Big Bad Buck Story, Part I

I've been chasing this buck around for the better part of four years now. He doesn't look as big as he really is in this picture just because this picture was taken in April of this year and his antlers had only just begun to grow. In simple East Coast terms, this guy is a massive 10 point. Change to a West Coast Count and it gets a little trickier. He's either a 5x5 or a 4x4, depending on whether or not you count the brow tine. But no matter how you prefer to count, this guy is a Boone and Crockett for sure!

He's tricked me, gotten away, gone nocturnal and just been lucky for reasons as far reaching as a broken down truck. I've never had a legal shot at him. But don't get me wrong, this is one very smart buck. The truck created the financial pressure that caused me to settle for the smaller buck last year; but ultimately the big buck got away because he is smart. The good news is that I also got a little smarter each of the previous four years. Even shooting the spike made me realize something about how this character operates.

I spent just a few hours hunting this past weekend. Nothing serious, just out to have a look around, take some blurry bino-cam pictures and test my new found knowledge. And it looks like I passed the test. I saw the big buck's "harem", and I saw the token spike that he keeps around for emergencies. The big guy promptly went nocturnal on opening day, but the rut isn't that far away. What remains to be seen is whether or not his hormones get the best of him, and if I get the shot that I've been waiting for.

I hope that with what I now know about this buck I will finally get to "send the very best" in his general (actually, very specific) direction. Be sure to stay tuned for Part II of the Big Bad Buck Story later this season, and to learn if I've finally outsmarted a record book buck; or not.