I recently wrote a story called “My No. 1 Whitetail Deer Story of 2023” — click here to check it out. This one ranks right up there, too, and it’s certainly the craziest of 2023.
First a little background. I’m not going to mention the name of the person who posted this story and pics online because I don’t want to broadcast the location. Actually, the region is better known for its fishing than its whitetail hunting. The last thing I want to do is reveal his fishing hotspot to the masses. Okay, here’s his post:
So here’s the crazy story on that big buck I posted yesterday. I was doing a river fishing float trip in the canoe when I heard a gunshot a couple miles upriver. About 45 minutes later I see this giant buck floating down the middle of the river. This was a big deer, easily 200-plus pounds. I snagged one of the antlers with a lure to get its head up out of the water and slowly dragged it, then pulled it up on shore which wasn't easy lol.
I had many miles left to float and time was ticking. It was a good shot, right in the lungs, so I stuck around for another 30 minutes hoping they tracked it to the water and would come down looking for it, but it didn't happen. I felt absolutely terrible leaving this huge beautiful buck on the shoreline and most likely leaving it to waste, but I had no choice, I had to get going to be done before dark.
Around 4 hours later, right at dark, around 200 yards from where I was ending, I hear this jet boat come flying downriver. I turned my light on my phone and waved ‘em down. They stopped and thought I was in trouble.
I screamed, “Were you guys hunting?!”
They’re like, “Yup!”
“Did you guys shoot a big deer and lose it?”
You could just see the look on their faces — “No way! Are you kidding me? We looked for that deer for 4 hours!”
I showed them on my phone's GPS exactly where I left the deer 8 miles upriver and gave them my phone number in case they couldn't find it. They texted me an hour later just ecstatic and thanking me, saying they found the deer. The meat was still good and the head is going on the wall!
Just a crazy story with a happy ending. Possibly one of the biggest bucks of their life, and it was a good feeling that I was able to help them retrieve it.
