Big Buck 411 Blog

Thanks, Boss

Thanks, Boss

By Mike Handley

After seeing a humongous buck while glassing a soybean field in July, Justin Mooney secured permission from his boss, who owns the adjacent 20-acre block, to hunt it.

He wasted no time in creating a mineral lick, strapping a trail camera to a nearby tree and hanging a stand. When he returned to check the camera three weeks later, it held 967 photographs of deer, including the big buck.

Justin carried in a climbing stand when he hunted the setup on Sept. 16, 2014. He wanted to be a little closer to the trail deer were using, even if it meant he'd be only 10 feet above the ground. He was aloft by 4:25.

"I had been there about 20 minutes when two squirrels came out and started cutting acorns around me. I was watching one particular squirrel when I heard a noise," he told Dale Weddle, who measured his deer and wrote the story for Rack magazine.

The squirrel heard it, too, and scampered away while Justin frantically sought the source. Eventually, he spotted a white rack. The approaching buck - obviously the big one - was apparently snuffling up acorns.

The deer stepped into the open just as Justin, still sitting, reached for his bow.

"I had never seen a deer that big up close. It was impossibly huge, and I remember thinking It's too early in the afternoon for all this to be happening. Everything seemed unreal," he said.

To help matters along, another buck came in behind the giant and nudged it. Justin drew his bow and released the arrow when it turned. It had been facing him before that.

Justin's buck is No. 3 among Kentucky's finest bowkills (hard antler). The 27-pointer is the largest ever recorded from Webster County. Its BTR composite score is 230 1/8 inches.

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