Typical or non, once an 8-pointer is not always an 8-pointer.
Forty-three-year-old Woody Moore, a native of western Kentucky, has an impressive wall of trophies taken with bow and arrow. His best whitetail came in 2016.
He first saw the buck and passed it up two years earlier.
“The big velvet deer I killed in 2016 was a decent 8-pointer with two kickers on one side back in 2014,” Woody said. “I decided I didn’t want to shoot it then, and I ended up rattling in and taking a 160-class buck.”
When the mainframe 8 reappeared on cameras the following year, Woody was glad he’d let it walk because the buck’s rack was significantly bigger.
Woody had bowhunting rights to the big deer’s stomping grounds, while a friend had gun hunting rights.
“I told my friend, ‘We’re both going to hunt this deer, and if you get him, I’ll be happy for you. If I get him, I hope you’ll be happy for me,’” he said.
“The buck was showing up on my friend’s trail cameras every night during the 2015 gun season, but he never saw the deer in daylight,” Woody continued. “The buck had a sanctuary somewhere.”
Woody didn’t get a crack at it either. He wound up filling his tag with another nice 160-class deer.
On Jan. 1, 2016, Woody and his daughter, Lilly, saw the buck while heading out to check a trail camera. He was thrilled to see the deer had survived.
“Right then, I decided it was going to be that deer or nothing the following season,” he said.
Woody’s decision was solidified when trail cam pictures unveiled the buck’s even more impressive rack a few months later.
The hunter collected lots of photos that allowed him to follow the antlers’ development. The buck visited mineral licks all summer long, often while the sun was overhead.
The right main beam that dipped slightly in 2015 was more pronounced the following season. Now a 10-point mainframe, the deer wore impressive brow tines and had four more points longer than 10 inches.
Add to that incredible mass and an array of kickers, and the buck would surely score 200 inches or better, he thought.
The area where Woody’s target buck lived is diverse: soybean field, woods, creek and CRP.
While scouting, he discovered a creek crossing and a trail snaking through the thick timber between the beans and CRP. He also picked out a good tree at the edge of the field.
The spot appeared to be a staging area for deer moving from their bedding area to the bean fields. The prevailing wind was from the southwest.
Woody had a camera there. He could drive a vehicle through the CRP to the setup and change cards without leaving much scent.
“I went out to hang a stand in the tree by the CRP about a month before bow season came in,” he said. “When I’d put up the stand, I noticed several branches that would prevent me from shooting the 45 yards from tree to trail.
“A boy who works for me was with me that day,” Woody continued. “I got him up on my shoulders, and we trimmed branches for shooting lanes to the trail. We probably clipped and pruned branches for close to 45 minutes."
“After we worked so long in the area, we must have boogered it up because the giant whitetail immediately quit showing up on the nearby trail camera,” he said.
Woody was afraid he’d ruined his chances at the big buck. About a week and a half before bow season came in, however, the deer started showing up regularly again.
“I checked the cam, I think the Thursday before the season came in on a Saturday, and the buck had been photographed in daylight a couple of times,” Woody said. “The rest of the days, it was really close, but not daylight. More like 30 or 40 minutes after dark. The big deer had a smaller 8-pointer running with it."
“I don’t hunt mornings early in the season. If you run a deer like that off in the mornings, it’s over,” he said. “You can get away with hunting mornings more in the rut than you can early in the season."
“That first Saturday evening of bow season, there was a crazy wind blowing out of the east. It really was a good afternoon to hunt other than that, but I wouldn’t go,” Woody said.
The season’s second afternoon was perfect. The breeze was from the southwest again.
“I drove out and parked about 250 yards from the stand site,” Woody said. “By 3:00, I was in it. And within 30 minutes, I started seeing deer."
“At first, I saw mostly old does and small bucks. A couple of the old does got downwind and started blowing. I was afraid they were going to mess up the entire hunt, but they finally settled down and moved off,” he continued. “After that, a decent 8-pointer came in and stayed for about 15 minutes."
“At prime time, I looked out and saw an 8-pointer at 60 yards. It was the buck that had been running with the big deer, so I really got nervous."
“As it moved closer, I saw more movement behind it: The big one."
“By that time, I had calmed down and was locked in to what was going on,” he said. “The 8-pointer was still between me and the other buck and had closed the distance to about 20 yards."
“When the wind died, things got hairy."
“I suddenly felt wind on the back of my neck, and the 8-pointer immediately went on alert,” Woody said. “When it did, the big one stopped and watched the smaller buck’s body language."
“The closer one didn’t really act nervous, but it turned and started following the trail toward the bean field,” he continued. “I had been standing up, ready to shoot."
“I grunted at the big buck, but it kept walking. When I grunted louder, it froze."
“I aimed a little back because I didn’t want to hit the shoulder. When I released, I saw the glowing nock as the arrow passed completely through the buck."
“I knew exactly what I had to do. I eased out, went straight to the truck, went home and waited until daylight to go back and track the buck,” he said.
Woody returned with his son, Will, who’s taken his own share of nice deer with a bow. He was equally excited to be there.
Father and son circled the area and found the buck about 150 yards from where it had been shot.
Editor’s Note: Dale Weddle, a regular contributor and regional director for the BTR, was named 2017’s wildlife conservation communicator of the year by the Kentucky Wildlife Federation Foundation.
This article was published in the December 2017 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.
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