Two Years of Still-Hunting Results in Spectacular Kentucky Buck

Joby Gossett is a lifelong hunter. He’s been in the woods since he was about 18 years old, and for many years, he’s been hunting the area the buck this story is dedicated to called home It’s a timbered area that was harvested years ago — a grown-up spot with great habitat, rolling hills and broken agriculture. With rugged ground, steep terrain and drainage ditches, it’s the perfect area to target big, mature whitetails.

“It’s a remote area that’s rough-and-rugged, clear-cut type of country,” Joby says. “It doesn’t have a high deer population, or a lot of pressure. Those are the reasons I hunt such places.”

In late October of 2021, a monster buck showed up on a trail camera. Joby hunted that buck much of the season, and even had a couple opportunities to harvest it. The first encounter was during rifle season. He jumped the deer out of his bed in a thicket and took the shot, but it wasn’t lethal.

“I wounded him superficially, but didn’t harvest him,” Joby explains. “Then, during the second (December) muzzleloader season, I had another opportunity. I shot at him but hit a small sapling he was standing beside, and he got away again.”

Despite more than 20 days of hunting the deer, and one more sighting, Joby didn’t get another shot opportunity. For the remainder of the season, the trail went cold.

Incredibly, after deer season, Joby found the buck’s sheds. They were discovered on the same day less than a mile apart. One was along an oak ridge near a bedding area. The other was in the middle of a hay field. That rack scored in the 180s. “I had those mounted on a shoulder mount to show the side-by-side from the previous year,” Joby explains.

Fast forward to 2022. Joby didn’t see hide nor hair of the deer throughout summer and early fall; the deer was a ghost. Then, in mid-October, it reappeared.

When the buck first showed back up, Joby’s hunting partner, Kevin Roberts, noticed the deer. “He’d harvested a deer the season before that ended up scoring about 170 inches,” Joby says. “Kevin decided to let me have this deer to hunt primarily by myself. But we still scouted, hung cameras and hung stands together.”

The men continued to spread out cameras and tried to drill down on the buck’s core area. They only received a couple of photos during daylight, and both were right at daybreak. The deer was difficult to learn and hunt. Despite numerous crossbow and early muzzleloader outings, Joby never spotted the giant buck.

Finally, the savvy hunter determined where the buck was living during daylight, which was a rugged hillside with cutover timber. It has a lot of fingers and points that run down off it. So, Joby started piecing together a game plan.

“It was grown up, and so, you couldn’t sneak around and hunt through it,” he explains. “You have to hunt the outskirts of the area.”

On opening weekend of rifle season, the wind was right for one particular stand location on the fringe of the buck’s core area. The stand was up on some high ground, and Joby decided to sit it. He saw several does and fawns, but not the big fellow.

On Nov. 14, 2022, the wind changed. So, Joby decided to still-hunt the lower (downwind) side of the bedding area. He eased through an open area about 50 yards from the edge of the cutover timber. He remained on the downwind sides of faint trails bordering bedding areas.

“This still-hunting method is one I have built on over the last 40-plus years,” Joby says. “I slowly ease through the areas. I carefully scan ahead for any sign of movement or anything that catches my eye as out of place, like antler tips, shiny spots or patches of hair. I pay special attention to anything horizontal because most things in the woods tend to be vertical. Horizontal things often turn into the back of a deer or belly outline. Over the years, I have trained my eyes to quickly pick these things out.”

Because he still-hunts, Joby is very particular about his shoes. He has to be able to feel the sticks and forest debris under his feet. So, a lot of the time, he wears rubber-soled, leather-topped boots. These have a softer sole that makes feeling twigs easier.

“The speed at which I hunt really depends on the weather conditions,” Joby explains. “Wet conditions are preferred. Dry conditions mean a slower and noisier approach. I always hunt with the wind in my face or a crosswind.”

Carrying a custom-built Model 700 rifle chambered in .25-06, Joby started the hunt. “This combination also has a custom glass bedded stock and free-floating barrel,” Joby explains. “It also is fitted with an adjustable trigger. This combination was put together by my late great-uncle Master Gunsmith Waldo Tartar. It is a deadly combination.”

Around 9:00 a.m., Joby saw movement around the edge of the cutover. “This buck was coming back through there into his bedding area,” Joby remembers. “He was a little late coming back in that morning, I guess. Had I hunted the stand I did the first morning, he would have winded me.”

The buck continued along the edge of this clear-cut, which was full of saplings. With the high stem count, there were few openings for shot opportunities. Then, the buck stopped in an opening about 70 yards away.

“Just as I pulled the trigger, he took another step,” says Joby. “I hit a little farther back than where I actually aimed. But from his reaction, I knew he was hit. He ran off four or five jumps and stopped. But I couldn’t get another shot off.”

After a few seconds, the buck turned back toward where he came from but angled about 45 degrees uphill. Hoping to get another shot, Joby immediately snuck down a logging road. He went about 75-80 yards scanning the hillside.

“When I spotted him at 100 yards, he was standing there looking at me,” the hunter explains. “I tried another shot, hit him, and he dropped in his tracks.”

Seeing the buck fall, Joby went ahead with the recovery. “Most of these deer have ground-shrinkage,” he laughs. “This buck had ground-grow-age. He kept getting bigger the closer I got to him.”

Joby called his wife, and then his buddy Kevin, and the celebration began. Joby estimates the deer to be 7 1/2 years old. The tremendous typical rack has 14 total points, six on the right and eight on the left, with a 12-point mainframe. It scores 224 inches gross and 200 3/8 inches net typical and qualifies for official entry into the Boone & Crockett all-time record book.

This deer is the fourth Boone & Crockett buck Joby Gossett has killed. Almost all of his bigger deer were a result of still-hunting. “You have to hunt big deer differently,” he says. “Once they reach 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 years old, they’re a different animal. They don’t use the same areas or patterns. They travel differently, and they’re loners.

“I’m an outdoorsman,” Joby says. “It’s about the thrill of the hunt, the chase, for me. Competing wits with mature deer. I try to hunt the biggest deer I can find, and I try to get permission as close to that area as I can. After that, I put my time in, and I don’t hunt the same farms every year.”

And that’s why Joby Gossett has a 200-plus typical on the wall now!

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