deep woods goat hunter
PMA Member
The blizzard we had Sunday night paid off. Long story short this deer has been around since 2020 (when I purchased farm). He spent most of his time on neighboring farms and very seldom made an appearance on my farm in daylight. Very smart deer, 2 different buddies had pictures of him 2+ miles away in recent years. I had access to hunt him with archery tackle on BIL's farm but failed to get him in bowrange with the exception of 2x with no shooting light. 7 sightings/encounters this fall prior to Sunday. He would make appearances on my foodplots in the middle of the night fairly consistently, though I figured with the snow and cold temps he might slip up and he did with just a few minutes left of legal shooting light. In MO we have a late "Alternative Methods" season when pistols are permitted so I opted to take out the 300blk pistol. Shot was quartering to harder than I initially thought and gave him the night to be safe as I was uncertain of the hit. He made it about 100 yards and found him bedded up. Legend of a deer for me, nicknamed him "The Great Prince of the Forest" cause he came in looking like Bambi's dad on late summer night in 2022. Hard to get deer to 6.5 in Mo and I would have certainly killed him last year if given the opportunity but made it pretty special getting him with an additional year's history.
