Broome County Monster

by Steve Mooney
(Johnson City, NY)

And my buddies all thought I was full of it when I first described him.

I first came across this buck two weeks before the 2011 Archery season while I was out Turkey Hunting. I had basically walked up on him bedded down on a pile of bark chip from a section of land that had been cleard the year before. I was only 20yards from him when he first noticed me and as he stood up to get a better look I could hardly believe the size of his rack. We had a bit of a staring match for about 20 seconds and before I could count the points, he had dashed of to the hardwoods about 80 yards away. I gave it a few minutes and followed him to where he had entered the tree line.

After noticing that he had obviously been using this run for quite some time, I went back to my truck and grabbed my game camera. I hung the camera on a tree about 15 yards from where the deer run came out of the wood line and began making phone calls.

All the guys I hunt that property with instantly began laughing when I told them what I had saw, of course they didn't believe me and I had no proof to back my story. About 5 days later I went back and took the camera down, went to my buddies house and plugged it into the computer. After about 50 pictures of doe and other small wildlife, he appeared. we had two pictures that really did no justice and then this one of him walking away. You can really tell how wide and solid he truly was.

Weeks went by and we only saw him 2 or 3 times throughout the whole season and he never present a shot. Good news is that we have seen him a few times this summer and he is growing even more. I'm hoping the next picture of him is him on my wall.