9-22-24 - Archery Hunters

  On tonight's show, Jim and Scott interview archery hunters who recently harvested some magnificent deer and elk. You can check out the hunters and their trophies at Jim Strader Outdoors on Facebook.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:23):
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(00:44):
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Outdoors on news Radio eight forty whas.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening. Everybody gent Straighter here, and we have got
a fantastic group of stories tonight from some really awesome hunters.
They've taken some giant deer here in the first part
of the season, and we've also got a great story
about a giant bullet out. We're gonna be talking with

(01:21):
Derek Gill who took this giant out down in Bell
County and it girls scored three hundred and seventy one
inches and could very well be the first boon and
crocodile taken since twenty twenty one. We're gonna be featuring
Brandon Berman's one hundred and seventy four inch monster eight pointer,

(01:41):
which is the largest perfect eight point ever taken with
a compound bow according to buck Masters. We've got Bob
McCabe's all some non typical velvet Russell County buck, which
has a gross score of one ninety nine to one
eighth what a monster. And we'll round it out was
Adam Patton's giant Montgomery County velvet buck, which gross scores

(02:04):
one eighty four four eighths and has some of the
longest beams that you over hear of is right, beam
is twenty nine and four eight inches long. So these
are gonna be great stories by really serious hunters who
are gonna reveal their strategies for taking these giant trophy animals.
And so we're gonna go straight to it. I'm gonna

(02:27):
go to this break which is presented by s m
I Marine. Remember you never get soaked by my friends
at SMI and Scott. We're gonna kick things off with
the gentlemen that you know from Unenburg County, Grrit Gill
that killed a monster bowl Elk. I'll let you take
it from here.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Well, Derek, you've put in for a few years and
finally got drawn to go chase and you were able
to kill a big bull Elk in Kentucky. Tell us
a little bit about what brought you to the point
to finally get to wrap your hands around the antlers
and and we're ready to hear who you got to

(03:08):
share it.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
With as well.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Uh yes, sir, can you hear me? Okay, yes, yes, okay,
all right, Well it all started, you know, of course,
you know, the draw is the you know, the big
anxiety is you know, usually every year, whenever the drawing
is happening, I'm usually right there on my phone, you know,

(03:32):
watching it, you know, every year, and for some reason
this year I end up not I wasn't paying attention,
you know, I was working on my house, actually measuring footers.
And my buddy Jacob Fortney, he called me and told me.
He said, hey, you've got drawed. And I was like, whatever,
I mean I did not? He said, yeah, you did.
So anyway, the footer was done with. So we was

(03:55):
all fired up. We end up meeting and you know,
already getting excited, and from then on it just started,
you know, talking to people, you know, on on X maps,
you know, already trying to you know, figure out some
areas that you know look good on the map. You know,

(04:15):
of course, you know that can be deceiving. You know,
something on the map looks totally different until you get there.
And so whenever it all come about, you know, it's
kind of new to me. And they've changed, you know,
the way they do stuff. And I'm trying to figure

(04:36):
out how you're supposed to do this, how go about
this putting in for regulated areas, et cetera. What unit
you want to put in for? So I called around,
talked to some by help biologists and you know, just
people that might give me some hints and maybe pointers,
just because I'm a greened to it and you know,

(04:57):
trying to get all the help that I can before
were you know, I put in to go through that process.
So going through that process, I put in you know
for the regulated areas and the units that I thought
would help me out the most by the people I've
talked to and people that might be able to help
me out that lived in build those areas. And I

(05:20):
put in for those five and when it come to it,
you know, I didn't get drawn for none of those
and I was like, dang, because I'm I always heard,
you know, most of the time you're going to get
one of those five. So and actually the area that
I got, which was two Unit two, that was the
least I had anything about, you know, as far as

(05:42):
information about any of it. And so from then on
it was just like what do I do now, So,
you know, went back to drawing board, started looking at
public ground. Of course, the unit two does have a
lot of public ground. So from then on we just
went straight to on X and then me and Jacob
went down, uh like around the first week of well

(06:05):
the last week of August, and we started scouting around,
you know, first couple of spots, you know, we've seen
a few older tracks, nothing, you know, nothing to be
get excited about. And we just kept pulling up the
map and then here, Jacob actually Jacob said this, tryl
this spot. It was like an open area and it

(06:28):
was like it was up north of sixty six on
the northern end, and we ended up probably I don't know,
fifteen hundred yards from a truck. We ended up seeing
a couple of tracks, and we ended up walking up
on a five by five and a cow and within
twenty five yards and it never seen us smelters or anything.

(06:51):
And you know, I was able to sit there and
get video of it, of course, so then you know,
finally they end up smelling us and going on. But
you know, then our excitement level got you know, really high.
You know, we was really just we was thinking, well,
they're in here now, they should be in here when
we come back. So we didn't we didn't, you know,
continue to scout that area because we knew they was there,

(07:13):
or at least one bull was there, and so we
just backed out and then we just we started looking
at other places.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
And so.

Speaker 5 (07:27):
At the time too, his his daughter got drawn too,
so we was also scouting for his daughter too, So
you know that with us fighting one in my unit,
you know that kind of we just kind of stopped
right then for that trip. And uh so we end
up coming back home and you know, still talking to people,
trying to reach out, you know, talking to local people

(07:50):
that might know people in uh that area. And luckily,
uh my uncle he ended up knowing somebody that lived
in that area, and he got me his number and
it was old gentleman, and so I called him so
and he ended up calling several people. And this is

(08:12):
how I ended up with this private land to be
able to hunt on. And you know, we then men
Thad Cartwright, we went down two weeks later and just
scouted this land and just to see the layout of it,
you know, see what we was getting into, and seen
some sign and so we put out a just a

(08:33):
cheap spive point camera, you know, because we was always
or I was always heard that you know, you don't
want to put an expensive camera out because the bears
will absolutely destroy it. So, you know, not knowing, that's
what I did, and so we got I kind of
got the layout of that land, you know, come back out,
got scattered a few more different public ground areas, and

(08:56):
you know, it was kind of discouraging weekend because we
didn't see much sign and you know, just still the unknowns,
you know, what's going on my mind. You know, this
is a this is a dream of a lifetime that
you know that you always dream of here in your
own state getting to do and you're not having the
luck that you wish you could have, you know, doubting,

(09:18):
and so coming back and getting ready for the trip
coming down, me and three of my buddies, Jacob Fortney, Landon, Wilson,
and Thaya caught right actually Thad and Landing was the
only two that got to come down with me right
off the bat. And so we started out that come

(09:42):
down that Friday before season and we went and scouted
another some more public ground. After we went and checked
that camera on the private and there was nothing on there.
I mean there was a barrel in there like every day,
and you know, so that that kind you know, like, well,

(10:02):
if I'm not getting on camera, there's no sense in
just going and and busting in there and you know,
not really seeing much or hearing anything. So we went
to the public ground just trying that out. We've seen them,
you know, a few old tracks, and but we didn't
push ourselves back in there where we thought the help
might be. So that's where we ended up going that

(10:24):
opening morning. And whenever we got in there, you know,
we went we went pretty deep because it's deep here
is not like deep in you know, out west. But
we ended up probably you know, making a five mile
round trip, and you know, we didn't see much sign
and that was we ended up getting out, you know,

(10:45):
probably ten o'clock or so that morning, and you know,
kind of discouraged a little bit.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
So on our way back.

