Buckmasters Magazine

He Went Where?

He Went Where?

By Ed Waite

Working outdoors clearing power line right-of-ways can be exhausting, but it has its perks, too — like getting to see a lot of wildlife and potential hunting property.

Late in the summer of 2014, Brice Jenny was on the job in north-central Pennsylvania when he saw a buck crossing an open field.

“He was really big even then, but he had only one drop tine at the time,” he said.

Brice and his buddy Ryan Holton had permission to hunt nearby on a 150-acre farm, so both were pretty excited about having such an animal in the area.

“We didn’t see him again that year, but we heard stories of people seeing a smasher buck,” he said. “It had to be him.”

By the time the 2015 gun season rolled around, neither hunter gave much thought to the drop-tined buck, although Brice saw two “smashers,” both too distant for a shot.

Work and weather kept the guys out of the woods until the next weekend. Even then, they spent Saturday morning working on Brice’s girlfriend’s car.

That’s one reason the evening found them walking across the farm field with no real plan of action.

“We just headed to some stands we had inside the woods,” Brice said. “We sat for awhile without seeing anything until Ryan got itchy feet. He said he was going to take a walk around the outside of the woods and come back through, maybe pushing something my way.”

Brice was carrying a .300 Weatherby Mag that had been passed down from his grandfather, to his father and now him. He had a great view of the woods around him and caught movement in the field about 100 yards distant. At first, all he could make out was the back end of a really large deer.

When it took a few more steps, Brice immediately saw enough upward points to know it met the Pennsylvania minimum, and then some.

“As soon as I was sure it was a legal deer, I took aim,” he said. “I must have been a little shaky, because I hit him in the right hind quarter. He took off running, so I fired again.”

Ryan, who hadn’t seen anything in his walk, heard the shots and thought he might have pushed something Brice’s way. Then his cell phone rang.

“Brice was pretty excited,” Ryan laughed. “He said he’d just shot at the biggest buck he’d ever seen, and he was pretty sure he’d hit it.”

Brice told Ryan he’d wait for him to get there before looking for blood. When they finally teamed up, something seemed off about the blood trail.

“We found blood, but it was going in the wrong direction,” Brice said. “It didn’t look fresh, either, like maybe it was from earlier in the day.”

Faced with a puzzle, the friends agreed they should regroup and think things through before making another move. With daylight fading quickly, they headed to the truck to drop off unnecessary gear and get some flashlights.

“We got back just at dark,” Ryan said. “Instead of following the blood trail, we went in the direction Brice said the deer had gone. Then Brice’s light caught a flash of white, and we got happy!”

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd