Hunter: John Surles
Points: 8 (5L, 3R)
County: Grady
Season: 2019-2020
Hunt Story
When I got into my stand I immediately saw a spike walking out of the creek drainage, it was a little after 4:00 pm. I watched this deer for about 45 minutes as he feed back and forth in front of me at 50 to to 70 yards. He lost interest in the area and headed northeast of my location. As he was walking, I grunted twice with no reaction from the deer, the third time I grunted louder and he stopped and looked back towards me before walking out of site. Approximately ten minutes later to my left I heard bushes being disturbed and could tell a buck was moving through the woods. The deer stopped and rubbed a tree briefly before turning and walking towards my stand. I could see that it was a mature buck I've had on camera in the area for a few weeks. The deer turned broad side at 50 yards and I shot him. Once I got down, I found blood and brown hair where the deer was standing. I followed the path that I believed the deer ran but did not see any blood. After looking for the buck for over an hour in the dark I decided to call a deer tracking service. I was told they were booked for the evening but could come out the next morning. After a sleepless night, I found myself back at the property with Randy Vick and his dog Reba from Pavo, Ga. Randy put his dog on the dried blood and she took off in the direction I saw the deer run. Then she made a hard turn and went up an old logging path. The buck was laying in the path near a fallen Oak Tree. He had only run 95 yards. The shot was right in the vitals but did not exit the deer which was the reasoning for the lack of a blood trail. All ended well and the deer was still in good shape for the processor.
