Truck-Buck 2019-20: Week 14 Winner, Matt Overholt

Week 14: Matt Overholt, 143 6/8 typical
County: Macon        Date: Dec. 20

“I enjoy the outdoors, especially hunting whitetail. I’ve been hunting since I was 10 years old,” said Week 14 winner, Matt Overholt, who is just 18 and lives near Marshallville in Macon County. When you live with the deer, there will be some that are identifiable through particular markings. The buck that would put Matt in the Shoot-Out was such as deer.

“We saw him on the farm as a fawn and called him piebald because of the white on his sides,” Matt said. “We videoed him each year and watched him grow. At 2 1/2 he was a 4-point, at 3 1/2 he was a 127-inch 9-point—we found both sheds. And last summer we watched him grow to a 150+ inch gross.

“We had him patterned in September, and my brother went in after him with a bow, had him 15 yards and could not make a lethal shot. We found very few drops of blood and got a tracking dog in and could not find him. We saw him one time for the next two and a half months and had no pictures of him through that time,” Matt said.

Week 14: Matt Overholt, 18, of Marshallville, with his Macon County 10-pointer that had piebald markings on its sides, face and legs. The 11-pointer netted 143 6/8.

“After the rut I moved the camera to a new spot and began getting pictures of him immediately. He had lost lots of weight, and we thought he may die, but as time went on he gained his weight back. After several weeks of scouting we realized he was bedding about 100 yards from the camera. So I snuck in early Saturday morning Dec. 14 after a rain, and at 8:30 I saw him stand up and start walking away. I watched him for 45 minutes and decided to take a shot. He was in a little brush, and I missed him.

“The next week on Friday, Dec. 20 my brother who had the opportunity earlier, plus my oldest brother and his son, and I decided to surround his bedding area. By 8 a.m. I had not seen anything. About that time I heard my nephew shoot on the other side of the bedding area and saw the 8-point fall that he shot at. And immediately I began seeing deer moment all around me. By 8:30 I had seen 10 deer. I pulled my phone out and saw it was 8:31, and as I put it back I looked to my left and saw the piebald standing there. I ranged him at 99 yards and waited till he gave me a clear shot. I put the cross arrows on his shoulder and pulled the trigger. He ran about 40 yards, and I watched him fall. What an awesome experience!”

Matt’s Macon County 11-point buck netted 143 6/8 to win Week 14.

Matt will be shooting in the finals to win a new Silverado pickup truck from longtime Truck-Buck sponsor John Megel Chevrolet. He has already won a $1,140 Browning deer rifle 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 a Shoot-Out shirt from Realtree.

GON’s Official All-Time Cook Macon Buck Rankings