It all started when my buddy who was about to leave for marine boot camp saw this deer in person on one of his property’s and knew he wouldn’t be able to hunt it. So, before he left he told me to kill that deer by the time he got back! And I’m so happy I was able to harvest an amazing animal like that. I had been getting pictures of the buck I had named captain hook because of his 8-1/4-inch curved brow tine, he’d been showing up on camera in the afternoon every few days.

Captain Hook

He’d been giving me the slip ever since opening day on September 15th. On the 15th, I had done a 5-hour sit and seen 15 deer including an 8 point that’s over 100 inches. I had to pass him up at 10 yards 3 more times by the time October 5th came around. He gave me the slip the past Friday so, on the 5th I wasn’t taking any chances I drove straight home from college after class, checked cameras and got up in the stand by 3 pm. To my surprise, he’d shown himself that Wednesday the 3rd and his pattern was ever 2 or 3 days he would come by. So, I was already excited knowing that my chances were good of seeing him. By the time 5 pm came around, I had been seeing doe everywhere. Around 5:45 the does disappeared through a thick hedge and into a field about 70 yards away. At 5:58 I was sitting there, and my head snapped to the left as I heard something crashing through the brush out of the field. Three does came crashing through the brush and my eyes widened as I saw what pushed them out, it was him the buck I had been waiting for.

Captain Hook

Even though the rut wasn’t supposed to be for 3 more weeks he was hot on their trail. He came to 35 yards and stopped as the doe ran across a small road. He gave me one shot and I drew back and let my arrow fly. The arrow connected perfectly, and he took off running it was one of those should I shoot, or should I wait moments he was quartering towards hard but if he took any more steps he would be in cover and go after the doe. My shot it the thin part of the shoulder bone and went 9 inches farther in took out the lungs after going through the ribs. I decided to back off till morning after following for 150 yards. Went back the next morning with a buddy of mine followed for another 100 yards and found him face first in some brush. The rest was the hard work of getting him out of the woods.

Matt with Captain Hook

Another interesting thing was that my first buck was in 2016 and it was a 3-1/2-year-old 9 point that had a 21-inch spread on the inside. Everyone said that I can only go downhill from here and that was going to be near impossible to top. Well, I’m happy to say that with hard work and a little luck you can prove people wrong.

One of the best parts of this hunt is Matt was able to take his brother into the same spot where he killed an 8 pt that Matt had passed earlier. This was his brothers first buck!

Matt & his Brother

A big congrats to Matt and his brother on some great bucks!!

Matt’s Gear

Bow – mission by Mathews Craze II – 68-pound draw weight
Arrows- Goldtip hunter XT
Broadheads- muzzy 4X chiseled tip