Speaker 5 (10:51):
To our our house airbnb that we that I got,
it was going right by the private land, so I said,
you know, let's just stop up in there and checked
because it was going to be a quick trip in
and out just to check. So went in and checked
that camera and five cows and that bull was in
there like nine o'clock that morning, and that was the

(11:14):
first time any elk had showed up. So you know,
here we are, you know, really super excited because you know,
did I dream he was as big as he was?
Did I think he was?

Speaker 6 (11:27):
Now?

Speaker 5 (11:28):
But I knew he was a shooter. I knew he
was you know, I knew he was three twenty five
plus easy, and so we we eased out, went back
and you know, put our all of her clothes in
the waher, got everything sent free as much as possible.
We went and got grabbed a bite to eat, bite

(11:49):
to eat, went to uh Walmart, you know, got a
few things, come back and relaxed a little bit and
took her showers and we went back in at about
four o'clock. And in hopes, you know that he was
betted in that area because it was so late in
the morning whenever he was there. So when we set up,

(12:12):
we you know, kind of set up to where you know,
we was thinking they might be coming from. And we're
probably sitting there fifteen minutes and the wind changed on us.
So we got up and we moved, and because we
knew when the sun started setting that the thermals was
going to completely change, so we moved. And it's a

(12:33):
good thing that we did, because, i mean, the wind
that stayed just perfect for us the whole time. And
we sit there for probably I don't know, forty five
minutes or so, and here come a cow and a
calf out and they they got within i mean literally

(12:55):
five to ten yards from us for fifteen minutes, and
two or three more cows came out, and you know,
they was just they were just walking around with them feeding,
and you know, here I am. I mean, I was
so nervous. I was staying to myself because I knew
I couldn't get a shot. I was telling myself, please

(13:16):
don't let that bull walk out right now, because I
knew in my mind there's no way I would have
got a shot because they was pinpointed on us, and
if I had a moved, you know, I would have
busted everything out. So fifteen minutes went on and they
you could tell that they was getting anxious and they
knew something was up. So they started easily, you know,

(13:39):
walking out of the towards where they came from in
the woods. And as soon as they got back in
the woods, they they was probably I don't know, they
probably walked in their fifty seventy five yards and I
could hear them. They started mewing, and all of a sudden,
that bull he let out the biggest bugle ever. And

(13:59):
I turned around. My buddy Thad, he was sitting right
behind me, and I told him, I said, I said,
bugle back at him. I said, you know, get aggressive
with him. So he uh, he bugled at him, and
he bugled right back. Then he challenged him again, and
he bugled right back again, and all of a sudden,

(14:20):
he started coming. So I stood up and I knew
that I knew that he was coming because soon as
I stood up, I got everything ready and I could
I could see in the woods, and I could see
him coming through the woods. You know, he was plucking
underneath the limbs and everything. So I was like, you know,
do not pay attention to his rack, Do not pay
attention to his racks. Soon as he stepped out in

(14:42):
the field, he let out a big bugle forty yards
from us, and he just slowly kept making his way
towards us because he knew somebody was in his territory.
And whenever he started coming, I had one opening, and
because I was behind like some little brier thickets, and

(15:04):
the way he come out that that's just the way
he come out. It was in the wrong spot where
I didn't have very many chances for a shot. But
as soon as he stepped in that opening, literally he stepped,
he stopped directly in path or word of the shot
that I needed to take and just stood there and
then given me just he couldn't have given me a
better shot. And it was a frontal shot, and I

(15:27):
you know, I'll be the first to tell you I'm
not a fan of a frontal shot, but I felt
comfortable with the shot, so I took it. And he
ended up turning as soon as he turned to take
off that he he cal called real quick, and he
stopped immediately and turned and looked at us and kept
eyeing us for like twenty seconds, and all of a sudden,

(15:48):
he took about five steps to the right and his
back legs just dropped and he done a backflip. So
from then, you know, we all, all three of us,
we just started hooping and hollering and you know, hugging
each other and crying. I mean literally three grown men
out in the middle of the woods, crying like a

(16:10):
big baby, just because we're so excited. You know, that's
what we have dreamed of, you know, worked hard for
not only here but out west, and it just takes
a toll on you after so long, not that this
trip did, but the other trips have. And and all
of a sudden, my buddy said he's getting up he's
getting up. So he ended up. He got up and

(16:31):
he went in the woods, but he was staggering, you know,
you could tell he was hurt. And he went on
in there about forty yards and we heard him fall
and started kicking. So we give him about thirty more
minutes and we eased in there and like and he
was forty yards in the woods. He was laying there.

(16:52):
You know, he was dead.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Derek. That is just an awesome bull. And folks, so
you can understand how big this is. It's probably giving
let out on booting Crocket to be the first and
Crockett killed and he killed it with a crossbow. Since
twenty twenty one, and there's only been nine bulls in
Booting Crockett for the last seventeen years. And I can't

(17:19):
tell you how proud of you we are, Derek. And
I want, I know you.

Speaker 5 (17:23):
Want to give credit to the Lord here, yes, sir,
because you know when this all began, I told myself,
no matter what the outcome was, no matter what happened,
whether I killed, whether I didn't kill, whatever, I was

(17:43):
going to get the glory because I'm the one blessed.
Not only because I got to go hunt here in
my own state. But just because I have the ability
to be able to get out and do it, and
you know a lot, I think a lot of people
and I took it for granted myself.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Well, well we'll just tackle the death for you in
It only took you twenty years to get the draw.
That's right, it's the whole same buddy, get her done,
and you sure did.

Speaker 6 (18:13):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, thanks so much for sharing your story folks. Here
the pictures go up on Demonstrator Outdoors on Facebook. We
got to go to break here. This break is presented
by Malfield Property Art Realtive. Check them out at m
p h a R T Realte dot com. Okay, Scot up. Next,

(18:36):
we're gonna talk to Brandon Berman and Brandon it's from
Coxas Creek, Kentucky, Nelson County. Buck and Scott. I'm sure
you've seen the pictures. This thing is just huge.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well with all of these animals, Jim, you know, we
know these folks in different shapes, forms and fast and
they all love wild game on their table. They all
love to hunt. But like all of us, they've all
gone out there with a dream and a goal to
kill and harvest an extraordinarily nice animal when it does

(19:16):
come to the trophy part of it. And none of
these folks are out there for the for the horns.
They've just been rewarded for it. And it's really interesting
to see and listen to these stories stories before we
go on air, because it's all about networking. It's all
about connections and collaborations, and it's what we do is

(19:38):
outdoor women and men sportsmen so well, and that is
we utilize each and every one of our resources.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Jim, Yes, sir. In Brandon's case, everything you said is
especially true. Brandon. I'm gonna try this down here just
a little bit. This is an eight point grosses one
four and it's the largest eight point ever taken with
a compound bow, according to Bunk Basses. So hats off

(20:08):
and tell us about the deer you nicknamed mead Heead.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
What's going on? Man, Hey, buddy, glad, Well, thank you.
I'm glad you guys have me on. But uh but yeah, uh,
this this deer, for sure, it's a team effort. Deer. Uh,
it took it took quite a bit from us. Uh.

