Hunter: Chris Abouzeidan
Points: 12 (6L, 6R)
County: De Kalb
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
The story started on the 15th of Nov, I gained permission to a piece in a new county I had never hunted before with high hopes of crossing paths with a mature buck. I set my cams out that evening and the day after on cam I get this buck in broad daylight. At this time I was hunting another buck in a completely different county and I had came home that day to check my Moultries to the find out that this new spot I had gained access to the day prior had the biggest buck of my life on it in broad daylight. It was a neat spot, I had a hardwood thicket on my right and a pine thicket on my left that I believe this buck used as a travel corridor to travel from one piece of thick cover to the next. So I got all my gear setup at this new spot with hopes of him showing up just one more time. I knew this buck was mature and that it probably wasn’t going to be that easy. Well I was right because this buck had vanished and hadn’t came back until almost a month later on Dec 3rd. At this point I had hunted almost everyday of November. So starting Dec 3rd I noticed he started using this travel route again. He’d come out of that pine thicket and head into the hard woods or vice versa. However, unlike the 1st day I had him on cam, he has now become completely nocturnal. At this point I had fully committed to this buck and didn’t want to go after any other deer. With that in mind, I hunted very hard from the beginning of Dec to Dec 15th with hopes of him just slipping up at least 15 minutes earlier. Well like my challenging November trials with this buck, December was not much different. Sit after sit after sit with no sign of him. I hunted hard that December trying to convince myself that surely he’s going to slip up one more time like he did a month prior. Fast forward to Dec 15th I was setup in my Saddle with a cold front on the way knowing that they were going to start moving more. Well they were moving and so was he, this buck that I had spent all this time hoping to show up finally steps out broadside right under 30 yards from me; but there was a catch. It was already way too dark to shoot with my bow. The only way I knew it was him is because my Moultrie had sent me a pic of him. There I was with the buck of a lifetime standing infront of me with nothing I could do but wait for him to leave so I didn’t spook him. That day was Dec 15th and that was also the day he vanished yet again. I had so much going through my mind, will he break his rack? Will he shed his antlers? Will he get hit by a car? Will another hunter shoot him? Fast forward to about a month later on Jan 6th BOOM just like that he’s back and looks better than ever, his rack is still in perfect shape. However now I also have to factor in that the 2025 deer season is coming to a close so I don’t have much longer. At this point he is now a little more consistent coming almost every night but never in shooting light. I told myself that I would hunt everyday until the last day of season to chase this buck, I didn’t want to settle for any other deer. I’d hunt and hunt and hunt with no signs of him. We then had this winter storm roll through that covered us in snow. I had a feeling the snow would get these deer up on they’re feet and I wasn’t wrong, the most deer I’d ever seen on a single sit (roughly 30 deer) I knew that surely this buck would be one of them; however, that was not the case. I sat and sat until finally the day he showed up. The day I had been hoping for the last 2 months had finally arrived. I got setup in my saddle and it felt like just another day for me. I waited and watched many does and a spike pile in, then as I looked out I noticed one deer that stood out from the rest; couldn’t see antlers but I could see the body. Everything from his body, his posture, his demeanor, was different than every other deer I had seen. With each deliberate step, he moved as though the weight of the forest rested on his awareness, every motion calculated and cautious. Before I seen the rack I almost knew it was him. He then takes a step revealing his rack confirming it was him. As my heart is racing I reach for my bow trying not to make a sound I then step up on my saddle platform and to my horror, CRACK! My saddle platform makes a loud crack sound that scares him along with all the other deer off. I’ve messed up some many hunts in my past, so many opportunities at big deer that I’ve screwed up. All this time, energy, time off work, money, time with my family that I sacrificed to chase this buck is all for nothing all because of this little crack sound that scared him off. With all this in the back of my mind as I watch him wither away from me back to the pine thicket where he may disappear forever I tell myself this is it, it’s not my ideal shot, I’m nervous, shaking and anxious but I have to shoot. Without getting him to stop as he’s leaving he took one last step, his towering rack cutting through the golden light, and in that heartbeat, my finger tightened—the shot echoing through the woods, sealing a moment I’d dreamed of for so long. Knowing I made a great shot, a surge of emotion flooded over me—relief, triumph, and a deep respect for the majestic buck now lying before me, a moment etched forever in my soul. I couldn’t have enough respect for these animals and the joy they bring me.
