What to Do When You're After a Camera-shy Buck
By Mike Handley
Brandon Sheets grew up hunting arrowheads and fishing on his family's property in Pickaway County, Ohio, but he only started hunting deer there about four years ago. That's when he first glimpsed the deer he wound up shooting in 2024.
"It was nothing special then, but the buck grew substantially," the 31-year-old electrical designer remembers. "I began actually hunting it the next year, when its rack might've scored in the high 150s.
"That deer was elusive; slick and really smart," he continued. "I got it on camera only once or twice a year. I don't know what the deal was."
In 2023, the second year Brandon targeted it, the whitetail's antlers were pushing 180 inches.
"It looked like a big bully buck," he said. "I got it on camera twice, once during daylight — a first — and I saw it once while bowhunting. It was traveling with another buck, about 70 to 100 yards distant, and acting funky — as if they barely tolerated each other."
The deer never kept the same schedule, so it was impossible to predict where or when it might appear.
In 2024, thanks to an unusually dry spell, epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) hit the area hard, decimating deer herds in spots. Brandon and his brother scoured their property for carcasses, but they found only one dead fawn. Neighbors reported many casualties, and a kayaker came across a dozen during a float.
None of the five cameras Brandon had set up yielded photos of the large whitetail at the top of his list, which worried him.
His fears were dispelled, however, when the buck — "bigger, badder and healthy" — walked in front of a camera on Oct. 1.
"I hunted hard. I tried to do everything by the book," Brandon said. "After a month of playing cat and mouse, I decided to concentrate on does.
"On Nov. 8, I moved my climber closer to where does were bedding, a thick brushy area with felled trees," he said. "I'd avoided that area in the past."
That very evening, just when it was too dark to shoot, Brandon saw a huge buck that had to be the one he was seeking. Rather than risk spooking it, he waited almost an hour after sundown before getting down from his tree.
As soon as he reached his truck, he called his buddy, Randy Crosby, to share the news. While he was on the phone with Randy, one of his nearby cell cams sent an image, confirming the deer's identity.
"I was so pumped. I had to go back the next day," he said. "I asked my wife to watch the kids — 6-year-old Willow and 4-year-old Mabel — so I could go."
His decision to move toward the bedding area validated, Brandon chose to get even closer on Nov. 9. As noiselessly as possible, he snuck in and selected a tree. When he reached the top and settled in, he reached for his pull-up rope and felt no resistance.
He'd been so rattled and careful, he'd forgotten to attach it to his crossbow.
When Brandon was on the ground again, he noticed a fresh scrape on the back side of the tree. Rather than re-climb that one, he chose another one to distance himself from the trail leading to the scrape.
Within 30 minutes of scaling the second tree, two does and a mid-140s buck came in and bedded down in front of him. They remained there, occasionally standing and lying back down. Brandon even photographed them with his phone and sent the images to his wife.
After two hours, all three deer raised their heads and looked in the same direction, and then they all jumped up and ran.
"I was dumbfounded," Brandon said. "I'm thinking, What is going on?"
They were fleeing because the bull of the woods was coming, though Brandon didn't know it.
Soon, another lone doe ran straight toward him. Brandon thinks she smelled him and stopped, but she kept staring behind her. That's when he heard a grunt.
"That grunt was so deep, it was crazy," he said.
The buck of his dreams continued coming in the doe's wake, and like her, it stopped about 25 yards from Brandon, who took one last breath and squeezed the crossbow's trigger.
"The impact sounded like a 2x4 falling from the tallest building and smacking the ground," he said. "The buck bolted and fell, and then it got back up and ran out of sight."
Brandon's heart was racing and he was shaking as he sent a text message to his brother. About 30 minutes later, he began glassing the area where the deer had disappeared, and he saw what might have been antlers at the base of a tree.
"There was so much mass, I thought Surely those aren't antlers," he said. "So I got down, walked a little closer and looked through my binoculars again. Yes, they were antlers.
"When I got over to the buck, I began pacing back and forth, thanking God. When I regained my composure, I called everybody who'd listened to me talk about the deer non-stop. I called my wife, Madison, friends and my brother. I told Madison to bring the kids."
Six people soon joined him in the woods.
"I had to have backup," he added. "That was the heaviest deer I've ever tried to move."
His daughter Willow observed the whole process, mesmerized.
"She's always enjoyed going to the woods with me, and she can get around really well. Now she's hooked on deer hunting," he laughed.
"I'll try to top this one, but I doubt I'll ever do it," Brandon added.
Toby and Lori Hughes measured the 20-pointer for Buckmasters, arriving at 214 5/8 inches. Nearly 50 inches of mass accounts for almost a quarter of its score.