May 17, 2012
By North American Whitetail Online Staff
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!!
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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
