The Pierpont Buck

Steuben County, NY 13-Point

As told by Andrew Pierpont

As a seasoned deer hunter for nearly 35 years, I’ve enjoyed hunting so much that I like to help others get into the sport. I’m privileged to be on a team of instructors at the Dansville Fish and Game Club to teach Hunter Safety courses for twelve plus years. I went from a hunter that had taken plenty of deer, nothing bigger than an 8-point just outside the ears to finally having a chance at my “Buck of a lifetime”. Luck always has a lot to do with it, but wisdom, tenacity, knowledge of the lay of the land, and deer behavior during the rut helped out in this situation too.

The hunting preparation for 2024 started off with more ambition than I had been able to put in the past few years. I was able to cut new trails, mow paths, and set up a ladder stand in a spot that I had been wanting to hunt for a while. We had been seeing pictures on the trail cameras of a large buck, that potentially had 8 points on one side, not so sure about the other. We were really excited to get a better look at him, hopefully really close! One October day, after a good morning in the tree stand with a crossbow, I went home for some breakfast. Then decided to get on the four wheeler, head to the woods to cut a small tree that had recently fallen across a path, add another ground stake or two on a portable blind, and take a slow ride.

As I came around the corner behind my neighbors homes, which was an overgrown field full of pine trees and expired brown golden rod, I was startled by a large buck that had jumped up about 25 feet away in the thicket.

It was him, standing there, just glaring at me. I couldn't believe he was so close, just huge. I was speechless! "Why was he just standing there, why wasn't he running away from this 'human' directly in front of him?", I thought to myself.

I was so awestruck to be so close to this monster buck that I'd only dreamed of, that I completely missed the fact that half way between us was a doe, ready for him for breeding purposes. After fifteen seconds, that seemed much longer, they both jumped away behind me through the neighbors lawn and disappeared into the woods. I was excited to say the least, and shared the experience with anyone who would listen for the next few days.

The alarm went off early Sunday morning, November 17, 2024, the second day of the regular season for deer in New York State. I was ready for another good morning in the woods. After a hot cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal to stick to the ribs, I noticed that dawn was approaching sooner than I anticipated on this crisp, cool, clear morning. I got on the four wheeler and drove out to a spot where I usually park, tucked into the hillside with plenty of downed trees for camouflage.

I walked past a couple of my trail cameras along the logging road and into the ground blind once again. As soon as I got settled in, I saw movement against the Eastern horizon toward the overgrown field. Sure enough; one... two... three... practically a small herd, maybe 7 deer were feeding through the woods while being cautious of danger. That intriguing feeling of the cool patch of fog that rolled through for the next hour or so, with temperatures just above freezing. The wind was in my favor and I was tucked into the perfect spot for the morning hunt.

The smaller bucks would come and go for the next several hours. Then the tall 8-point whose rack is just outside the ears, most likely a 3 1/2 year old and tough to pass up. His rack was symmetrical, high, and I hoped that he would make it through the season.

Eventually, the clock rolls around to 11:00 am. I have to leave the woods to grab a bite to eat, then go to my mom’s church and take her home after the Sunday morning service. All packed up, I slowly walk up the logging road, surprised that the deer have seemingly all moved to another section of the woods. Nothing in sight, nothing moving. Fifteen yards to the corner of the roadway, I stop to pick up some small pine cones that my wife wanted for a craft project. I switched out the SD card in a trail camera, study the nearby ground scrape for a minute, then head toward the four wheeler.

Twenty paces toward the corner of the logging road, "GEEZ! What was that?" A deer had jumped up about thirty feet away, startling the daylights out of me, and was now behind a nearby clump of trees. What was she doing just standing there? I was thinking it may have been a lone, napping button buck, but it was just a mature doe standing there.

She was still just standing there, but why? Oh darn... where is he?? This seemed all too familiar. There has to be a buck in that thicket she bounded from. Where is he? Within thirty feet! Oh man is that thick in there.

As soon as we made eye contact he bolted away, low to the ground, fast as a greyhound into the safety of the thick woods back toward my ground blind. Nothing but rack, followed by a huge body.

It was him! That huge buck, once again, and he's gone, again. Both deer had to have been watching me pick up pine cones and fuss with my camera. I couldn't believe they laid in that thicket and I was so close to them! "Ok, settle down, deep breaths, THAT was exciting, WOW!! What's next? What do I do now? I can't be late to get mom from church, what do I do? What do I do?

As I took a closer look up the hill, I saw the lone doe standing on the sidehill looking toward her ‘Stud’ of a buck. I couldn't see him anywhere, he was probably gone for good. I wouldn't be surprised if he had gone to his daytime hiding spot, and become nocturnal as these big guys usually do by this time of the hunting season.

I sat down on a log just behind me to ponder the last few moments. "Where's that doe? Is she still there? Where's that buck? what do I do? I have to get mom and take her home, can't be late. There is the doe! She's still there staring downhill back toward my blind. Is he coming back for her? Where is he? He was rather dedicated to his cause a few weeks ago and wasn't concerned with my presence then. Where is he?" No buck.

I continued searching the dense woodlot between each tree, literally hundreds of them, for a glimpse of an antler, ear, the slightest movement... nothing. She was still standing there.I needed to be patient and just wait. I've been hunting for 35 years for this moment... waiting... waiting. "There! An antler between the trees way down at the bottom! He was not moving. Was it him or another buck? Come on, move, do something."

It was a couple of minutes between each cautious step as he slowly moved back toward his doe, right to left up the hill. She was just standing there waiting as he moved ever so slowly, not taking his attention off of her. he began moving at a steadier pace toward her. There were plenty of trees and hillside in the background for a safe shot.

