I strongly suspect I first saw the Great Eight in 2011 but I can't be certain which of a couple similar looking bucks he was.
The Great Eight really moved onto our radar in the fall of 2012 as a wide, clean eight pointer that looked like he had a lot of potential to grow with nice long beams – hence the name Great Eight. We had multiple sightings of the deer on trail camera and in person that year. In fact both my brother and I passed the buck in late muzzleloader season believing he was 4 years old that year and we really wanted to see how much he would grow the next year.
http://vid139.photobucket.com/albums/q291/JoeRE/Great%20Eight/IM000002_zpssjew0cxq.mp4
November 30, 2012
The Great Eight was not a dominant deer in 2012 and he had a very small core area completely on a piece of public land that is one of my favorite areas to hunt. He spent most of his time around tall CRP fields of a couple hundred acres in size, often bedding there. He learned from early on if he stuck to the thick fields away from the tree lines he could avoid most hunters on the property who stuck to the tree lines.
Next year we were in luck and the Great Eight remained. Surprisingly to us, he had not grown much. The great eight was now a nine point but other than that the antlers on top his head were about the same size as in 2012. He now had a hulking body however of a mature buck, my estimate would be 5 years old in 2012.
We got many trail camera pictures of the Great Eight over the 2013 year but no visual sightings. I have found in general 5 year old bucks to be the most nocturnal age class and the Great Eight was not an exception. Another reason he was not as visible - Great Eight was still not dominant. A heavy 10 pointer seemed to push him around. I screwed up a good chance at the heavy 10 with my bow, he should be on my wall.
We finally saw the Great Eight while coyote hunting in January, so we knew he made it through the season.
As 2014 wore on the Great Eight became more and more visible. The heavy 10 had disappeared in the 2013 gun season, probably tagged by someone else. The Great Eight (yes I know it is ironic we continued to call him the Great Eight...) was again a 9 pointer, and had grown very little from the previous year again. However, his ninth point had switched sides. I have seen this happen a couple times before but its not really common. A change like that is often a red flag you are dealing with a different deer but we knew this buck very well by then. Everything else about his rack was identical. He remained very visible in his very small core area, we always found him in an area less than a couple hundred acres in size. He had pretty small feet for a big buck, we only figured that out after noting those tracks all over his core area year after year.
This past fall my brother and I both tagged bucks elsewhere. It just happened that conditions were never great to really go after the Great Eight. He was a difficult buck to bowhunt given he liked to stick to his tall grass CRP nest and did not have very consistent entry and exit routes. However one of my trail cams and and a couple visual observations had shown a flaw in the Great Eight's defenses. He liked to take shelter down in a rocky valley behind the CRP field when there was a south wind, or when he was spooked from the fields.
I routinely check sightings against weather conditions and whatever else is going on at the time of the sighting. Its interesting what you can learn.
After we discussed the situation, my brother decided to get a regular gun tag and hunt the Great Eight this year. Usually we both go with late muzzle loader season but we thought there was quite a bit of risk that the Great Eight would get shot by someone this year because he had become more visible and there would be plenty of hunters around.
On the second day of shotgun season, we had a south wind, and with the hunting pressure it was a perfect combination for the Great Eight. My brother took a stand on a ridge with a good view of the valley. Like clockwork, he caught sight the Great Eight down below him picking his way between boulders, feeding on fallen maple leaves. My brother stalked to within 50 yards, aided by the cover and a strong wind, and threaded a bullet through the brush into the quartering away buck.
The Great Eight ran only a few yards along the side hill before collapsing. Since the buck was down a very steep slope and there was a tough pack out job ahead me brother did not go down to him, only packed up his gear and took it to the vehicle and returned expecting only a pack job to remain.
Thankfully he did return with his gun. Two hours after the shot the buck lay where he had fallen, but bedded and with his head up still alive!
The buck struggled to his feet as my brother watched so he shot the deer a second time, the bulled hitting the buck on the point of the shoulder. The Great Eight collapsed and it seemed like the hunt was over but then the buck raised his head again! My brother reloaded his muzzleloader (yes legal to use in shotgun season) a third time and put a final bullet behind the buck's ear, and that was it.
Incredibly, all the shots were pretty good. The first one had hit the buck about 8” behind his near shoulder quartering away and exited through the meaty part of the off shoulder (exit wound in kill photo). It apparently missed the near lung (hard to tell after the second round but must have for the deer to live two hours) but turned the far lung into soup.
The second shot had hit the joint at the point of the shoulder and shattered it, fragments of the bone and bullet had turned everything in the deer’s chest to froth but somehow the buck was able to lift his head minutes later, it could only be possible due to adrenaline!
The third shot had put the lights out.
It was not the load's fault. My brother uses a 300 grain all lead hollow point that has proven to have awesome results on many deer in the past. The buck was just that tough!
All in all a crazy end to an awesome buck. He never blew up antler-wise the way we though he would but we will still call him great! The buck was really worn down, had to pack him out but still weighed probably 220-230 live based on the meat weight.
And yea I can't wait for late muzzy season, I have a hunch on a good buck or two
