Hunter: Clint Strange
Points: 11 (5L, 6R)
County: Bibb
Season: 2023-2024
Hunt Story
The story on this buck starts about 3 weeks prior to season opening. This is the first year hunting this property. After scouting and studying the property I placed a camera on a pinch point of a ridge and bottom where it flattened out a bit. I found what appeared to be a good buck bedding area on the top of this ridge in some thick cover. After running a camera about a month, he showed up. He was inconsistent and showed himself a few times over the next couple of weeks. He shed his velvet about a week before season, but his pattern changed to my favor once he got hard horned. He daylighted a couple times leading up to opening day. I opted not to press him opening morning due to the thermals pulling scent uphill and the SE wind would be perfect for afternoon. After getting a “green light” from one of my daughters to miss her soccer game with solid intel that this would probably be my best opportunity to go after this buck, A.K.A. “Crusher”, I went all in for a play on him Saturday afternoon. After about 45 minutes in the sit, I noticed what I thought was a squirrel. I grabbed the binoculars and noticed a tail flicker, then I made part of his rack. He had been bedded down and stood up. As I watched him, he stood in one spot for roughly 40 minutes and never moved, he just turned his body and head as he analyzed every direction before he finally decided to move off out of sight to the east. A couple of small bucks started coming my direction and a few minutes later he emerged from the opposite direction he disappeared. I was able to catch glimpses of him through the dense cover for about 30 minutes and he finally started coming down the slope toward me where a yearling was feeding on early white oaks and the other couple of bucks had ended up. He finally presented me with a 25-yard broadside shot. I calmed myself, said a prayer, and drew back. When he took a step with his entry side shoulder, I held on the spot, and touched off the trigger. The green nocturnal gave easy site to the arrow flight and direct hit in the vitals. My sons Harrison and Hunter helped with the recovery with ol Blue. He found him roughly 150 yards from the shot. We are blessed to live in this Great Country and have the freedoms to hunt and pursue these great animals. Thank you Lord for a successful hunt.
