Tall Boy’s last mistake, a 2-year pursuit of a Moore County 10-pointer
William Kennedy of Seagrove, NC killed a 10-point buck in Moore County, NC on Oct. 17, 2026.
He shot the buck with a Ruger American Gen 2 .30.06 during an afternoon hunt while sitting in an elevated stand from 50 yards away.
Kennedy summed up the hunt with these words:
“We had known about a buck we nicknamed “Tall Boy” since the summer of 2025. We didn’t have many trail-camera pictures of him, but I knew he was in there. He was one of those bucks that seemed to know how to stay out of sight.
Things changed in late September when Tall Boy started showing up regularly on our cameras at the corn pile. He was still moving late at night and early in the morning, never in daylight. I hunted him several times during muzzleloader season, then decided to back off the last couple of days and wait for rifle season.
Tall Boy was showing up on a close friend’s farm in Moore County. With several stands on the property and the buck appearing on two different cameras, we made a plan to hunt Saturday morning in separate spots. On Friday at 7:22 a.m., we finally got our first daylight picture of him. That gave us hope he might slip up again.
Saturday morning, we were both in uncovered ladder stands around 5 a.m. It was raining, windy, and cold. After getting soaked even through our rain gear, we finally climbed down and headed to Waffle House to warm up, eat breakfast, and talk about the afternoon hunt.
My buddy had a church commitment that afternoon, so he told me to go back and hunt the stand he’d been in that morning. He gave me his blessing, and I told him, “Sounds like a plan!”
I climbed in around 3 p.m., and within 15 minutes I already had deer around me. Over the next three and a half hours, I watched probably 25 to 30 different deer. I sat as still as a statue, trying not to get busted by any of those old does.
Around 6:30, the light was fading fast in the creek bottom. A group of young bucks had just moved out when I caught movement to my left. It was Tall Boy!
After all that time knowing he was around, there he was in daylight. He made his way right into the middle of the corn pile and gave me a clear shot. I couldn’t have drawn it up any better. The only problem was my nerves—my crosshairs were bouncing everywhere. I took a moment to get my breathing under control, settled the crosshairs, and squeezed the trigger.
Tall Boy dropped right in the corn pile.
After I climbed down and checked him on the ground, I immediately called my buddy. He was just as excited as I was. He even left his church event to come help me drag Tall Boy out.
That meant a lot. He had every opportunity to hunt this buck himself, but he encouraged me to take his stand and was genuinely happy for me. There aren’t many friends like that in the hunting world.
What started as a cold, wet, miserable morning turned into a hunt I’ll never forget. After two years, Tall Boy finally made his mistake. I’ll always remember this Moore County 10-pointer, but I’ll remember the friendship that made the hunt possible just as much.”
Kennedy is now entered in our Bag-A-Buck Contest, and is eligible to win our monthly prize pack, which includes a set of Ultimate Eyes & Ears Combo from ShellShock Pro, a YETI Rambler bottle, a prize package from Buck Commander and Duck Commander, and a Carolina Sportsman hat, as well as our Grand Prize, a 2-day hunt for two to Cherokee Run Hunting Lodge in Chesterfield County, SC.
