Hunter: Josh Simmons
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Colquitt
Season: 2022-2023
Hunt Story
I’ve been hunting this buck since the beginning of the season. I’ve seen him on camera a handful of times but he’s been very good at skirting the cameras and feeders. I saw him in the daylight on camera about 2 weeks prior, hunted the area hard, but never caught a glimpse. Rut is in full swing in Colquitt Co. and I had been seeing lots of new mature buck but none quite the size of him. The morning of 11/19 was cool, in the 40s with a NNW light wind. I saw several deer cutting across the narrow planted lanes and would occasionally grunt at them. A few doe would pop out to see what was going on. Things got quiet around 9 a.m. About that time, a big body buck cut across my entry lane straight ahead. I grunted at him. About 30 seconds later he cut back across the lane about 30 yards away. He was quickly getting to cover. I grunted loudly. He turned to face me just before cutting back into the thick brush between the planted pines. I knew it was him and took a shot at center mass. He immediately turned into the thick brush and started to run. I waited about 30 minutes and went to the spot where he cut into the brush. There wasn’t a trace of blood. I figured that it was a clean through and through at that distance so I cut into the pines to look around. I heard some light rustling about 20 yards west. The brush was thick so I walked back to the road to find a lane. I walked in about 25 yards and found him down. I drug him back to the entry lane and had my buddy help me load him into the truck. He had lost his left brow tine from fighting and about 20 lbs from chasing doe since I last caught him on camera, but a nice buck nonetheless.
