The Great 8: A Promising Young Buck to Something Special

I’ve always been a firm believer in giving every whitetail buck a chance to grow to its full potential. On the other hand, I’ve heard many others say, “Get rid of your 8-pointers, as eight points will always stay eight points.” This may have been the case a handful of times on the properties I hunt, but I’ve watched many 8-pointers turn into true giants. “The Great 8” was one of those giants.

A Season of Beginnings

In the fall of 2022, I began to get trail-camera photos of a younger buck with a pretty, 8-point rack. He had decently long tines and a nice frame, but I had no real knowledge of the buck. Thankfully, he made it through all of the gun seasons and shed both of his antlers in February. I never found either of his antlers, but I was anxious to see what he would become the following year.

Summer of 2023 came, and I managed to capture photos of what looked to be the same buck. He had definitely added a lot more inches compared to the previous year, but he was still an 8-pointer. I found out pretty quickly that the buck wasn’t much for summering in this particular area, as sightings were few and far between. I hoped he would move onto the farm more regularly come fall so I could hopefully keep him alive another year.

As fall approached, sightings became more regular. His velvet had shed, and I prayed he would survive the seasons once again and I would have another opportunity to hunt for his sheds. Miraculously, the buck managed to stay alive, and it became my No. 1 goal to find both his shed antlers and begin creating a more meaningful story with this particular buck. I patterned his every move in January and February and knew exactly where he bedded, his path to the food and what field he liked to feed in during the night.

On Feb. 27, 2024, he finally dropped his right antler. The next morning, I was fortunate enough to find that antler on the field edge. I was extremely excited I was able to find the antler so quickly. After picking up that first side, I knew I had to find his other side once he dropped it. A couple of evenings later, I was able to watch the buck through my binoculars as he fed in the field, just hoping I’d get to see him drop the other side. Unfortunately, he held onto it for one more day.

Finally, the day after I watched him, he dropped the other side. I knew the antler had to be close, as he left the food and headed out into the hay field and then came back shortly after without it. In disbelief, I glassed the field at daybreak and saw the other side covered in frost, glistening in the sun. I was like a kid at Christmas being able to put my hands on that other antler. After putting my hands on both of his sheds and seeing how big of an 8-pointer he was, I knew I had to call him The Great 8.

An Unexpected Turn

As summer 2024 approached, I was more than excited to see what The Great 8 was going to turn into. But I also knew, based on past seasons, I likely wouldn’t get many sightings of him until fall. I got one trail-cam photo of him on June 10, making a positive identification based on the long brow tines and the shape of his frame. That was the last photo I got of him until Sept. 3. When he showed on camera, still in velvet, I was in shock. He was enormous, and he no longer was a big 8 — he had grown into a mega 9-pointer! Without a doubt, I knew this was a buck I wanted to target.

For the first time in years, I had multiple bucks that produced incredible racks. Some were of age to target and some were still a year shy, but The Great 8 was at the top of the list. We had a terribly dry summer in Ohio, and by September we were considered in an “extreme drought” that took a major toll on the deer. Movement was sporadic, deer sightings diminished and people began to find a lot of bucks dead due to EHD. By the end of September, there was literally no water anywhere in my hunting areas. It was the worst I’d ever seen. Many of the bucks I had been watching disappeared, never to be seen again, including one of my top target bucks I called “Rib Cage.” He and The Great 8 were my main contenders for the upcoming season.

Bow season began, and I still hadn’t seen any of my target deer. Everything I felt like I knew about chasing mature deer for early season went out the window. All the usual alfalfa and clover fields I’d hunted in past seasons were dead. Acorns were dropping, but even with multiple cell cameras deployed throughout the woods, I had zero images of my target bucks and relatively few deer sightings overall. I was at a loss for how to even hunt.

Thankfully, on Oct. 6, The Great 8 showed back up after being gone for a month. I was relieved to know at least one of my target deer had survived. I still had some hope left for bow season. I tried to put a game plan together, but the buck was unpredictable, and I wasn’t getting any photos of him on acorns or daylight photos. So, I knew he was only passing through my areas periodically. I elected not to hang any stands until I could get more intel and daylight photos of the buck.

The local hunting pressure was extremely high, and the one property where I had permission was shared with another bowhunter. I figured the key to killing The Great 8 would be to let hunters on neighboring properties ramp up the pressure while I lay low until a really good chance of encountering the buck during daylight.

A Lucky Change

Finally, the second-to-last week of October, I began to get photos of The Great 8 on the property. The section I could hunt was extremely thick and tricky to access due to the amount of bedding cover, but I knew this is where bucks would be spending more of their time as the rut approached. I went in that week and hung a stand at midday, figuring The Great 8 would soon show himself in daylight. Thankfully, since this location was covered in thick brush and small saplings, I had plenty of cover to slip in and out without being detected, even though the deer bedded close.

Just as I thought, The Great 8 finally daylighted on Oct. 22 and 26, but I had to wait for a northwest wind to hunt. I knew I was running out of time and had to make a move soon before all the neighbors showed up to hunt the first week of November. Once again, the buck disappeared for a few days and then showed back up right after dark on Oct. 31. This was going to be my chance to kill him, as the wind for the following day was going to be out of the northwest.

On the afternoon of Nov. 1, I shot my bow and headed into the stand with high hopes this would be the day. A major cold front moved through the night before, resulting in a 20-degree temperature drop — just what I needed to get bucks moving.

At 5:42 p.m., as I was checking cell cams on my phone, there was The Great 8 standing in front of my camera on the property across the field from me. I was in shock, since he hadn’t daylighted on that property since August. Bummed out that he was over there, I knew there was still a good chance he could be cruising and would make his way across the field and over to me.

Around 6 p.m., I had several does make their way out of the bedding area and filter up through the dense brush and out into the small field opening in front of me. They browsed and hung around. Finally, around 6:30 p.m., I heard the sounds of fast-moving hooves moving across the hillside below me, on the other side of the thick brush. I assumed it was the small buck I had seen earlier. I slowly turned around to see, and to my disbelief it was The Great 8!

He let out a couple deep grunts, locked his eyes on the does in front of me and made his way toward the small opening. I still hadn’t grabbed my bow and was trying to do so in slow motion. Thankfully, they were preoccupied with one another, allowing me to handle my bow and pivot into shooting position. Shooting light was fading fast, and I wasn’t sure The Great 8 would clear the brush in time for me to get a clean shot. To make matters worse, the does came back toward me and went under my stand in the dense brush. I knew if he followed, I wouldn’t have a shot opportunity.

Then, a doe fawn went across the small field opening in front of me, and for some reason The Great 8 chose to follow her instead of the mature does that passed below me. As he finally cleared the brush and was quartering away, I drew my bow, settled my pin and drilled him at 21 yards. He bolted and ran up the trail I made to get to my stand and headed towards the field. The brush all around was so thick I couldn’t tell where he had gone or whether he had fallen. I stayed in the stand for several minutes before climbing down to check for blood.

I didn’t see any blood at the site of impact, but I knew the buck had run toward the field. As I slowly and quietly walked up the trail, I saw The Great 8 lying right on the field edge, facing me. It was such a surreal moment. Everything just fell into place as it was meant to be. It was an incredible journey following this buck for three years and being able to celebrate him with family that night. We measured the antlers and came up with a gross score of 1605⁄8 inches, which is incredible for a 9-pointer. The Great 8 is truly a one-of-a-kind whitetail I will never forget!

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