Meet Ashley – The Biggest Buck

Harvesting my biggest buck to date is an experience I’ll never forget. I had all but given up hope for Kentucky’s rifle season. There were only a few days left and I had only seen a few small bucks. I’m no trophy hunter, to me a buck is a buck and every harvest is a trophy, but if I don’t get excited when I see a deer then I’m not going to shoot.

The rut couldn’t have hit any better that season. Deer were moving everywhere but, like I said, I just hadn’t seen any that I was excited about. I hunted hard all season but I wasn’t sure it was going to pay off. There were trail camera pictures of several nice bucks coming into corn at one of my dad’s stands, but we had hunted there a few times without seeing so much as a doe. My dad told me to give the place one more chance before completely writing it off, so I reluctantly agreed.

We parked the truck, threw on our camos, and headed for the woods. The stand overlooks a small clearing with a feeder in the middle and a field to the right, which isn’t our property. Every time I heard a leaf crunch or twig break, my heart skipped a beat in hopes of it being a deer. Unfortunately, as many other hunters can relate to this, it was just squirrels trying to give me a heart attack.

There were only fifteen minutes of daylight left and I had just whispered to my dad that I was never hunting at that spot again when I looked up and saw deer walking on the property next to ours. I couldn’t see its head but from the massive body, I knew it had to be a buck. We hit the grunt call a few times hoping he was looking for a fight and then waited. I had my .243 up and ready in case he came in.

Five minutes passed and he hadn’t showed up and in another five it would have been too dark to shoot. I exchanged a “what a bummer” look with my dad and was ready to call it quits when I saw movement to the right of the stand. The deer had come in and just like I thought, it was a buck.

I started shaking before I could even take in the size of his rack so I knew I wanted to shoot. He turned broadside and walked in front of the stand. I had to take a few deep breaths so I could stop shaking and aim. After a few seconds, I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and pulled the trigger. He jumped, ran thirty yards, and fell in sight! I’ve never killed a deer that I was able to see fall, so I started shaking all over again.

Once I got up to him, I realized just how big he was. He had twenty-two inch main beams, ten points, split brow tines, and was 195lbs field dressed. I was lucky enough to not only harvest my first monster, but got to share the experience with my dad who may have been more excited than I was.