During the day, Hodges spent almost every chance he had trying to catch up with the old buck and spent entire days in a stand on some occasions.
“I hunted this deer for four weeks — hard,” Hodges said. “Dang near every day.”
However, his efforts just weren’t paying off. He saw the deer several times, but somehow the buck managed to slip by.
“First time it was the beginning of bow season,” Hodges said. “I was hunting a power line and he and another buck crossed at about 150 yards.
“Last Thursday I saw him and he was by himself. I couldn’t get a good clean shot on him. A deer like that, I didn’t want to risk not getting a good shot.”
So, Hodges let the buck walk, only to have him taunt Hodges again.
“I saw him the next day at 2:30 in the afternoon,” Hodges said. “I just got a glimpse of him.
“I saw him, but again I couldn’t get a good shot on him. It seemed like I was always right behind him.”
And everyone else who knew about the buck was frustrated, too. Hodges said about 10 other hunters were after the buck, but had no luck. Hodges and a hunter from a neighboring property, Hunter Macneer, were actually working together in an effort to pattern him.
“I’d been hunting him so hard, I didn’t care who killed him,” Hodges said. “Hunter (Macneer) was hunting that deer just about every day on an adjacent property. I just wanted to put my hands on him.”
On Monday afternoon, Hodges was back in the stand using a grunt call and rattling antlers, but his hopes of encountering the buck quickly diminished.
“I got in the stand about 2:30 in the afternoon,” Hodges said. “The wind shifted so I almost went to another stand, but I already had two does bedded up about 25 yards downwind of me. I didn’t want to push them away.”
Hodges stopped grunting and rattling when the two does bedded near him, but after about 30 minutes he began grunting and rattling again. The does tried to figure out where the sound was coming from, but then turned their heads and stared behind Hodges’ stand. Hodges’ luck was about to change.
“I heard him grunt,” Hodges said. “I knew it was a buck, but I didn’t know which one. I grunted back to him.”
The deer came into view and it was the buck that was always on Hodges’ mind. He was steadily walking toward Hodges and, with the buck at 25 yards, Hodges knew it was time to shoot. Continue reading at this link and to the deer green score >> https://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/outdoors/2018/12/07/deer-buck-giant-mississippi-hunt-hunting-white-tailed/2213343002/