Speaker 7 (20:34):
I had my son last year November twenty second, and
my wife is currently pregnant with our next boy on
the way. And uh so I got to credit her
some for it too, because she's had her hands full
of letting me get out there.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
And do what I do.

Speaker 7 (20:52):
And and uh D d Cecil and Josh Newton, they
picked up my slack, that's for sure.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
And and uh.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
So, well, congratulations on your family.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
Oh thank you.

Speaker 7 (21:09):
So yeah, Opener. I took off that week from work.
That front that pushed in on on opening day, it
was beautiful. I mean a lot of big deer in
Kentucky hit the ground. But I couldn't hunt my spot.
The wind had switched and was blown into the betting

(21:31):
area and I didn't have.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
A good win for that sip.

Speaker 7 (21:35):
So I had to wait all the way until until
Thursday until the wind finally switched up good enough to
hunt that spot for me. And so Thursday I called
my brother in law.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Huh, Brandon, I wanted to I didn't mean to interrupt,
but I wanted to let folks know this didn't the
first big eight you killed. You killed one hundred and
fifty five inch eight point a couple of years ago
and one year and tell him about some of the
history with this year because that's interesting.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
So we've had him on camera for three years.

Speaker 7 (22:14):
We're only thinking he's a four year old based off
of especially last year. I mean he just had a
three year old body. He ran with another four year
old deer, and.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Uh, I actually seen him.

Speaker 7 (22:26):
I've passed him quite a few times, and my brother
in law's actually passed him as well. I mean we
had him on the don't shoot list last year. He
was he was a really nice buck, but he was
he was young. So uh, you know, we've had i
mean pictures of him last year all over the place,
and and this year we got him as well. Early

(22:51):
and uh we've had him daylight, you know, right before dark.
I mean I have I have an attack to cam
and indeed he actually ran five other tack the cams
for me over there. I mean we had him pinpointed
pretty good. And uh, that's kind of what led up
to that day was, you know, we had him figured

(23:12):
out pretty well in the spot that I'm hunting. Actually
it's it's kind of a intrusive spot. So we were
gonna pick the best day we had and pretty sure
we could have got it done, which you know, that
was my first shit of the year, so I was
I was one and done.

Speaker 8 (23:28):
We made it happen.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Well, I know you told me you were frustrated because
the front that provided such good honting opportunity for many
that fellas actually hid you behind an eight ball. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (23:43):
Yeah, it was pretty brutal, man. I mean I've been
so ready. You know, as a hunter, you wait all
year for that opening opening day and and to not
be able to hunt it.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
You know, it wasn't It wasn't ideal.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
I think I was learning tip though, Jim. I think
a lot of folks in the early season are always
dependent on those southwest setups or south and and every
once while you'll get some west wind. But here lately, uh,
you know, we've got so much influence of an east
wind and Brandon. When a situation occurs where your your

(24:22):
wind comes in on you and kind of changes up
your game plan, it kind of puts you in panic
mode real quick, doesn't it as far as where you're
gonna get a set or what you're gonna do.

Speaker 4 (24:33):
Oh yeah, it definitely does.

Speaker 7 (24:35):
I mean, you know a lot of our sits over there,
they favor the same wins. I mean we try to
try to get them in spots where we could hunt
multiple winds, but for that Darren where he was, that's
all we could That's just all we could do, you know,
to make it happen on him. So that was pretty
much at the mercy of the wind. And and uh,

(24:58):
that's something that's changed for you know, hunting as a
young kid. Now you've kind of learned throughout time. You
got to play the wind now on on big deer,
especially Brandon.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Uh, interesting scenario that added even more drama than this
is the way that deer changed during that period. And
talk a little bit about that, because that took some
result on your party to really keep your spirits up.

Speaker 7 (25:29):
Yes, sir as as, I mean some people, velvet dear
come easy, especially in Kentucky.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
I'm still after my velvet dear.

Speaker 7 (25:40):
Because two days before Thursday he was still full velvet
and that Tuesday he disappeared.

Speaker 4 (25:50):
And that was kind of weird.

Speaker 7 (25:51):
You know, we had him, we had him pretty regular
and I mean he was hitting our cams whether it
was a trail or whether it was corn or whatever
it was. I mean we had him peg down pretty good.
And when he just vanished like that, Tuesday turned into Wednesday,
and once Wednesday hit. We didn't get any pictures throughout
the day or night, that's me. Indeed, he kind of

(26:11):
bounced that back and forth with us. He probably ain't
gonna He's probably gonna show up with no velvet, which
you know, I'm still after one. But I'm gonna take
him hard horned or velvet either way.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Hey, hey, brother, who cares when a dear's that big? Hey?
Uh right, Brandon, I gotta go to a quick break.
Here comes back from break. I want you to talk
about your setup and uh, you know, have the hunt unfolded,
and how you took advantage of your terrain to harvest
this buck. So hang on with us. This break is
presented by S and my marine that are eleven four

(26:46):
hundred Westport Road. Go see him. Remember you never get
soaked by my friends at sm I. Brandon, right there
before the break, you were getting ready to talk to
us about your glad to be about your stand and
you know how you were going to go about trying
to harvest this buck. So I'm gonna turn it over

(27:07):
to you here and you tell folks how you pulled
this off.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Yeah, Jim, it was. It's a game winner. Lock on.

Speaker 7 (27:17):
In the back of a creek bottom basically that two
beanfields surround each side, and at the head of the
creek bottom it is a thicket and that's where we
definitely thought he was betting and spending most of his time.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
So, you know, a month.

Speaker 7 (27:33):
Prior we had went through that creek bottom and cleared
it out real good and with chainsaws and heads, trimmers
and whatnot to make access back there a little bit easier, because,
like I was saying, it was an intrusive spot. I mean,
being in a beanfield, there's there's quite a bit of
deer that come out had dark and you know, we
were aware of that and.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
Just kind of knew.

Speaker 7 (27:58):
We had to do our best at keeping that spot
as low kid as we could. So we had a
little small food plot on the right hand side as well.
That way, you know, later on in the year maybe
when the crops are harvested and whatnot, that supply some
sort of food, you know, and bring deer around that

(28:20):
area as well if we couldn't make it happen early.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
And that do as I understand, was a real regular
on camera. You had placed corn out to entice him
to the exact spot where you wanted him and kind
of set a trap. Is that right?

