Hunter: Kendall Golightly
Points: 12 (6L, 6R)
County: Cobb
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
We had nicknamed this buck MJ (Michael Jordan), because his tongue was always sticking out of the right side of his mouth. I had been hunting this deer for 3 years and never had a single daytime picture of him and had never seen him in the woods. I was finally successful in landing a new property that I had been wanting to get hoping he was in the area. Only one trail camera picture at another spot a few months prior. 7:45 am rolled around, and I saw a big buck on another ridge 250 yards away. Grunted, rattled and can called....nothing. He started to walk away, and I decided to snort wheeze. All of the sudden another buck (120-inch 10-point) that I didn't see runs 200 yards and stops 15 yards behind me looking downhill. A minute later a doe comes trotting up the hill toward me. The big buck had gone back into the woods and vanished. Eight minutes later, the big buck comes from the creek bottom following the same trail the doe took up the hill. The 10-pointer did not want to get his butt kicked by the larger buck and circled uphill feeding in my wheat plot. The big deer sat motionless at 20 yards to my left along the wood line watching the hot doe browse in the CRP. That’s when I saw his tongue sticking out. It’s MJ! Too thick for a shot, I'm trying to figure out if I could squeeze in a shot from any angle. The other 10-pointer grunted at the doe and MJ didn't like that. He started walking straight toward me. 15, 10, 5 yards straight down. I drew and had to step on my tip toes to attempt to avoid a branch in the way. Squeeze and sure enough hit the branch and the arrow flies 8 feet away from him. I’m crushed. He trots down the hill and walks down to the creek below the doe. I’m thinking I just lost my shot after all this time. The doe hasn't moved. MJ ends up circling around the doe and coming back on the other side of the CRP and stops at 40 yards. Staring at me and then the doe. Staring at me and then the doe. This continued for 30 minutes. Finally MJ turned, quartering away looking like he was about to walk away back down the hill. I grabbed my rangefinder and pushed the button....dead. I saw my opportunity, debated on the yardage and drew back. As I did, he turned back around and looked straight at me. I squeezed and let it fly. 42 yards and he had tried to duck the arrow. No more luck for MJ, the shot broke his back. He crashed down the hill out of view. Trying not to shake out of the tree I called a few buddies to let them know what had happened. 15 minutes later I got down, knocked an arrow and slowly started walking down the hill. I saw him lying on his back and could tell he was still alive. I knocked another arrow and he did a flip down the hill. Got a clear shot and put it in the sweet spot. He took his last breath right by the creek. A three-year dream and adventure was over. A wave of emotions and adrenaline ran through me that I finally did it. What a feeling! Laid back, looked up at the blue sky and thanked the man above for the privilege to hunt, the great outdoors, my family and friends.
