Hunter let the deer walk during 2018 season
Matt Beck of Greensboro, N.C. killed a wide-racked 8-point buck that had a 20 1/2-inch inside spread on Dec. 7. It was not his first time seeing the deer. He knew it from trail camera photos and from several in-the-flesh sightings during the 2018 season.
Beck killed the deer in Guilford County. The rack had a unique crab claw on one side of it. It green-scored 126 inches.
“Last year, I began getting pictures of this guy in bow season. I thought I might kill him. I didn’t see him (other than on camera) until after I had killed a better deer, and it was in late December before I got my first daylight look. I let him go. I knew he might show back up, and I wanted him to grow a little,” he said.
Deer reappears, disappears, then reappears again
He saw the buck three more times before the end of the 2018 season. Each time, Beck wished the deer well, and hoped he’d come back in 2019.
“This year, I saw him on camera all through the bow season and black powder season. But then he disappeared. I thought he was surely dead,” he said.
Luckily for Beck, December rolled in with fresh trail cam photos of the deer. They were all at night, but on Dec. 7, the deer showed up in front of his stand at 5:25 p.m. He shot the wide-racked buck with his 7mm magnum at 110 meters.
“It’s so satisfying knowing I let him go, and was able to benefit from the extra year of growth,” he said.
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