Hunter: Tyler Riddle
Points: 14 (5L, 9R)
County: Turner
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
8:08 am. Sitting in my climber facing a creek with an open pinewoods view to my left and right. It was cold. Very cold. I hadn’t seen any movement all morning. My buddy hunting the property with me had just sent me a photo of his propane heater in his box stand and was taunting me with having seen half a dozen does and a good young chasing buck so far. I was not in the best spirits. I made a sweep to my right and saw a mature doe at 55-60 yards looking away from me. She was on high alert. I got my Binos up and watched a young 2ish-year-old 8pt give her a little chase. He ran her to a thicket at my 2:00 and I lost sight of both of them. As she came out of the thicket towards me the young buck suddenly made a beeline in front of me out of the area. Away from the hot doe. I saw brush disturbed and out stepped this mature buck. I got my binos on him for a glimpse and saw he had good mass and looked to be mature. Only a split second view though. We have 2 target bucks on the farm and heavily manage so I knew I didn’t recognize this deer. As he reappeared parallel to me at my 3:00 I finally saw his junky left side and made the decision that he was a shooter. He dropped with the shot and when I got down to him I could see just how massive he is. Gross green we taped him at 156 with only a 13 inch inside spread, a broken browtine on his right and a broken claw on his left. Guesstimates are 5.5-6 years old and covered in scars and pus pockets from bullying. Truly a surprise buck on our property.