Speaker 4 (28:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (28:39):
We had actually bounced that whether to put corn out
there or not, and we kind of made our minds
up that we were going to at least try it
and see what would happen. So we did put a
corn pile there, and being as close as it was
to bedding, I mean, we got good daylight pictures of them,
and it worked out in our favor.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
So okay, so is that wind changed? It was game on?

Speaker 4 (29:05):
I so, oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 (29:08):
So Thursday, Thursday morning, I talked to Josh and I
told him. I said, hey, man, I was like, uh,
would you mind hunting tonight? I said that way, if
I'm back there and I get covered up with deer,
you know, you could at least come back and soft
bump them with the truck or something or another if
it had to happen. And he was like, oh yeah,

(29:28):
he said, let's go. So he got off of work
and uh, I already had my stuff sprayed down in
the truck and so I was ready to go. We've
we met out there around four and uh he actually
gave me his Heck's stealth screen suit to wear that
night for good luck. I'd actually killed my previous deer
with it on as well, and uh, so we gave knuckles,

(29:53):
and off he went to kill a doe, and and
off I was after meat head, and uh got going
through the creek by them, and climbed up, got situated,
and like I said, I mean that that front that
was coming in, it was Wednesday was more ninety. Thursday
was about eighty.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
But as I got.

Speaker 7 (30:15):
Sitting there in time got going. I mean that the
pressure dropped, and man, it started feeling beautiful. That wind
started picking up pretty good. I mean, it was definitely
well into the seventies, you know, by six or six
or seven o'clock.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
And I was.

Speaker 7 (30:31):
Actually thinking, I was like, man, I haven't I haven't
seen anything yet. Usually on can there's there's dough that
regularly hit the corn pile and whatnot. And so I'm thinking, man,
you know, it's seven o'clock. I can't believe I ain't
seen nothing. I've seen some turkeys and what wasn't but no deer.
And uh it's about seven twenty or so, and a

(30:52):
cardinal flies up in that tree. We got it, like
I said, at the lock on, and it's in some
good cover. I mean, we left most of everything on
the trees that we could, and uh so there's quite
a bit of wall of cover on my left side
and in front of me, but we made a good
enough lane for the left and a good lane at

(31:13):
the corn and the trail in front of it. And
uh so Cardinal flies up and it's sitting that wall
of cover. You know, I can have reached out and
grab it. And it made me start thinking of my nana,
which we had lost last year to cancer. She passed
away but four days before my son was born, and

(31:34):
uh so I just start talking. You know, the woods
of Woods have always been my church, and uh so,
let's started talking to her about what all is going on,
and you know how much I miss her, and you know,
I have two under two what do I do type
situation and my grandpa he's always been the mediagor and

(31:57):
the family, and my Nana's been the rock. So, you know,
not having her to go to and and talk to
about my problems and you know, stuff like that, I
just had to talk to her there. So anyway, I
told her I'd come see her soon and I loved her,
and and then you know that Cardinal had already flewn
off by then or flown off, and so UH just.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
Kind of looked up and I said, well, big man,
it's your turn. So I started talking.

Speaker 7 (32:25):
To him, and and uh, you know, I just asked
him to watch over my son and and please forgive me,
because like all of us, you know, I've struggled with
my faith and and uh, I just you know, basically
asked her his forgiveness. And I hope he continued showing
me the way. And uh, I was looking down towards

(32:47):
the corn pile and looking into that trail, that main
trail is kind of where we had thought he would
come from. And uh I looked to the right, checking
to see if any doe had made it out in
the beans yet was there. And as I look left
where he is bobbing through the beans, I mean.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
Just massive.

Speaker 7 (33:06):
And you know I told you, I mean, your brain
does weird stuff when you first see a deer. I
mean I passed him numerous times and hundreds of trail
camera pictures and the year before, and I mean I
could draw him with my eyes closed, you know, and
seeing that deer first impression, I thought, who is that?

Speaker 4 (33:24):
And I'm already reaching for my bow.

Speaker 7 (33:26):
And he turns his head sideways, and I seen the
mask and I was like, oh man, that's meathead. And
I kind of I looked up there and I said,
thank you, but you shouldn't have gave me a minute,
you know.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
So I'd got the.

Speaker 7 (33:40):
Bow and pulled it over in front of me, and
he's beelining for me.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
You know.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
I saw him about.

Speaker 7 (33:44):
Eighty five ninety and he was making ground pretty good.
So he makes it out of the beans and into
the into that little thicket field that leads from that
creek bottom up to the beans, and he worked his
way down and hit that fence line and come all
the way to that main crossing about forty five yards
or so, and uh you know, so I'm changing my

(34:09):
pen to forty and I'm thinking, man, I really don't
want to make that shot, which a couple of years
ago I would have been just fine making that shot,
but where I've been so busy, I haven't got the
practic this year the way I wanted to.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
And uh so he kind of.

Speaker 7 (34:24):
Looks towards the corner and looks back left, and he
turns and starts walking back the way he come, and
I'm thinking, oh, man, I would have took it at forty,
don't get to fifty.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
So I'm like about to.

Speaker 7 (34:34):
Start changing it, and he starts making a half moon
instead of going back to the trail he did.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
He comes all.

Speaker 7 (34:40):
The way back down around to ten to fifteen yards
underneath me. I mean, I could have spit on him.
He was right underneath me. All I could see was
his antlers through that wall of cover. But you know,
just having to deer like that that close.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
Now I'm my heart's running a mile a minute.

Speaker 7 (34:56):
Yeah, I'm buck fever all over again.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
And uh, I mean I can.

Speaker 7 (35:03):
Feel it my wrists and my ears and my you know,
I feel I'm thinking, how does he not hear it?

Speaker 4 (35:09):
And uh and you know, I'm like, man, I would have.

Speaker 7 (35:13):
Liked to shot you at forty, and I'd have took
you at fifty. And now you're too close.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Well, you certainly put it. You certainly put it where
it counted. As I understand. He ran, jumped the fence
and crashed. The buck of a lifetime was years, buddy,
that's you, sir. I'll tell you what. I love big
hs and you're you're kind of the king of big
hs with a one fifty five. It shaped before this
and this giant buck so here demonstrated outdoors. We're sure

(35:43):
proud of you.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
Thank you, sir George.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Sharing your story. All right, folks got to go to
break here. It's presented by Massol Property's Heart Realty. Check
them out m O P H A R Trealty dot com. Okay,
scot that stuff we got cave and man is he's
killed and unbelievable non typical velvet duck. That is awesome

(36:11):
to behold. That's all I can say.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
It was so awesome interviewing Bob before the show. Not
because he killed one hundred and ninety nine inch eighteen
point velvet buck. That's awesome in itself, but just the
whole complexity and strategy that he utilized Jim and got
his nerves and his scouting and everything under control to

(36:39):
ease in on a deer, get up on him twenty
three foot plus and send an arrow through him. And
there's no.

