Hunter: Jason McFarland
Points: 7 (4L, 3R)
County: Hancock
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
This is a buck I named Roy, my dad's middle name, as my dad passed him twice last year when he was a 4 1/2 because he had broke both his brow tines off. This season he was #2 on my hit list, until my #1 buck was entered in Week 2 by my neighbor, then he became #1. I focused my efforts on this buck simply because I judged him to 5 1/2 and the oldest of the bucks I had on camera on that particular piece of property. On opening day of gun season, I saw him just before dark but couldn't get a shot because he took off chasing a doe. I saw him again on October 30, again with a doe, but this time he was broadside at 50 yards, a chip shot, but when the smoke from my muzzleloader cleared he was standing there looking around trying to figure out where the smoke came from. Still not sure what happened, other then my target buck walked off unharmed. To make that miss sting even more, loggers started clear cutting our lease the next Monday, November 2nd, and they even cut on the 1st Saturday. When they didn't show up the next Saturday, I took advantage of it and hunted a tripod just off the clear cut, where I could watch creek bottom, a food plot and parts of the cut. I passed a nice 3 1/2 year old 7 pointer that afternoon, and since I had the perfect wind predicted again for the next morning I decided to give it another try. At 7:00 my dad text me that a good buck crossed his food plot and was heading my way, and unlike all the other times we have seen bucks heading to the other, this one actually showed up! 20 minutes after he text me, Roy walked up my side of the creek, then 8 minutes after that I finally got a clear shot, and I was able to put an end to my quest for Roy. Two years of history, multiple encounters, and one miss made for a rewarding and exciting hunt!
