Hunter: Jason Brooks
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Henry
Season: 2020-2021
Hunt Story
I was set up in a single ladder stand about halfway down a hill over-looking a creek. I had previously caught a partial trail cam picture of a big mature buck in the area who was making a huge rub line above the creek. I studied the layout of the area and found a good spot to put up a stand just before Thanksgiving. Today was the first chance I had since putting it up to do a morning hunt in that stand. The wind was blowing toward me from the creek and the rub line was between me and the creek. At approximately 7:24am a huge bodied deer came out in front of me but was still in the thicket. It finally stepped out enough to see that it was a huge buck and I was sure he was the buck working that area. He looked my direction once but never saw me and definitely couldn’t smell me with the wind direction. He was sniffing the wind coming out of the creek bottom and slowly walking from my left to right, almost following the huge rub line. I propped up on my shooting rail and waited for him to come into a narrow shooting lane we had cut out. He stopped just before coming into the lane and all I could see was his head and rack. He finally started walking again and I called out to him with a doe bleat. It was enough to make him slow down but he didn’t stop and was about to slip off into the thicket again. I squeezed off on my .308 and he bolted like lighting. (Fastest I’ve ever seen a deer run, and I’ve spooked a lot of deer). I never heard him crash and didn’t see him go down, but I knew I made a good shot on him. After my nerves settled down, I waited about 10 minutes and climbed down. I wasn’t going to track him yet but I wanted to make sure I had a good blood trail before calling for help with dragging him out. I finally found the blood trail and knew he couldn’t be far. About 80 yards later I saw him and he was definitely down. Usually my deer shrink when I walk up on them but this one kept growing. I couldn’t believe it. He was not only a big body deer but his rack was even bigger. Biggest deer I’ve ever shot in my life. Funny thing is, I wasn’t going to shoot a deer this morning. I had already taken a doe and small buck this season and really didn’t have room in the freezer. I mainly went out just to relax and maybe take pictures and videos of any deer I saw. I told my fiancé I would still go hunting but I wouldn’t shoot anything unless it was the “big boy”. Well, things happen and here we are.
