Two-week hunt ends with success
Moore County native, Derrick Taylor scored big with a massive, eight-point buck on the morning of Dec. 8. But it didn’t come easy for this 24-year-old hunter. Taylor dedicated nearly two weeks in the woods to get a shot at this 142-inch buck. And that included one 13-hour day in the stand.
Taylor isn’t new to hunting, but he is relatively new to still hunting. He spent most of his childhood years running dogs with his father. It wasn’t until two years ago that Taylor started still hunting for deer where he got a great deal of help from a family friend, Wayne Louya.
“Wayne took me under his wing and taught me how to still hunt,” Taylor said. “He also encouraged me not to give up when it started to seem hopeless.”
Taylor captured several trail camera photos of this buck the week before Thanksgiving. And he decided to try everything he could to get this deer in his sights.
“He showed up every day at the same time. He would arrive at first light and would leave around 7,” he said.
Taylor needed a northeast wind. So when the wind was favorable, he would get in the stand before daylight. But the deer would never show when he was there. Taylor decided to switch it up a little and get in the stand at 4:30 a.m. to make sure he didn’t spook the deer walking in. Unfortunately, that didn’t work either. And then the deer disappeared from his camera.
Hunter gets another chance
“I thought I had messed him up for sure,” he said. “Then, he showed back up the week after Thanksgiving for two days and I knew I had one more chance. I decided to get in the stand at 5am and stay all day,” he said.
Taylor had a good plan this time that he felt like was going to work. The major feeding period was in the middle of the day. He would be there all day and would be ready for this deer.
After a 13-hour sit, the deer never showed, and he barely saw anything.
“I didn’t see anything but a few squirrels and some turkeys. So I was definitely discouraged at this point. I was about ready to give up on this deer,” he said.
After this long sit with no success, Taylor was frustrated and was going to let it rest for a week or so.
Wife tells hunter to continue the hunt
He was up most of that night with his two-week old baby girl, Remley. He told his wife we wasn’t going to go anymore for a while. But, his wife encouraged him to go.
“My wife told me I needed to go ahead and go after this deer to end this madness. She told me I needed to go ahead and kill this deer so we could go on with our life,” he said.
Taylor got in the stand just before daylight for one last sit. And as soon as daylight broke, the Moore County buck showed up.
“I saw him and all I could think to myself was holy cow. I can’t believe it, there he is,” he said.
Taylor aimed and took a lethal shot on the deer that officially ended the saga. The deer is by far the biggest deer he has ever killed and will be one of the biggest eight pointers he will ever see. The buck’s antlers were massive boasting seven-inch bases.
“I was shaking like a leaf when I saw him and after I shot, I only waited 13 seconds before I ran over there to put my hands on him,” he said.
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