Speaker 8 (36:48):
Doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
He is grateful for it.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
And I asked him before we brought him on. I said,
how do they know you, Bob? Do they know you
this preacher by father Bob or? And he said, well,
in the country, they just know me as preacher. But
I believe a few people are gonna know Bob for
more than just his word. They're gonna know him for

(37:12):
this deer. So, Bob, it's good to have you on.

Speaker 8 (37:15):
Bud, appreciate you guys. Let me on there and talk.
I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Yeah, tell us a little bit about this giant that
you were able to catch up to and connect with
over in Russell County.

Speaker 8 (37:33):
Uh. He was July I'll never forget today July twenty first,
I got a text from the landowner and he said, Bob,
I got to tell you something like when you it
was through texts, Like when you read that, I'm like,
what what's going on? And he was like, there's a
new buck on the property. He's pushing two one hundred.

(37:53):
I don't know who he is, and I just need
I want to prepare you before you bring your cameras.
That's something going on on our on our property. And
I was like all right, and you know, I'm kind
of like yeah, whatever, like because I knew pretty much
where all the bucks were there from years prior, and
so because he didn't send any pictures yet, He's like,

(38:14):
I'll send you some pictures in a couple of days,
and so finally he sent me. He sent me one
one picture, real close up, and I was like, oh
my goodness, what is going on? And so the very
next weekend I come down and put all my cameras
up all the spots. I knew where to put them,
and instantly started getting pictures of him three times a

(38:37):
day from July all the way to opening day. And uh,
and I just got some. So we all don't know
where you come from, and so we're like, what's going
on with this deer? And so I just talked to
the taxidermist on Friday and he gave me some information
about the deer. And here the deer moved about two
miles to our property. He was two miles away before that.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
And basically you got to dear o or to the taxidermis.
I guess word got out that you weren't the only
guy that was affing.

Speaker 8 (39:12):
Yeah, there was one other guy for sure or wanting
to hunting this year, and he's seen him last year,
but he already got his buck, and so he saw
him in the woods and so he just got the
joy of watching him. But after that he was going
all the properties trying to get permission to hunt and

(39:32):
just to get ready for this year. When he come
to our property and the landowner told him, no, but
you can't do it. Of course he didn't like you.
He kept bugging and bugging and bugging, and so we
were then from that we were getting whispers of other
people thinking about trying to get on the property somehow
after the first day, and so my landowner was kind

(39:53):
of stressed about this whole situation, and but just knowing
because we wonder where it comes from. So just he
just changed his territory and come to this area. In
this area that I'm hunting, it ends at the lake.
And I'm not kidding when I tell you there's twenty
five to forty doze on this property. And so there's

(40:17):
a lot of dose ten bucks and so just dealing
with all these deer and like, how you gonna get
this one? So so then I just started and those
those as this story develops, those dose were.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Really he I mean, it was a big, big part
of your strategy and able to kill this deer.

Speaker 8 (40:41):
Yeah. Yeah, So, like it was interesting through the summer
July and August, how like three times a day popping
up daytime pictures and I was like, Wow, this is crazy.
He's coming out daytime, that big of a buck being
willing to come around, and so just getting ready. Late

(41:06):
in the middle of August, we started putting corn out.
I put corn down and my tree stand and we
put corn out at a place in the field where
they like to go eat and hang out. Because it
was nobody could see him there in the field, and
so we set up a blind up there because I
had his son landing. Her son was gonna hunt as well.

(41:26):
So I was helping him like I didn't care of God.
I just we were trying to set up good spots
for whoever got him got him.

Speaker 6 (41:33):
And uh.

Speaker 8 (41:36):
So we were set up.

Speaker 9 (41:37):
Good and.

Speaker 8 (41:41):
Leading up leading up to that week before season, he's
still doing everything normal. And the weekend before opening weekend,
I was checking the apps, checking the wind, and I
know the cold front's coming and uh and I seen
the wind was gonna be blown towards the lake and

(42:05):
what's in around interest about the deer. Where the deer
moved from. He came from, uh, not from the lake,
but from the other way, the other directions. So he
came from town and so that's where he liked to
bed he would like to go across the street and
bed in these woods, and he came back to the farm,

(42:27):
and so I was like, if you do that, I'm
in a good spark. Is where I hunt. I'm close
to the road, I'm around some houses because the battle
next to the beginning of the property, and there's a
valley there, and the deer just love that valley because
nobody knows they're there, and that's where they cross and
come down to the field. And like I said before,

(42:50):
when I found this spot and put my trees down there,
I've only hunted before I harvested this deer. I'm only
hunted out of the tree twice, and both times I
killed a deer. But I've only put I put no
time in the stand, like every time I've been in,
I've killed a deer. And so so watching the wind

(43:12):
that's gonna be blown from the from where I wanted
to be, I was like, all right and so uh,
But then I was still worried it was gonna be
in the bottom. Like what am I gonna do if
he's in the bottom when I see him on cameras sitting.
So I was willing not to hunt opening weekend if
he was in that bottom. I wasn't gonna hunt. I
set up some makeship blinds with just natural natural trees

(43:36):
and stuff in some different areas in the bottom. It's like,
if the wind's bad, I'm just gonna hold the ground
and I know I won't bump him. And so I
had a plan for bad wind, the good wind, and
and then.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Tuesday and I go, if you don't mind, I've got
to go to a quick break here and come back
from break. You continue your strategy and describe the property
a little bit so folks can understand how you actually
had this year. They're down all right, folks got to
go to break. It's presented by S and My Marine.

(44:12):
They're at eleven four hundred Westport Road, just north of
the Snyder. Remember you never get soaked by my friends
at S and My Marine. Andy, we'll continuing our interview
with five K. Scott.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Yeah, Bob was telling us a little bit about some
of his strategy with the wind before we went to
break and how he was even gonna possibly set up
on the ground. Bob, you want to pick it up?

Speaker 8 (44:40):
Yeah? Sure, So Tuesday comes, I'm an hour and a
half away, so I'm just watching my cameras to figure
out what I was gonna do when I show up
for opening day. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, he and I
call him ed short for Edward Scissorhands because he had
so many hordes. He cross the road and come down

(45:01):
the trail and come by the camera at three thirty.
Between three and four o'clock every day, it soo's you through, thirsty,
And I was like, all right. And then at five
thirty fifteen those would come in and eat, and so
I figured out that he didn't want to mess with
them those and so we come in and eat real quick,
and then he'd go down to the bottom, and I

(45:22):
was like, all right, we got it. And so Friday, Friday,
I'm traveling in and I get there like two o'clock.
So I'm waiting to see what the camera's tell me
between three and four, and I'm at the house, at
the landowner's house, and nothing, no pictures, and I'm like okay.

