell Hudson

Week 3: Darrell Hudson, 147 0/8 typical
County: Upson
Date: Oct. 4

To know there’s a huge buck on your property, but you don’t hunt him for weeks because the wind is wrong— that takes resolve and patience many hunters just don’t possess. Darrell Hudson faced it last season.

“I’ve been a longtime GON guy,” said the 52-year-old from Thomaston. “I’ve entered some deer years ago, but I didn’t bring them to have scored—you know, you see the pictures of the big bucks in your week and know you don’t really have a chance. 

Darrell said he grew up hunting and fishing.

“Me and my daddy floated the Flint all the time. He loved that eddy water down around Reynolds. We fished West Point, Eufaula, all the big lakes,” said Darrell. “He bought me my first rifle when I was like 11 or 12, a Mohawk .243—I still have it. He did a lot of recurve hunting, and when he started hunting they had to go to Jones County, there wasn’t a season here. He passed away in 2014. That’s one of the big things that’s tough now, he was the first person I would call if I killed a deer or a coyote.

“Oh I knew about him,” Darrell said about his big Upson County buck from last season. “I had tons of pictures of him. When the season came in, it was so hot, and we always had east winds. I knew I couldn’t hunt an east wind, so I only hunted him two times, and it was really questionable. Saw him one of those hunts, but a doe busted me. There was one clump of sweetgums that kept me from getting a shot. Next time I hunted, those sweetgums weren’t there.”

On Friday, Oct. 4, the final day of the third week of bow season, Darrell saw it was a 4 to 5 mph northwest wind. “I knew I had to go,” he said. “It was an evening hunt. Only pictures I got were in evenings, none in mornings.”

Week 3: Darrell Hudson, of Thomaston, won Week 3 with this awesome bow-buck from Upson County that netted 147 even.

Darrell said he wasn’t using a feeder in the area.

“I think these big bucks get feeder shy, especially during daylight. I was putting some broadcast stuff in the leaves. I think they like the browse better, like acorns, but I used some 4S Deer Draw. That stuff is hard to hunt though. Those deer come in there, and they stay with you all evening. You give a 5-year-old doe a couple of hours, and she’s going to bust you.”

That Friday evening, the buck appeared in about the same spot where Darrell had seen him the hunt before, only there was one important difference.

“Those sweetgums weren’t there. They were gone, and it paid off. It was probably about 6 to 6:30 when I saw him down behind me. I tried to stand up, and I saw a doe look at me. I relaxed and sat back down, and then he walked where those sweetgums were, and I go to draw and hear something right behind—dang doe right there. She finally passes by, and I drew back and shot him sitting down. I hit him in the armpit with that Swhacker, and he didn’t make it 30 yards.

“That joker had me all tore up.” 

Darrell’s bow-buck was a wide and tall 10-pointer that netted 147 even. In GON’s official Deer Records, Darrell now has the No. 2 bow-buck of all-time from Upson County. 

Darrell will be shooting in the finals to win a new Silverado pickup truck from long time Truck-Buck sponsor John Megel Chevrolet. He has already won $1,100 Mathews bows and a prize package which includes Antler Addict Mineral and 4S Draw from 4S Advanced Wildlife Solutions, a safety harness from Hunter Safety System and Shoot-Out shirts from Realtree.

GON’s Official Upson County Bow Buck Rankings