Buck should score in 150s Pope & Young, hunter estimates.
Brian Simpson had a good feeling about the 30-acre tract, but he honestly didn’t know exactly what kind of deer the Guilford County property was holding.
“I walked in there with my wife’s cousin about three weeks ago, and there were some big rubs with a fresh scrape,” Simpson said.
Turns out the boss of that small spit of woods was a monster 9-point that could score as upwards of 160 inches Pope & Young.
But Simpson didn’t know that because he had no trail cameras set up. All he knew was that the property hadn’t been hunted before, and it backed up to 130 acres of tobacco land.
Simpson (who goes by “Briansblackice” on the NorthCarolinaSportsman.com forum) quickly backed out of the woods after seeing the great deer sign, suspecting it was a good buck that had left the calling cards. He planned to return when the conditions were right.
That happened on Nov. 9, and he couldn’t wait to get into the stand.
“I got up at 3:30 (a.m.) ready to go, but I knew from experience that if you walk in with a full moon you’ll push deer,” Simpson said.
And the moon was as full as it gets that night. So the hunter waited impatiently for daybreak.
He finally headed into the woods after 8 a.m., and soon had confirmation that deer were still moving.
“About 8:45, while I was walking in, I had a buck run up on me,” Simpson said. “I had to whistle at him because he was walking right toward me.”
The buck was nice – an 8- or 9-point – but Simpson just watched it run off.
Fifteen minutes later, the hunter was settled into his climber. But he quickly realized his positioning wasn’t very good, so he adjusted by ratcheting up the tree a bit more.
Almost as soon as he settled in the second time, the sound of rustling in a nearby bush caught his attention. The hunter got ready for action, and he didn’t have to wait very long.
“Ten to 20 seconds later, I saw him walk out broadside at 60 yards,” Simpson said.
Although Simpson could only see one side of the rack clearly, the sight was heartstopping.
“When I saw that side, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “When he first came out, my first thought was, ‘You’ve got to be fricking kidding me!’”
The buck was walking well out of range, so Simpson eased around so he could blow a grunt in the opposite direction.
“He stopped and starting tearing a tree up,” Simpson said.
A few seconds later, the buck continued walking toward a 130-acre tract of land that has historically been planted in tobacco. And then the deer took a left, but stayed out of range.
When it turned left again and started walking toward Simpson, the concealed hunter’s pulse raced.
“When he walked behind an oak tree, I drew my bow,” Simpson said.
The only shot he’d have in that direction was a spare window of about 2 feet wide, so Simpson needed the deer to stop in the opening.
“Just as he was about to step into the opening I blew my grunt call,” he said.
The giant buck stopped stone still, quartering to Simpson.
A arrow tipped with a 100-grain four-bladed Muzzy broadhead slammed into the deer, making the satisfying sound that indicates a good hit.
“That makes my heart race just thinking about it,” Simpson said.
The buck streaked away – and that’s when the hunter got his first good look at the animal’s entire rack.
“When he took off, that’s when I could see how big he really was,” Simpson said.
Simpson quickly reached the ground to look for his arrow. He found good blood, and then he headed out of the woods for two long hours.
“I heard him crash after he ran into some downed pines, but I wasn’t sure,” he said. “You don’t want to take the chance to push one.”
After giving the deer time to die, Simpson hurried back to the stand site and started following the ample blood trail. It led right into a mass of fallen pines, and the going was tough.
And then Simpson looked to the side – and his heart kicked into overdrive again.
“One of his main beams was sticking way up way off the ground,” he said.
When he pulled himself over the downed trees to his trophy, Simpson was awed by the deer’s rack.
“He grew,” Simpson said.
The deer is a main-frame 8-point with a split G2 on the deer’s left beam. The rack sprouts from 4 1/4-inch bases, and holds its mass throughout the main beams.
“I put a tape on one of the main beams, and it measured 5 1/4 inches in the middle of the beam, between the G2 and G3,” Simpson said. “The pictures don’t show the mass this sucker has.”
The inside spread circles 20 inches of air.
Simpson hasn’t gotten the deer green scored yet, but expects it to tally up the inches.
“I’m thinking the mid 150s, but I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never actually seen one this big.”
The unofficial score will be posted as soon as the rack is measured.
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