This is by far the biggest buck I have ever harvested. I had been hunting this buck all of last season and had a bunch of pictures of him. He was a really solid 11-poitner last year. The last photo I got of him was Christmas Day 2024. I had several cameras around the property for the entire year of 2025 and got not pictures of him. In fact, I didn’t even really have a big buck at all on camera.
I have two very young children, so my hunting time is limited and I went out on November 1st for my first hunt of the year just to try to harvest any deer (since I didn’t have a big buck to target) for some meat in the freezer. It was a beautiful morning and I made my way quietly down a power line where I could see a good ways planning on harvesting any deer a saw. I bumped a few deer on my way in to this small patch of timber and was pretty disappointed about that, almost to the point where I was going to move to a new area because I figured they were the only deer in the area. I told myself that I would give it 10 minutes to quiet down and do a little rattling. I got myself situated and no sooner I saw a doe move to my left through some thick vegetation at only 40 yards away. I turned and hoped that a buck was following, and sure enough, there was. All I saw was bits and pieces of antler and knew it was a buck, but didn’t know how big because of how thick the vegetation was. So I put my crosshair in the small window I saw the doe pass through and hoped the buck would follow down the same trail. He stepped into the window and shot my 6.5 PRC rifle. The deer took off and it was so thick I couldn’t even see where the buck ran to. I texted my wife and told her that I shot a buck, but didn’t know how big it was. I gave it 30 minutes of time and started to look for blood. I saw a white belly about 20 yards down the trail and walked over to him.
I couldn’t believe what I saw when I walked up to this giant. No pictures in the last 11 months of him, no sign of him anywhere, no big bucks at all on camera…but there he was. I honestly just stood there and looked at him for probably 10 minutes because i was in disbelief. I green scored this buck at 162 inches, which is by far my biggest buck and will most likely stay my biggest buck.
Hunter’s name: Jessie Kriner
Central South Carolina
Anderson, SC
November 1, 2025
11-point buck
