Truck-Buck

photo of a deer killed by Ty Phillipsphoto of a deer killed by Ty Phillipsphoto of a deer killed by Ty Phillips

Hunter: Ty Phillips

Points: 10 (5L, 5R)

County: Dooly

Season: 2018-2019

Hunt Story

My dad and I worked hard all summer filling a trough-feeder with 400 pounds of deer feed every 2-3 weeks, checking the trail-camera at each fill-up interval. We had a few target bucks on the camera, including this one. We named him, "Crab Claw," for the short G4s on either main beam that makes him a 10-pointer. All season I have been hunting hard, dying to get my second-buck. Friday, December 21, I hunted a stand we call the Island that overlooks a food plot. Then, there is a connecting food plot that connects the Island food plot and a back food plot. All three look beautifully luscious and green, due to my dad's hard work on the tractor this fall. Shortly before dark, I saw two bucks in the back food plot eating out of a spin cast-feeder we had set up, which is about 300 yards from the Island stand. I couldn't see their racks, but I knew that the buck out of the two that had a dark hide was a big buck. So, the next afternoon, Saturday, December 22, I decided to hunt a stand we have in the back food plot. I had only seen one doe until 5:30 p.m., when I saw another doe emerge down by the Island Stand in the front food plot. The doe was followed by a four-pointer, which was then soon followed by a rack-buck. Shortly after coming out, the rack-buck went back the way he came and disappeared from my view, as the four-pointer then did. A few minutes later, a doe made her way on a road that skirts my food plot, her tail sticking straight up. She was followed from the four-pointer from the front food plot. Then, the doe entered the woods, and the small buck decided to eat some corn from the spin-cast feeder about 50 yards from my stand. Then, I saw two deer make their way to the connector plot. As I looked at them through my binoculars, I recognized that they were both rack-bucks, and the dark-hided one on the right was the buck I had seen the previous evening. Then, to my surprise, the dark buck began to work his way straight to the spin cast-feeder. As the buck approached the feeder, I saw he was the crab-claw buck. My heart began to pound, and I grabbed my gun, got it up to the shooting-rail, and flipped the safety off. When he got to the feeder, I shot him. We had an easy tracking job, since the lung-shot I placed on the deer left a great blood trail. I would like to thank God for blessing me with my second-buck and a beautiful 10-pointer. Merry Christmas!
Return to List