Tanner Hudson and his grandmother Gloria with the amazing non-typical they first encountered when scouting together in August of 2013. Tanner was later able to tag the big deer after countless hunts for him. The gross score is 184 6/8” including 23 6/8” of abnormals giving the deer an incredible amount of character to go along with the big frame.
I
t was early August, 2013 and my grandma was up visiting us from her home seven hours away. Although she is definitely a ‘city girl’ never having gone hunting before, I was very eager to get out and do some scouting for the upcoming season. Since there was not much going on that day, I asked her if she wanted to come along and help me do some scouting. To my surprise, she eagerly said that she would love to come along, and was actually excited to join me in heading out into the field for the evening. We headed out, planning to spend a few hours checking out my usual spots where I have encountered big deer before, and also perhaps find some new ground and new deer. After a couple hours, we stopped to glass a field that I knew often held many deer and off on the edge of the field, we spotted an absolute giant trophy buck! This was the first time I had ever encountered a buck of this calibre, and I was shaken to the core. I just could not believe the size of the deer. My grandma could see my excitement and she said there was nothing she wanted more than to see me shoot this deer. From that moment on the deer was named ‘The Gloria Buck’ after my Grandma. From that day on, I became determined, almost obsessed with hunting this buck. Every single day and every spare second found me hunting his area, trying to get another glimpse of him, or any signs of where he went. However, archery season seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye and the buck disappeared with only a couple fleeting glimpses to encourage me to keep after him. I had chances on a couple other mature bucks, but knowing the giant was still alive and well, I refused to cut my tag on anything else. Unfortunately, the sightings I did have of him were on posted land. However, I knew that eventually the deer would move over to feed on the adjacent alfalfa field where I had permission, so I kept my hopes up and did everything I could to prepare. Finally, the fields where I had saw him previously were being harvested, and I hoped that the changes and all the action would push him over to the still green alfalfa where I dreamed of getting a shot at him. The muzzleloader season began and I was ready for an opportunity. It didn’t take long, in fact the first week of rifle season brought the big deer out
into the open, and I was there waiting. As the evening light began to fade, I realized that he was not going to get any closer so I got out my rangefinder and made the decision that I would take the shot. I ranged him at 287 yards, a long range for my muzzleloader, but I had practiced at that range, and was confident that I could make the shot. I got locked in on some trees I had purposely setup to act as a rest and slowly squeezed the trigger. Then I saw the bullet land under his belly, it was a clean miss and he hopped out of the field into cover and out of my life forever, or so I thought. I thought that my journey for this buck was going to be over and that I would never see him again. Despite all my doubts, I still hunted the area, being careful not to overhunt it, or allow my scent to contaminate the bedding areas. Rifle season was now in full swing, and with it cold temperatures and the rut was kicking in! I spotted the buck way out in the field first thing one morning, but there was no way to stalk him, so I did not even attempt it. I did not want to risk spooking him again, but was very encouraged by the sighting. He was clearly rutting, and oblivious to my presence. On November 5th I was hunting with a good friend of mine when we spotted him at about 700 yards, but this time there was a bushline that could provide me with cover for a stalk. We checked the wind and it was perfect, so we wasted no time closing the distance on the buck. When we snuck around the corner to where we could see the deer, we ranged him and he was at 300 yards. I settled the scope on him, but I was so excited and breathing heavily from the stalk that I completely missed him again! As he took off running, I thought that was my last chance and he would be gone before, but then a doe stepped out of the bush and got his attention. He slammed on the brakes and gave me a perfect, standing broadside shot. This time I felt calm, just like I know everything was right and this was the chance
BY: COLE STARK