Josh Wright, a student at the University of Pikeville, aced his finals in deer hunting last fall in a test that lasted a mere six minutes.
The Nov. 29 outcome saved what had been a disastrous season to that point, beginning when he clean-missed the deer of his dreams, likely the result of either buck fever or test anxiety. His bullet flew under, over or somehow around the very deer he'd been hoping to see.
Josh first learned of the world-class whitetail's existence through trail camera images. At the end of a weekend away from college, he and his father pulled a card to see what might await them during Kentucky's short rifle season.
Among the images was a giant buck raking an overhanging limb. Unable to go to the woods immediately, Josh practically counted the hours until he could return home and hunt the deer.
The property that yielded the photos is reclaimed coal country, where Josh took his first buck five years earlier. He and his dad hadn't hunted it for a while, but that was about to change.
The next Saturday morning, Josh was sitting on the ground beside a beech tree, cradling his rifle and watching a section that had been logged.
Shortly after daybreak, he spotted some does. Soon after that, he heard a grunt and saw a buck walking. That's when he missed it.
The next Wednesday morning, his father re-checked the camera (no new photos, alas) and refreshed the corn pile. He and Josh planned to hunt the last four days - Thursday through Sunday - of gun season.
On the last morning, Nov. 29, they went separate ways.
"We left the truck early because Dad was going farther back, above my stand," Josh told Dale Weddle, who's writing the story for Rack magazine. "I got to my spot just as it was getting daylight, turned off my light, and then texted Dad at 7:21 to let him know I was set. He replied: Kill Ol' Monster."
As soon as Josh powered off his phone, he heard something walking and turned to see a doe on a hilltop 125 yards distant.
"As she walked through a gap, I glimpsed something out of the corner of my eye. Ol' Monster was standing on the ridge, silhouetted, looking at her. It was awesome!" he said.
Rather than shoot offhanded, he slid to his belly and assumed a pr0ne position, resting his .30-06 on a log. He squeezed off the shot when the deer stepped into the clear.
"The buck rolled downhill afterward, end over end, until it hit in the logging road 20 yards in front of me," he said. "He was still until I got to my knees, and then he stood and ran right at me!"
Fortunately, the animal veered off course 10 yards from the startled hunter, and a second shot anchored it.
Six minutes from the time Josh initially texted his father, he sent a second message announcing he was done for the day.
The deer has a Buckmasters score of 179 inches.
— Read Recent Blog! ‘Ten-pointer’ is SO Much More! When Wil Branem spotted a second buck approaching his pinch-point stand on Nov. 7, 2020, he incorrectly deduced it was a 10-pointer.