Submitted photoStan Ethredge killed a 36-point buck near Philadelphia recently. Ethredge hunted the buck for 4 years while capturing numerous game camera shots of him.

Stan Ethredge could hardly believe his eyes when the monster buck stepped out early one morning last year. The massive buck was skittish and acting nervously and turned to leave.

“By the time I got my crossbow up he was walking towards the woods and I missed him,” Ethredge said. “I guess I just rushed my shot and though I might have hit a limb with my arrow.”

Ethredge, a Jackson firefighter by trade, had located the monster buck near his home in Neshoba County about four years ago. He searched for blood and found a few drops but his heart sank as he feared the worst, that he’d mortally wounded the buck. The buck disappeared and Ethredge never found him.

“A couple weeks later he showed up on my game camera again In a different spot,” Ethredge said. “I hunted him hard for the rest of the season, but he went nocturnal and I never got another shot and only saw him on random game cam shots.”

“Last summer before I got my first chance at him the buck’s rack started breaking out all over with abnormal points along with a couple of drop tines and by October he had stickers coming out too,” said Etheredge.

With the help of game cameras Ethredge was able to keep track of him and he learned that the deer never lost his velvet. This year it came back thicker, and the rack grew larger and much bigger.

“When the bow season opened this fall, I was in my stand opening day and the velvet racked buck suddenly appeared and came right into bow range, but he never gave me a clear shot,” said Ethredge.

Could it be Déjà vu?

“I never saw him again before I went on vacation to Gatlinburg,” Ethredge said. When a friend of his spotted the deer while hunting about a mile away on other property the avid bowhunter worried that it might be over for him.

Turns out the buck was traversing through his neighbor’s properties also and they were hot on the buck’s trail and trying to get a shot at him as well. Needless to say, that lit a fire under Ethredge and he couldn’t wait to get back home and get into the woods.

“When I got back home I checked my game camera as soon as I could, and he’d been in my green field several times in the daylight hours during the week,” Ethredge said. “I couldn’t wait to get back out there.”

Ethredge hurriedly showered in Scent-a-Way soap, put on his camo and sprayed himself in Dead Down Wind scent killer and clipped a pine scented wafer on his backpack.

No man knows when destiny whispers, but Ethredge was soon to find out.

“I’d only been in the stand a short time when I spotted movement in the woods,” Ethredge said. “A doe walked out, and the buck followed right behind her.”

Adrenalin pulsed through Ethredge’s veins as he centered the crosshairs on the buck and touched the trigger lightly.

Thwack! The arrow slammed into the buck’s vitals and spun him around, and Ethredge’s aim was true this time. The buck was mortally wounded and Ethredge found him a short distance away. The 36-point buck scored 227, 3/8 Inches Buckmasters and weighed in at 190 pounds. Destiny was fulfilled when Ethredge least expected it and a lifetime memory was made in the process.

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comast.net.