Hunter: Logan Crosson
Points: 12 (6L, 6R)
County: Ben Hill
Season: 2020-2021
Hunt Story
We had a history with this buck that we had named Doc. Countless trail-cam pictures the last two seasons had us along with several of our neighbors hunting this buck. My dad and I had gotten a pretty good idea of his home territory and what he was doing. The deer appeared to be spending the majority of time on our farm but was traveling over to several of the neighbors farms in the area, and there were several people that had him as No. 1 on their "hit list." I bowhunted Doc as often as I could earlier this season when time and the wind allowed. I'm also a freshman at Georgia Southern, so that also made it difficult to get back home and hunt as often as I would've liked. I'd made plans to come home on Thursday Oct. 29th to hunt as there was a cool front coming in and knowing the rut was just around the corner, I figured it would be a good time to hunt Doc. My dad got a daylight picture of him on Thursday and that really got me fired up knowing that he was in the area. I hunted Thursday afternoon and didn't see anything, but as I was walking out, I heard a buck grunting and what sounded like him pushing a doe. Daddy and I talked about it that night and made plans for the hunt on Friday morning (10/30). I'm an avid bowhunter and really wanted to harvest Doc with my bow, but daddy convinced me that it would be better to take my rifle especially for the stand I was planning to hunt. Friday morning I slipped into the stand extra early. Right at daybreak, I had a deer walk into the food plot. At first I thought it was Doc, but it turned out to be a small yearling buck. He fed for a few minutes before walking into the woods to my right and bedding down less than 40 yards from my stand. I was watching him and kept hearing something over my right shoulder in the woods. It didn't really sound like a deer so I didn't pay it much attention. After continuing to hear it, I looked back and saw dark chocolate tines through the limbs. As soon as I saw his dark horns, I recognized who it was. He had gotten downwind of me and was trying to wind me. I'm right handed and he was to my right and slightly behind me, so I knew I would have to shoot him left handed. He continued to move to my right, and when he walked behind a tree, I made my move and turned my rifle and adjusted in the stand. I aimed left handed and free handed and found him in the scope and squeezed the trigger. As soon as I shot, I knew that I'd made a good shot. I thought I heard him go down but wasn't 100% certain. I called my dad and little brother and I was so excited that I could hardly talk. I was completely shook up! I waited about 20 minutes and got down and went to where he was and found blood, and 30 yards later I was looking at this incredible buck that I'd dreamed of harvesting. I'm so thankful to God for blessing me with this beautiful, majestic whitetail. It's awesome to have a history with a buck like this and then take him off of your family's farm. It was definitely a team effort as me, my brother, my dad and even my mom contributed in running cameras, hanging stands, planting food plots and putting out feeders.
