Last year I was blessed to shoot a 193-inch giant on public land in Missouri with free and open access. This year I missed opening day because we are tying up loose ends on a house deal. But God blessed me with another bruiser (green score 140 inches) not 100 yards from where I killed the 193-inch buck last year.
By 9 a.m. into my hunt, the coffee had gotten the better of me, and I walked the 10 yards to a different tree. Unbuckled and you guessed it...I spotted movement.
The deer was going up the opposite side hill and away from me and then I saw the pearly white bone! SHOOTER! So with my pants down, I found him in my scope but didn't have a clear shot. This was my only day to hunt, and the only buck I'd seen on public land during all of archery season.
BANG!!
He stopped.
BANG!!!
He's still standing there.
I picked a hole through the tree tops -- a hard quartering away shot that angled up hill.
BANG!!!
HE IS HIT HARD!!!
The buck started going straight down hill and I saw him broadside for a moment in an opening.
BANG!!!!
Where'd he go?
After a quick fixing of the pants, and an investigation, (I spotted him) 85 yards across the hollow. He was dead, piled up in a huge fallen log.
If it wasn't for the giant last year, this would be the biggest deer of my life. And after going since September 23 with not seeing a single deer on stand while hunting public land, I was stoked!!!
It's a ton of hard work doing these public land hunts and pulling the deer out of the deepest of deeps. -- Jess Maruschak