(45:46):
And then all of a sudden, at five thirty, we
have three shooters on the property, and all three shooters
popped out and filled right by the house, put the
yards away from the front ports, and so I was
able to sit there and enjoy all of them. And
Ed was with him, so I looked at him. I
was like, look at this guy, and he's got to
watch him for fifteen minutes. And then I was like,

(46:11):
I'm gonna leave because I want to go get some heat,
and and and then went to leave to go kind
of think about what I was gonna do to Mark
because now he's in the bottom, and so I'm like,
what's he going to do tonight? And something happened when
they when he went to leave, he the one buck

(46:32):
went back back to the corner, and then Ed and
the other big one they went across the road into
the woods. But from my stand, he's six hundred yards away,
but he's still on the other side of the property,
on the same side. And so I'm like, okay. And
so opening morning, I'm sleeping in my truck back in

(46:55):
the barn. I can see the field in the house.
I'm sitting there, and I wake up at six o'clock
and I sit up at six point thirty and I
look out in front of me and there's a nice
little eight point I was like, I'm just sit right
here watching deer this morning, cause I wasn't gonna hunt
in the morning because we didn't want to bust bust
anything up. And all of a sudden, one of the

(47:17):
other big one that crossed with him come back across
and come come right by. So I got to see him.
So I put two and two together. He came back
ed didn't and I got no pictures of him at
all all night, and I was like, well, he's on
the other side. He went up there and he's laying
down and I was like, I was like, here we go.

(47:39):
I got to chaid the wind's perfect. I was like,
all right, So I'm like, I want to go get
the tree at ten o'clock. It is now, I'm gonna
wait till eleven. All right, got the tree at eleven,
and I said I was gonna film the hunt. So
I said, I want to fit try to film this
hunt as possible. So I had my little tripod screwed
into the tree, just use my iPhone, And when I

(47:59):
got the tree, I said, I need to practice what
I'm going to do if a deer if he comes,
And so I practiced five times, sitting up, going through
my routine of hitting all the buttons, getting my boat ready,
and so I felt comfortable being able to hit the
record button with a lot of a lot of movement
and being ready. And then about one o'clock five days

(48:21):
come by, didn't know I was there. Spike come underneath me,
didn't know I was there. So I was like, all right,
it's going to be pretty good. It's gonna be a
good day, going to see a little deer. And and
then at three o'clock a dough came from that road
that I think Ed's coming from. She come down the trail,

(48:44):
she hit this one spot and when she hit that
spot the only time I first time I could see
a deer. So I was like, oh, look, look at here.
And if I watched her, but she didn't move. She
stood there for like fifteen minutes. She would not come in.
She just looked around. I mean, he stood there. So
I just watched her for fifteen minutes and then she
finally just turned and walked away from me into the woods.

(49:07):
I was like all right. And then two squirrels climbed
the climbed two trees, on two different trees and just
started barking like crazy. And last year I killed a
big buck because the squirrels they let me know this
buck was coming in, so I got ready and then
he came. So I was thinking, is there a deer?
Is there another deer? Comes from looking around? And then

(49:29):
five minutes went by and he come down that trail
and he got past that little bit of opening. I
didn't see it in that opening. He got past it a
little bit. And and what's funny is I can't remember
what I was doing when I saw ed for the
first time, meaning I don't know. I couldn't remember if
I was standing or sitting because I just can't remember
because everything that happened, the shock and stuff that I

(49:50):
went through, I don't know what I was doing, but
I think I was standing, but because the squirrels, I
think I was standing, but I'm not one d percent sure.
And so when I saw bit of horn, I said
out loud. I said it out loud. I said I
see him, and I was like, here we go. And
so after I said that to him, I went right
into my routine. I got the phone ready, got my

(50:10):
boat ready, so I was ready. I had got my
release on, so I had everything ready and then I
got to just relax him and then I got to
watch watch him walk another fifteen yards in this deep
creek bed and he was just around eating leaves and stuff.
And as he walked up, I was like, I took

(50:30):
the big breath and say, all right, here we go.
He's coming. He was about fifteen yards away and I
was like, just just walk a little more. And so
he walked and then he stopped and I was like,
all right, just turned your head so I can draw.
And just seeing that big alright, just turned to the right,
I was like, oh, here we go. So I drew.
And when I drew back, I was wearing a black

(50:52):
face mask and I had it for a secondary. I
had issues with finding my kisser butt. I was like,
we're a kisser at I said, what's wrong with me?
As soon as I felt the kisser, I was able
to look at him. Shot him a good, clean, clean shot.
As soon as I hit him, he kicked. You kicked,
and he ran right towards my stand and he ran

(51:14):
two yards from my stand. Then he cut and ran
one hundred yards and dropped. And I didn't see him drop,
but I just knew the direction he went and at three,
so I shot him at three thirty five, at three
at three twenty A friend of mine that I've been
talking about this deer with in West Virginia. Texted me

(51:36):
and said, hey, what are you seeing? So I told
you what I was sin and then ten minutes later,
I shoot the deer, and so I called him. He
was the first one I called. I called him and
he didn't answer, so I said, text me, and so
then I called my dad and told my dad and uh.
And then Zach called me back and I said, like,

(51:58):
I got him. He's like, no way, I just talked
to you two minutes ago, said I know. I just
shot him, and so it was cool to have him
on camera. And so I got down, went down seeing
the landlord and told him I got him, and we
walked back up. We all went up together and found
him and took care of him. And but it was crazy,

(52:18):
like I was preparing myself to have the shakes afterwards.
You have to see it. I didn't have any of that.
I just went into shock. And so I was like,
what's wrong, man, I'm not like I'm like normal, But
it was just complete shock took over. I couldn't believe
it all happened. And so how I reacted was different
than I thought. And I guess the practice of trying

(52:40):
to get the camera ready just made me go into
a different different mentality to do everything correctly and to
help me with my with the with the just energy
all that stuff. So it was interesting.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Well, Bob, I can tell you with all sincerity, Hey,
one hundred and ninety nine it's deer would send any
hunter into some degree. It's do I believe. And uh, folks, again,
this is just an awesome deer. Uh there's a picture
of it on Jim straight or Outdoors on Facebook. And uh, Bob,

(53:17):
very very proud of you, and thank you for your
service for the Lord as a pastor, my friends.

Speaker 8 (53:23):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Thank you, Yes, sir, we really enjoyed visiting with you.
All right, folks, got to go to break here. This
break is presented by Massie Old Property's Heart Realty. Check
out their listings at m O P h A R
T Realty dot com. Okay, Scott, Next up is Adam
Patton and Adam has taken a real beautiful monster buck

(53:50):
out of Montgomery County, Kentucky, which is where yours truly
was born. I was born in Mount Sterling and uh
so very familiar with the area. And Scott, this this
deer is so pretty, it's it's just crazy. It's one
hundred and eighty four and four a cents gross scoring
buck and it's right beam is an unbelievable twenty nine

(54:14):
and four a cents long, And anybody knows anything about
deer that is a monster.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
Well, Jim, one of the things that's so unique about
Kentucky is a lot of times the states such as
Iowa and Illinois will get all the credit for where
to focus on big white tail deer, But Kentucky does
something really unique with their deer, and that is we
grow deer that have just unique characteristics that really allow

(54:46):
them to shine. And sometimes whenever.

