Well it happened. Sunday night the buck we were hunting made a mistake.

Last year I spotted this buck with a doe in a thicket and decided I was going to take him. Well my gun had a misfire and it did not shoot. The primer did not go off. The buck just slowly walked away. I never got another shot at him until I was tagged out already. He became a regular after that to this feeder.

Fast forward to this year. We started feeding protein and got pics of him all summer. He was looking good. He has only given us maybe 10 pictures since July. Pretty much a ghost. I have hunted 20 hours for him in a blind this year.

We were cruising the ranch Sunday and spotted a doe 265 yards away in a dried pond bottom. She quickly took off and behind her was Freak Nasty. I didn't even need binoculars to know what deer it was. They slipped away into some willows that lead to a deep deep canyon. The same canyon I shot my 170 3/8" buck in last year.

We snuck around and got the wind in our face and tried to spot and stalk. No luck, they must have slipped deeper in the canyon than we thought. We go back to where we spotted them and parked on a pipeline right of way. We could see every direction if they come out.

We waited this buck out for 3 hours and 10 minutes. At 5:00 pm he emerged from the canyon without his doe. Head held high like he was king. He came over the hill and came right at us. We were sitting in the truck and I quickly got on the hood and waited for my shot. He came from over 500 yards away like we had him on a string to the same pond we spotted him in. He came to 242 yards and presented me with a good shot. I took it and he ran 80 yards and died in a plum thicket.

This is not my biggest deer. But this is my favorite hunt and a great buck because of the character. He has 11 scoreable points and scores 162". Last year he was a double split G2, and this year he only split on the one side.

Last year:


This year:






After:

Awesome buck right there

Congrats

Great buck. Congrats.

Yes sir!

awesome buck, and I enjoyed the write-up. congrats on putting a tag on that stud

Awesome buck. Congrats! Love the character

That is a very fine animal!

Great deer! Congrats! Looks just like a deer we chased in Hall Co we named crabby patty.

Heckuva buck. Great pictures and good shooting. Congratulations.

heck of a deer. I am hunting a ghost as well. I have 5 pictures of him back on the 8th... kinda starting to worry

Awesome looking buck. Congrats to you.

Great Buck!

Congrats on getting it done. Outstanding buck!

wow very nice and great story, congrats!

Awesome deer!

That right side is really cool looking!

Really cool buck!

Great buck!