Tory Pegg kills 151-inch 9-pointer, 139-inch 11-pointer
For Tory Pegg of Kernersville, N.C., the 2018 deer season will be one to remember the rest of his life. Not only did Pegg arrow a huge 151-inch, 9-point buck in September, he pulled out his bow one more time and arrowed a giant 11-pointer on the morning of Dec. 1.
The seemingly magical deer on Pegg’s Forsyth County hunting property have performed a vanishing act that has driven Pegg crazy over the last few years. The buck he killed in September was a deer that came to his stand regularly until the first day of the 2017 deer season when it disappeared.
“I thought he may have been killed until he showed back up this year, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again, so I put out minerals back in the summer,” Pegg said. “I figured he may leave again like he did the year before. So, I hunted real hard early and shot him on Sept. 23.”
One trophy down, another one to go
He was ecstatic about killing the 9-pointer, but Pegg also had another deer in his sights. During the past four years, his trail cameras have been capturing another trophy. This big 12-pointer has disappeared every year during the rut and would randomly show back up in late November. This time, he was coming in like clockwork during the daytime, but on a weird schedule.
“When he showed back up just before Thanksgiving, he would never come in on consecutive days. He always showed up on camera every other day and always in the morning and never in the afternoon,” he said.
The deer showed up that Tuesday, making Thanksgiving morning the ideal time to get a chance at his deer. With a family Thanksgiving feast scheduled, Pegg would have to leave the stand by 9 a.m.
“I hunted as long as I could that (Thanksgiving) morning, but he didn’t show. It wasn’t until I checked my camera the next day where I found out he came only 22 minutes after I left. I was sick,” he said.
Pegg decides to stick with archery gear
Throughout the next week, the deer was sticking to a pattern Pegg could capitalize on. It was now gun season, but the night before his Saturday, Dec. 1 hunt, Pegg decided to break out his archery gear for one last bow hunt of the year.
“If I was going to shoot him, I wanted it to be with my bow. I went outside, cut all the lights on, and started shooting so I could be ready for him the next morning,” he said.
Just like clockwork, the buck showed up at 7:35 a.m.
“He stopped at 25 yards. I knew this was the only time I had to shoot him. He was quartering away from me and I drew back, put it on his last rib, and let it fly,” he said. “He didn’t go 40 yards.”
This buck, which had broken off one of the kickers on its rack, making it officially an 11-pointer, scored 139 4/8. It would have scored just over 140 if not for the broken kicker.
“He had matching kickers on his G2s and broke one of them off. But he was a real good deer I have been waiting for years to get a chance at,” he said.