Speaker 10 (54:49):
You look at what a trophy is to somebody, whether
that's a typical frame or non typical frame, everybody likes
a little character and that's that's kind of what you're
getting at. And character is what this deer has that
I don't think too many hunters would turn down.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
I guarantee you, Adam, welcome aboard.

Speaker 6 (55:09):
Sir, Sir Jim, I appreciate you having me give me
a chance to share the stories.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Well, this is a great story. I'd like you if
you would, Adam, to start out talking about growing up
hunting with your dad. And there's some really neat things
to weave into that because you got dear fever right
out of the box as a youngster.

Speaker 6 (55:34):
I absolutely did. I think I can remember the first
dear my dad ever shot with a bowl, but he
got me starting at a young age, shooting bowl when
I was really young. But when I was ten was
when I got to to make my first trip to
the woods and actually pursue a deer. I was very
fortunate that year the harvested dough and you would think

(55:58):
I had won the lottery as a ten year old.
My family made a really big deal of it. And
I tell you it could have been anything better for me.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
And I want to emphasize this is a youngster at
ten years of age that killed his first year with
a bow and air.

Speaker 6 (56:13):
Yes, sir, and it's been it's been a passion ever since.
So now I'm forty so thirty year pursuit to get
where we are today.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Yes, sir, Now you're no stranger. The big deer you
killed one hundred and fifty three inch nine pointer, and
that was quite a deer itself. You want to just
talk briefly about it and what that meant to you
and how that was the next kind of set the
bar for the next big one.

Speaker 6 (56:42):
Well, it was. It was several years before I could
be successful on a mature buck, so when it happened,
it was real special and I could, you know, I
can remember it like it was just last season. But
I had started running trail cameras back when you had
the load film in I'm and take them get them developed,
you know, yes, sir, when I was running cameras then

(57:04):
and got a picture of a good mature deer. So
I made it my pursuit that year to try to
harvest that deer and actually got it done early in
the season. It was the first week. Then. It wasn't
a velegant deer, but it was very really special to.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Me, yes, sir. Now, can you tell folks a little
bit about your property and you're actually a fellow that
manages for deer, which is a fantastic way to really
immerse yourself in the sport, and then talk about your
first encounters with this book as a result of that.

Speaker 6 (57:42):
So it was actually about five years ago when my
wife and I was blessed to purchase the farm that
we're on, and it's a small piece of property just
under fifty acres, but I knew just from where it
was and just a topography, and it broke down that
it could hold some deer. So there's no ag around me.

(58:07):
And if you hear Jackie Bushman talk about it, he says,
you got to have the groceries. So from day one
I knew I had to do something that was going
to feed the deer. If you got the groceries, you
got the deer. So early on we had a small
portion of a property that was logged out about ten
acres and it created some fantastic baiting area. I've got

(58:29):
a couple of fields that I've been able to turn
over and and just the row crop corn and soybean,
and I do that strictly for the wildlife. I leave
it all winter, I turn it back over in the
spring for the turkeys and it does really good. And
I'm fortunate to have water on the property.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
All the things that it takes to grow a big deer.

Speaker 6 (58:53):
Well, I'll tell you I've watched enough YouTube videos about
how to manage small farms for deer. I should know
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
About it, yes, sir, So tell us about your history
with this particular buck.

Speaker 6 (59:08):
So this deer actually came in on the farm. I
got the first pictures of this deer in November of
last year. I had already filled my buck tag on
a unique deer that we called Skinny. But this deer
when he came in in November, he was missing one
side of his rack. His right side had been broken
off and he had about four inches of his base left.

(59:30):
We kind of dubbed him half rack then, but just
having I guess what he was looking for on the farm,
he stuck around and good lord, he's seen FITS start
writing that chapter of half Rack. So he stuck around.
I got to watch him all winter. Through the winter,
I knew that he had made it through the season,

(59:51):
which was real special. Watched him early in the year
when he shed his antlers and then started to grow,
and I knew I had to had to get the
groceries back on the farm this year. So I started
looking for an old planter that I could use to
do a better job about plants and corn and soybean,
and I found one on marketplace. It was a little

(01:00:14):
late in the year, though, it was getting toward the
end of June, and I was I was stressing a
little bit about getting food in, but finding seed was
a challenge to plant. My good friend Christian mc carty
out of Seek Consultants in Mount Sterling helped me out.
He knew what I was trying to do and and
he got me what I needed. So I went right
to work first of July getting getting some crops in

(01:00:36):
the ground. And uh, it has been special through the
summer to get to wash the deer in the fields.
And I got to see him a few times and
it was real special.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Okay, uh, Adam, if you will let me go to
a quick break here, because you're coming back from break,
I want you to talk about your strategy and everything
that went into actually harvesting this giant. But so hanging
on here for a few moments if you will, Folks,
this break is presented by f M I Marine. Go
see him to take great care of all your boating needs,

(01:01:07):
troubleshoot any problems you've got with your boat, and remember
you never get soaked by my friends at s M I.
All right, Adam, before break, you were talking about the
management and how did that pan out? Did you have
pretty good crops to feed on? And tell me what
it was like to watch that deer all summer. I

(01:01:29):
know you mentioned that when I was talking to you earlier.

Speaker 6 (01:01:34):
I'll tell you the beans and corn come up pretty good.
And it surprised me how much the deer would actually
browse on the corn, just tops out of it when
it's young. But it was it was a great experience.
It was real special.

Speaker 9 (01:01:50):
I mean, my wife would tell you that I had
dated this differ since last November, but I was able
watch him through binoculars and take some video of him,
some picture in the summer, and I just I knew
I had to have a good plan as to what
we was going to do early season.

Speaker 6 (01:02:06):
I said, it's a small farm. I had concerns that
he wasn't going to stay around too long if I
didn't get him early.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
So okay, so in watching him, that's kind of what
led you to know where to do you set up?

Speaker 6 (01:02:24):
Yes, sir, I knew I had the bedding and the
food and the water. So my plan was to create
a staging area in the timber just outside of the cornfield.
So I started some supplemental feeding there a little bit
before season. I hung a stand, run the camera in there,
and he was as bad as consistent there in that

(01:02:48):
station area in the daylight as any other deer I had.

Speaker 8 (01:02:50):
On the farm.

Speaker 6 (01:02:52):
So I felt real good about going into open the weekend,
especially with the weather we were having, the wind that
they were predicting it was going to be real good,
so just setting it up and trying to plant it
all out. I tried to put my stand and this
staging area in a position where I had a real
thick fence row behind me, and the chances of a

(01:03:14):
deer circling behind here are getting down wind was gonna
be pretty low, so I felt I felt good about it.
I watched the deer pattern the deer specifically for the
week rate leading up to opening day, just to find
out what time I could really get into the stand
Saturday morning and not worry about having.

