I had never seen this deer before on any trail cameras. This was the first time laying my eyes on this deer. I was in the stand about 3:45-4 yesterday afternoon, actually hoping to catch a 10 point I’ve had on camera for the last 2 years. It was warmer weather yesterday so I put myself in the deepest corner of the woods and about 20 foot up in a tree. Well I’m sitting and haven’t heard a thing, until about 5:45 a doe comes trotting up behind me probably 15-20 yards away. The wind was blowing into me and towards her, she hung around for maybe a minute or two and took off back into the depths of the woods. About 15-20 minutes later im still up in the tree, eyes peeled and I hear some limbs snap back behind me coming from the direction where I had laid eyes on the doe from earlier. I manage to get turned around in the stand and see that it’s this huge buck. My adrenaline was rushing and I couldn’t believe I was 20 yards away from this 10 point buck, or so I thought. He was tracking her scent like crazy, running in circles for a few seconds. I finally get situated to where I feel comfortable taking the shot, I give him a grunt and pulled the trigger. He kicked like a bull for about 15 yards and laid down at the bottom of a row of pine trees. Once I get to him I realize that I’ve never seen this deer before and he’s actually bigger than the 10 point I thought I was hunting.
Hunter’s name: Drew Smith
Pelzer SC
Belton
10/13/25
12-point buck
