Hunter: Zak Germaine
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Gwinnett
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
I had this deer on camera since June. I put out a bunch of cameras and figured out over the course of the next few months every move he made, where he slept, what trails he took etc. Come opening day of bow season the hurricane that came through Florida had the wind whirling around good. Another good 10-pointer stepped out before the big one did and he caught wind of us and they spooked off. Almost everyday for the next 2 weeks I had encounters with this deer but absolute luck was on his side. Even drew back on him one time and had multiple within 10 yard encounters with him but again, pure luck was on his side and he got away. He disappeared for a few weeks and I thought my chances of ever seeing this deer, let alone kill him, were gone. On 11/10 he showed up randomly at 4:15pm on camera and I knew I had to get in the woods as often as I could. I got settled in the tree on 11/12 and at 5:10 I saw antlers coming through the woods about 70 yards away. I honestly thought it was a smaller deer and I didn’t mind it much attention except to just keep up with where it was going. Before I knew it he was 15 yards away and I started shaking because it was him. He walked closer to 10 yards and I stood up and grabbed my bow. When I began to draw back something spooked him and he darted off about 10-15 yards and stopped and then turned back to me. He walked back again to 10 yards and I shot and made a great shot. I heard him crash in the woods about 80 yards away. I waited for an hour then got down and had great blood and was able to follow it easily until I saw my luminok glowing and him laying beside it. He was the biggest bodied and antlered deer I've ever laid eyes on in Georgia. He grossed 165”, but unfortunately he broke off his double left brow and nearly half his right g2. He should have been a 180” deer, but I couldn’t be more thrilled and blessed to have been able to even chase this deer and fortunate enough to even killed it and do it with a bow.
