The Folklore Buck and Flight Risk
Two hunters from Madison County, NC killed two trophy bucks during the last month of the 2025 deer hunting season. In a county not known for producing big bucks, the two deer killed by Aaron Ball and Gary Frisbee really stand out.
“The county we live in hardly produces big deer. So these two are very special to us,” said Frisbee.
The Folklore Buck
Aaron Bell killed his big buck, known locally as the Folklore Buck on Dec. 18, 2025.
“This is a buck everyone knew about, so we started calling him the Folklore Buck,” said Frisbee. “This deer was seen by numerous hunters all through the 2024 deer season. Everyone in the area was hunting him.”
But the 2024 season closed with no one taking the trophy. As the 2025 season rolled in, Ball and Frisbee brainstormed on how to kill the deer.
“We found a tiny area behind these houses that was completely overlooked by people,” he said. “Everyone else was trying to hunt the deer where he was crossing the road, but the deer spent most of the day miles from there.”
They found an abundance of sign from deer in that tiny area, and they put up a trail camera to get a look at what was moving through.
“He was the very first deer on the trail camera,” he said.
With that knowledge, Ball made quick work of hunting the buck.
“I killed that deer on the very first morning I hunted there,” he said.
Ball shot the buck with a .450 Bushmaster and thebuck taped out at 146 inches.
Flight risk
Another buck that had caught their eye during the 2024 season got the nickname Flight Risk because Frisbee had heard of a famous rapper that had been arrested and declared a flight risk shortly before getting his first trail cam photos of the deer.
“I hunted him a few times the Christmas week of 2024 to no avail,” he said. “Going into 2025, he was my No. 1 target buck.” Frisbee stayed out of the buck’s stomping grounds until rifle season opened, and the deer began hitting his mock scrapes. “The lady that let me hunt her property would walk her dog every other evening down the whole length of the mile-long driveway,” he said. “I had noticed on trail cam that the days she did this, the buck would never show, and the days she didn’t walk the dog, the buck would show.”
Frisbee knew that the next time the lady wouldn’t walk her dog, he had a great shot at bagging the buck. That day turned out to be Dec. 26.
“That’s the day ol’ Flight Risk had his passport revoked. I capitalized on his mistake,” he said. Frisbee’s buck scored 139 inches. ■
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