Speaker 8 (01:03:32):
To spook some deer.

Speaker 6 (01:03:34):
So it just worked out that if I could get
my stand about six o'clock, I had a good buffer
there I shouldn't spook anything, and it worked out well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
I'm fascinated that you were savvy enough to paste that
feeder in your stand where deer wooden back door you
because on small property, relatively small property like your honey,
that's a big problem in many many cases, And like

(01:04:04):
we talked with some of our other hunters tonight, you know,
Brandon was using a little ditch and creek that had
a big drop off behind him to cover his wind,
similar to what you did, but you had a little
a little different scenario there with that that thick fence line,
which I'm sure probably played a big role in you
being able to sit there undetected.

Speaker 11 (01:04:28):
Yes, sir, now, yeah, m I was gonna say a
lot of times hunters will kind of throw out.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
The I guess strategy that they'll they'll push things there
on opening day because deer haven't had that much pressure yet,
but that it doesn't really matter if it's on opening
day or if it's in the late season. It's so important.
Every one of these stories tonight is a story of

(01:05:00):
success that came from scent and following deer and intel
and patterns. And none of the hunters tonight said, well,
it was open and evening, so I just I just
I was going to push it and go. It was
all down to the wire of looking at whether they
were going to go in there and set up. And
I think that that could help a lot of listeners.

(01:05:22):
I think a lot of times folks don't realize just
how critical of it is to dodge your eyes and
cross your t's on these big white tails.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
No doubt. Well, I had them tell us about the
set and the hunt. And I know your wife and
daughter played a role in this as well.

Speaker 6 (01:05:41):
They certainly did. I'd kind of prepared my wife. I
was I was going to do a full day set,
you know, daylight the dark, if it was necessary. So
I took all the necessary groceries I needed with me
to be able to sit there went the entire morning.
I didn't see a deer. Uh, you know, you start

(01:06:01):
to pray a little bit, then you know I haven't
done the right thing, have I actually spooke deer that
I didn't see, And I had a buddy that was
just trying to keep up with my hunt. He texted
me about ten o'clock and I told him I hadn't
seen anything. He said, you going back this evening. I said,
I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving. So I sat in
the stand. I had lunch about twelve o'clock, and about

(01:06:23):
twelve fifteen a small six corner come through and he
had run with this deer that I was after him
and one other small eight corner most of the summer,
so you can imagine I was pretty excited to see him.
I was about fifteen minutes later. I'm just looking to
my right and there was my deer, and it just

(01:06:44):
I had played this scenario over and over in my
head or what was going to happen or what I
was going to do, but it worked out really well.
He had actually taken a trail that I didn't expect
that brought him closer to me, like he was going
to go out in the cornfield. So he was there
with the other buck, and I had noticed he had

(01:07:05):
just started to shed a little bit of his velvet,
and I also noted he noticed that he seemed to
be much bigger than I thought he was.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
How far was he from me at this time when
you noticed all this.

Speaker 6 (01:07:23):
How about twenty yards? Yeah, so it was it was
a good shot. I was grateful for that. It felt
really good, and I was quick to get on the
phone with my wife to let her know that I
had made the shot. So her question was how long

(01:07:43):
you got to wait? I said, it's going to take
me a few minutes. I got to sit down before
I climb out.

Speaker 5 (01:07:48):
Of this thing.

Speaker 6 (01:07:49):
So she was about to leave. She said, well, I'm
not going anywhere. So I went down and found my arrow.
The blood looked really good. I went out and my
daughter was geting ready for work because she had a
little time, she wanted to come help us.

Speaker 10 (01:08:03):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:08:04):
So my daughter's she's not new to tracking deer. She's
harvested a couple of deer herself, but it was new
to my wife. I got to have him with me
as we tracked the deer, and my daughter is actually
the one that spotted it first. There was no ground shrinking.

Speaker 8 (01:08:23):
I guess not.

Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
How far did he go? Did were he able to
see him drop? Or what? What transparent after the shot?
Was he you know where did he run?

Speaker 6 (01:08:36):
So he ran down towards the point of the woods
that leads into the cornfield. And I didn't see him
go down, but I did hear him lay down. You
know how they'll start kicking. I didn't hear him crash,
but I could hear him down there kicking. It's about
eighty yards where he went down, so it was it
was a short trail, but man, it was. It was
really exciting, and it just the story doesn't end there,

(01:08:59):
and the chat for God's right and just keeps going,
and I'm just thrilled.

Speaker 2 (01:09:03):
Well, this is a very very special buck and and uh,
you certainly earned this, dear, not only you know in
your years of learning to manage and the way you
set the property up, but obviously your setup was absolutely
spot on. So that's a that's a real testimony. Can

(01:09:23):
you share with people what it was like to actually
get your hands on that buck after watching it all summer?
And I was I was a little surprised, you said
when he came in he was even bigger than you
thought from the camera pictures.

Speaker 6 (01:09:37):
I think it's all just kind of I don't I
can't believe it feeling you know that it's that's that's real.

Speaker 11 (01:09:44):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:09:44):
And it is the same thing when I first saw
him after i'd shot him. Honestly, it was bittersweet, more
sweet than bitter though. That's I'm very thankful for it,
and just to share with my family, it was something
I'm never forget.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Well, I guess what was your daughter's reaction when she
spotted it and went up to it.

Speaker 6 (01:10:06):
Oh, well, her first what words were?

Speaker 3 (01:10:10):
Is that him?

Speaker 8 (01:10:11):
You know?

Speaker 6 (01:10:11):
I looked around and sure enough it was, and she says, oh,
my goodness, you know she's she's seventeen now. Like I said,
she's she's no newbe when it comes to deer. She
shot a few herself, but she's ready to get back
after there, out there now and get after the next one.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Well, that's that's fantastic. Well, hats off to you, my friend.
This is a buck of a lifetime. And again, folks,
if you want to take a piece of this steer,
it's up on my Facebook page at Jim Straighter Outdoors
and Adam really appreciate you taking the time to visit
with us tonight. We've had a lot of really interesting

(01:10:49):
stories and yours is certainly a special one.

Speaker 6 (01:10:51):
Indeed, Jim, I appreciate y'all having me.

Speaker 2 (01:10:56):
Yes, sir, well Scott, that's a wrap. Uh. He's been
some great stories of some magnificent animals and we sure
enjoyed having these folks.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
Yes, sir, my hats off to at them. It was
very rewarding to hear his story about all of his
hard work and bringing his family into the picture of
making his hunt complete.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
Absolutely well, folks at the wrap. Again, you can check
us out on Facebook and Jym straight or outdoors. Everybody's safe,
safe out there, God bless everybody.