First buck hits Top 10 in Hoosier State
By Patrick Dunning
Gregory George grew up in a family of hunters in the western part of Michigan’s lower peninsula, where he says folks gun hunt for meat in sweatpants, and buck-skinning poles give locals a chance to showcase trophies during deer season.
Throughout his childhood in the Great Lakes State, Gregory harvested three does, mostly as a rite of passage. He admits he never shared the same fervor for deer hunting as his father, Steve, but always admired his passion for the sport.
“I grew up hunting in Michigan and was less avid than most of my family; I spent a lot of time as a teenager unsuccessful in the woods. I enjoyed it but never took on the inspiration,” Gregory told Buckmasters. “My dad was either in the woods hunting or fishing and has always encouraged me to hunt.”
Three years ago Gregory got an opportunity to write a faith-based recovery curriculum for men struggling with addiction and moved to his wife’s hometown in central Indiana to shepherd the residential program.
The 35-year-old enjoys involving his kids in field craft projects and constructed an A-frame structure last summer to teach them how to lash sapling poles together. The A-frame blind was situated behind his house along a deer trail. He regularly observed deer on the hoof early last season, but initially didn’t put too much thought into harvesting any animal.
His perspective would evolve, though, after pulling into his driveway one night before bow season last August and noticing what he thought was a 12-pointer bedded down on the property.
“As we approached the deer it ran away but I thought it was crazy to have this massive deer on my property. At that point I was like, okay, I’ll sit in our blind a few times and see what happens,” Gregory said. “Throughout bow season I spent as much time as I could in the woods and saw this deer four different times but never got a shot opportunity.”
Gregory asked his dad, “Hey, gun season is coming up. What do you think about coming down for the opener and sitting together?”
Steve obliged and made the five-hour trip from Michigan.
Opening morning of Indiana’s 2023 rifle season, the Georges set up in the A-frame structure before sunrise. At 8:30 a.m. or so, they both decided to go home briefly and put on more layers due to the cold temperature.
When they got back to the blind, Steve realized some vantage points were restricted and decided to erect his pop-up blind 40 yards to the left of the A-frame.
“Then, we realized the tarp on the A-frame structure was creating another blind spot so I got up again and removed the tarp. Our thinking was, it’s opening day, anything can happen. Rifles are going off for the first time today. Deer movement is going to be different anyway. That’s how we justified all our moving around.”
As if the hunt couldn’t get any more unconventional, two of Gregory’s cats followed them to the deer blind, and one in particular was requesting human snacks.
“One of the cats actually slipped into the A-frame trying to steal our summer sausage and apples. My dad shooed the cat away by giving it some food, and it perched itself on some firewood we had cut and started vomiting next to our blind,” Gregory laughed.
“There was no way deer were going to move through here with our cat vomiting summer sausage. But I was wrong.”
Less than a minute later a familiar doe came into view, and right behind her was the suspected 12-point at 75 yards broadside.
Buckmasters master scorer Jim Moore officially scored Gregory’s first buck at 223 3/8 inches for our record book as a mainframe 10-pointer with double-drop tines and 22 scoreable points.
His deer is also Indiana’s ninth largest whitetail in Buckmasters’ centerfire rifle category.
“I work long hours and try to balance my time between helping others and my family, so for this to happen to me feels like a gift from God,” he said. “Regardless of the rack’s size, the greatest part was getting to spend time with my dad and have this crazy adventure. And it happened right here at home. Still unreal to me.”
You can read the full story of Gregory’s Indiana Hammer in a 2024 issue of Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine.