Hunter: Phillip Tully
Points: 10 (5L, 5R)
County: Harris
Season: 2021-2022
Hunt Story
I had been watching this deer for two years. Had him on camera all last year as a 5-year-old. On Oct. 3, 2020, I was in a ground blind with my 5-year-old son. He had been practicing all summer with the crossbow. That evening, the deer he had named Crabby 10 came in and gave my son a 20-yard shot. The deer was walking slowly and he missed. It devastated my son, as he was hoping crabby 10 would have been his 1st deer. We continued to get night photos of him through the end of the season, but never saw him the rest of last season. This summer we got lots of photos of Crabby 10 and he put on mass and tine length from last year, especially his G4s and main beams. I had been getting pics of him right at daylight, so I knew I needed to get in the bling early. On 9/17/21, Friday morning, I got in the blind about an hour before daylight. I was really surprised when Crabby 10 showed up with a doe and two other smaller bucks well after daylight about 7:45. He gave me a quartering away shot at about 25 yards and I took the shot. I watched him run out of sight with the arrow in him. I felt like I hit him a little farther back than I wanted, so I waited about 30 minutes and eased out of my blind and went back to the house. I wanted to give him plenty of time since this was my biggest buck in Georgia. I called Lyle Avis to bring his tracking dog and we agreed to meet at 1:30 to begin the search. His dog did a great job and found the deer in about 20 minutes. He had expired long before, but I'm glad I played it safe and didn't push the deer. This was my best buck in Georgia by far and my first Georgia Pope & Young. My son, now 6 years old, still hasn't forgiven me for shooting "his deer."
