This Oklahoma giant flew under the radar.
George Allen Jr. has hunted the same stand on his father-in-law’s property for almost 20 years, and he’s harvested some great bucks there. None, however, can touch the whitetail he yelled at on Nov. 20, 2016.
George knew a big 10-pointer was roaming the Seminole County tract in 2016, and he hunted hard for it for two weeks with his bow before taking advantage of the Oklahoma’s firearms season.
The second day of gun season was partly cloudy. Despite the howling wind, George was perched in a tripod between two cedar trees affording a view of a well-worn trail in the bottom of a valley. The big 10-pointer used that trail, and George knew it was just a matter of time before he and the buck were in the same place at the same time.
After sitting in silence for about three hours with the wind beating on him and without seeing a single deer, George became discouraged. He eventually decided he’d get down at 9:30.
Just before 9:00, George heard a deer snorting about 100 yards away through the trees. This went on for about three minutes before his targeted 5x5 and four does burst from the timber.
After grabbing his gun, George realized the 10-pointer wasn’t chasing the does as he’d originally surmised. Something was chasing it!
“I got really excited because whatever this big 10 was running from had to be bigger than what I was looking at,” he said.
George couldn’t see the buck’s pursuer at first, but he could hear loud thrashing and snorting. While the big 10 showed no sign of slowing, he had to decide whether to shoot the buck in hand, or to wait for what was behind proverbial Door No. 2.
He chose to wait.
Meanwhile, the big 10 and all four does jumped a nearby fence and stopped on the opposite side to look back. At that moment, George spotted movement within the trees.
The buck that exited would’ve given most hunters the jelly arm. George had never seen anything like it.
The giant whitetail stopped to rake a cedar tree with its rack. It also ripped bushes up from their roots and snapped every sapling in sight. After destroying its surroundings, the buck turned its attention back to the other deer.
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” George said.
He tried everything he could to get off a shot, but the buck was on a mission and offering him no target. It, too, jumped the fence. Soon, the deer circus had left town.
George was still reliving the past few minutes when the group of deer reappeared. They’d run in a circle.
“Instead of going to the fence again, the big 10 was in a dead run away from big boy,” George said.
George tensed up and got ready again. That time, he was going to make sure he got a shot.
Just like before, the whitetail stopped long enough to hit another tree and to paw the ground with authority.
“I was sitting there a nervous wreck,” George said. “What was I going to do? I had one shot.”
When the big deer began running again, George yelled to stop it. The buck didn’t oblige.
George yelled again as loud as he could: “Hey! HEY!” and the deer finally put on the brakes. George moved his scope from the buck’s antlers to the crease of its shoulder. He took a deep breath before squeezing the trigger.
After the shot, the enormous whitetail jumped straight up and took off toward a cedar thicket.
“I knew I hit it hard,” he said. “I also heard the crash. I knew I had killed him. I knew he was down.
“My hands were shaking like a leaf on a tree,” he added.
When he got down and walked up to his buck, he was in disbelief. He thanked God and called his better half.
George was almost in tears while talking to his wife. He told her, “I have killed the biggest deer I have ever seen in my life.”
This article was published in the March 2018 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.
Read Recent RACK Articles: • Greener Pastures: Ohio deer hunter crosses river to collect a little venison AND the buck of his dreams.
• The Way to a Man’s Wallet: Double drops are a powerful incentive.