Hunter: Clae Mathis
Points: 10 (5L, 5R)
County: Taylor
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
This is definitely one of the coolest chases I have been a part of. I wound up hunting this buck over 40 times this season. This buck spent his summer on a lease of mine that is a little over a mile from where I hunted him. He showed up in the food plot on this property on September 20. He never really got regular on camera there, but I have 3 cameras set up to video trails, scrapes, and crossings, and he would be on those a lot. I definitely learned that the food won't always tell you the whole story of where a deer is because he was very rarely eating in front of the camera. I hunted the same stand over and over again just hoping to catch him moving through in daylight. It got to the point where I had pretty much accepted that this deer was not going to move in daylight on my property. Overnight between Saturday November 16 and Sunday November 17, he spent a lot of time in the food plot. He was eating some, but mostly it looked like he was just checking does. I woke up around 5 on Sunday morning. I honestly had decided I wasn't going to hunt. I was looking at my Moultrie app, and this buck (we named him Samson) was in the food plot at 5:30. I knew from other cameras and from scouting that he would do a big loop of the property checking his scrapes and all before going back to where he bedded. I told myself if I could get in the stand before daylight, I could possibly catch him going back after legal light. It was a real long shot. I got to the property, and waited until it got real close to legal light. I got in the stand at 6:33. Sunrise was at 7:09, so 6:39 would be legal. There was so much fog everywhere except for around 100 yards in front of me. I opened the windows to the blind, and opened my Moultrie app to see the videos from the night before. I caught movement in front of me. A deer was walking with a purpose on the edge of the food plot. I couldn't believe he had done exactly what I hoped he would do. It was 6:41, and he had read the script perfectly. Just like every time, a million thoughts went through my head in those 3 to 5 seconds. I put the binoculars on the deer, and of course they were super blurry. He was walking pretty fast, but I realized quickly it was Samson. He was about to be out of the lane for me to shoot out of the front window, and if I had to wait on him on the window to the left, it was going to be a very difficult shot to make. I threw the gun up, and by the grace of God just happened to be right on him in the scope. I put the crosshairs about 2 steps in front of him, and squeezed as he walked into them. This is my first year hunting with my new suppressor, and I heard the bullet hit him hard. I immediately looked out the left window, which was super foggy. I thought I could see him go down, but I wasn't sure. My buddies think that I got down and waited for them to show up, but I actually jumped down and ran to where I thought I saw him go down. (Sorry boys!) He was down and I ran back to the stand to get my stuff. I waited on them, and we recovered him a few minutes later. We had a celebration for a few minutes sitting around him. THis is the coolest and most unique buck I have ever hunted. His antlers literally cross in the middle. He is only 11 inches wide. I am so thankful to have him.
