Hunter: Jay Matthews
Points: 10 (5L, 5R)
County: Warren
Season: 2021-2022
Hunt Story
Got into the stand around 4 p.m. Had a few white oaks on the ground but they were green and knocked out by squirrels or wind. With the high temps and lack of food I was not very optimistic. At about 6:50 I turned to see legs coming into the bottom out of the clearcut. I was able to stand and get turned in time to see that it was a large-bodied deer. As he got closer I was able to see that it was at least a solid 8 and a probable shooter. As I was prepared to stop him at 15 yards broadside he stopped about 5 yards short of a shooting lane and held up. I was afraid that he had caught my scent (in actuality he was checking a scrape that I found during my tracking). I was able to get turned a little more to be able to get my scope to his front shoulder. It was at that time that I noticed one of the drop tines so I knew I would take the shot. He was quartering slightly toward me so the passthrough ended up catching all of the vitals. As the smoke cleared from the muzzleloader, I was able to see him go back into the clearcut. I immediately heard a crash and knew that he was down. After a 50-yard recovery the work began in order to get him loaded in the truck. It was after I found the deer that I realized that it was a double drop-tined buck! If you want to know how out of shape you are, dragging a deer over 200 pounds out of the woods will show you just that. He had a live weight of 205 pounds.
