Hunter: Bryan Fuller
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Meriwether
Season: 2020-2021
Hunt Story
My buddies and I have hunted Joe Kurz numerous times in the past with great success. We always try to get the first hunt because the pre-rut has always been great for us down there. My brother and I actually took two great bucks minutes apart in 2015 on the first morning of the first hunt. Each time we hunt Joe Kurz we start out in the same exact trees as prior years unless someone is already in the area. I went down the day before the hunt to check our area out and try to determine if our same trees would be hunt worthy. To my surprise it didn’t seem like anyone had been in the area. My buddies and I arrived 2 hours early the first morning and were relieved that there were no trucks parked in the area. The three of us went to our spots and hunted until noon before climbing down for lunch. No deer were seen in the morning hunt which was very rare for us there. We ate lunch at the truck and took a nap before heading back out. As we were getting ready to go back out for the evening, my rifle fell of the back seat and onto the foot step of the truck. I looked at the crosshairs of my Pentax scope and they were broke. Luckily I had my muzzleloader in the truck from a hunt the day prior. All three of us went back out to our stands around 3:30. None of us saw anything early besides several dogs and another hunter who had dogs following him through the woods. About 6:30 my buddy saw a buck slipping through the woods so our hopes were finally rising. I heard a deer blow 1 time and then splash through water in the thicket. A few minutes later, a yearling and a doe ran across the lane. I just knew the dogs from earlier were chasing the deer or a hunter walking around had them spooked. Right after the those two deer ran across a bigger nanny doe ran across. I was excited to see deer but just knew something had them spooked. After the bigger nanny doe ran across, this buck came busting out of the thicket. I hollered real loud and he stop at the edge of the lane. I pulled my muzzleloader up and forgot I had to pull the hammer back. Once I got the hammer back I pulled off the shot. Smoke filled the entire shooting lane and I had no clue if I hit him or not at 120 yards. I quickly climbed down and went and marked the spot he was at before it was totally dark. My brother and best friend came over and we couldn’t find any blood or sign after 20 minutes of looking. I remember when I ran down to mark the spot I heard squirrels barking in a totally different area than I thought he would have ran. My instincts told me to go look where the squirrels were barking and I found him piled up in that area. Thank you to Rob (property warden) at Joe Kurz for keeping that place amazing.
