Manny Kaloyannide’s record buck from October 2018 graced the cover of Georgia Outdoor News’ July 2023 issue and reigns as the state’s largest compound-felled whitetail in BTR’s perfect category. The 10-pointer from Dekalb County is also the second largest perfect harvested in the state by any weapon.
Manny received a trail-cam photo of this buck walking along a trail at 9 a.m. the day before Halloween and told his secretary he was hitting the woods and to reschedule his afternoon meetings and a business dinner for another date.
That evening Manny’s target deer was within 30 yards for nearly 40 minutes playing the wind and even picked a fight with a big 8-pointer in the area. Just before the shot, Manny said the 5x5 stuck its nose on the base of the tree he was situated in, then trotted over to a community scrape 18 yards from his climber.
“He walks straight underneath me but there’s a limb in front of me from another tree, which is probably why he couldn’t see me. He sticks his nose on my tree and I’m looking at him through the slits in my Summit climber. That’s when I realized how big of a deer he really was,” Manny told Buckmasters. “He walks to my right to a community scrape and starts pawing the ground. Then he got up on his hind legs and started rubbing his face and tarsal glands on the limbs. I drew my bow back and as soon as he hit all fours, I picked my spot and drilled him quartering away.”
The giant posted a BTR score of 183 6/8 inches with three typical points over 12 4/8 inches, a 13 6/8-inch P2 and a 21 1/8 inside spread.
The full story of Manny’s epic hunt for this wall hanger will be featured in an upcoming issue of Buckmasters magazine!
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