A buck that appeared to have the potential to become a trophy had done just that. He’d blossomed into a 150-class giant , but trail camera photos of him only came at night
He seemed to be a buck that couldn’t be hunted until he made the same mistake twice last week.
“We’ve watched that deer for three years now,” said Joey Brock of Slayden , which is located in Marshall County near the Tennessee state line. “He was an 8-point three years ago.
“I’d laid eyes on him two or three times in 2022, but I let him go. Then he got to be a 9-point. He kept putting on length and mass.”
His antlers were growing bigger and he was growing smarter, too. The buck managed to stay out of sight during daylight hours.
Good neighbors key to growing big bucks
“In 2023 we did not have a daylight picture of him,” Brock said.
The fact that Brock didn’t get daylight photos of the buck in 2023 didn’t really matter. Brock said he only harvests mature bucks and the 9-point wasn’t quite there in 2023. Brock said he’s fortunate because adjoining landowners also give bucks a pass until they reach maturity.