It was him. "Wow! Do I get a chance? Is this it? Is this really happening? Don't look at the rack... focus on the situation... focus on the shot. (Buck fever gets me flustered more often than I care to admit)... focus."

There was a decent opening through the trees ahead of him, a few more steps. My Dad had passed down to me, his Winchester lever action 30-30 with a 9X scope. I focused. Safety off, a half of a step ahead of him. Dang it!! He jumped across that opening so fast!! He stopped again, his nose to the wind, listening, but not taking his attention from her. There was a small opening, of what seemed like ten inches, between the trees a half dozen steps ahead. He was on the move again... walking... getting closer. I gripped my shouldered rifle for the shot and focused on the narrow opening between the trees.

"Rack... more rack... head... neck... more neck. Man, he's a tank! I see shoulder... squeeze... BANG!

"White flag tails and deer everywhere, at least five of them. Which way did he go? Did he go down? I don't think so. Which one was him? Where did he go? What happened?"

Everything quieted down quickly, except for my heavy breathing. I was so focused on that buck, I didn’t notice all of the other deer. I saw the two trees that I was shooting between and the thick white pine that laid horizontally just off the ground, he was just on the other side of that. "Location noted, I'll see it subconsciously for weeks. Gotta go get mom, can't be late."

Rethinking every second of the last thirty minutes, I walk in the opposite direction of the deer to get back to the four wheeler. I fish the key from my pants pocket, pull the choke, turn the ignition and she purrs as always. I unload my rifle and secure it to the gun rack. I hop on and turn around to get heading toward home.

It will take a couple of hours to visit with my mom and get her home from church. It won't do any harm to let him lay for a bit. It's still only about 40 degrees, high of 44 today, so that's good. I had made different choices in the past that didn’t work out in my favor.

I texted my nephew and favorite hunting buddy. “Eddie, can you meet me at 2:00 at my house? I shot a big one.” I asked. “I’ll be there.” He replied.

I got home right around two o'clock. Eddie pulled in a few minutes later. I gave him the short story and off we went to the woods on the four wheeler. I agreed with him that we should leave the machine back down the trail a ways, and walk to the spot where I took the shot. The adrenaline was strong! I showed him the spot where the buck was between those two trees and the horizontal pine log just off the ground. I told him there was either a dead buck or a blown apart tree, but I knew better. I was one hundred percent sure of my shot, so we made our way up the hill.

We looked around for a minute and Eddie found a ten inch circle of blood, and we followed a short blood trail. I reminded him how I didn't see which direction the buck had gone, because there were several other deer that I didn't know were so close by as I was so focused on the task at hand. He decided to head toward the thick, patchy, overgrown goldenrod field. I would go toward the downhill slope into the woods to check for signs of the deer. We agreed to give a short whistle, should we need to get each other's attention. We each circled slowly for almost ten minutes when I looked about 35 yards away, behind a big tree, on the ground was a deers rump. Success! Yes! I got him!

Just before I whistled to Eddie, I peeked around the tree near me to view the rest of the deer laying there. "What? Why is he staring at me? Why isn't his head on the ground? Why isn’t he taking off? I was certain of a good shot or I wouldn't have taken it... what the heck? Here was this huge buck with a huge rack a hundred feet away. I knew for certain that it was the same buck, so I shouldered my rifle once again and put the cross hairs on his neck to finish him. The backdrop was thick hard woods into the shallow valley at the top of the ravine. Bang! "Sorry Eddie, I should have whistled, but I didn't want to take the chance of him getting up." Both of our ears were still ringing as we got together and walked toward the now dead deer. We stepped carefully toward the animal. I was just in awe to finally be a few feet from him. I was excitedly speechless, and approached with a tear of joy in my eyes.

WOW!... to say the least. What a huge deer, what a massive body! His neck was swollen, the immense diameter and size of the rack, an older deer indeed, my "Buck of a Lifetime". As we were counting the points, we saw that one had been recently broken off. He was a twelve pointer if you don't count the three stickers and the broken G3 that the taxidermist will rebuild to make him the 13 pointer that he has been most of the season. We have pictures from November 10th where that point was intact. I paused to fill out my tag, and tucked it back into my backpack until we would arrive home where I would be able to zip tie the tag in a baggie to the antler.

We discovered that the initial shot was further back and lower than I thought. It was a livershot. Fatal, but not the shot that I thought it was. Maybe he had started a strong leap as I had my focus on the small space through the scope.

After a few minutes of admiration and pictures sent to family and a few friends, Eddie took hold of the sufficient handles and headed downhill toward the logging road. Over a couple of fallen white pine and across the leaves we got to the corner of the logging road near the steep ravine. This was the spot where we took the majority of the photos, field dressed this massive animal, and confirmed the initial liver shot.

After the deer was loaded, we headed back toward home. What a day! Phone calls, texts and visits with family and friends took up the remainder of the afternoon and evening with plenty of congratulations and firm hand shakes from everyone.

Some researchers believe that a mature buck may travel nearly a 25 mile radius in search of a doe in heat during the rut. While I am certain that we have been seeing this buck for a couple of years on the same cameras in the same locations within a couple of square miles, he did disappear from our cameras for several days to a week here and there. We have a healthy doe population in our immediate area, so I believe that he didn’t need to wander far. I sure am happy that he stayed nearby, and gave me a great experience to share with all of you.

To all of my fellow hunters, wear a fall restraint when hunting off the ground, be sure of your target and what is beyond it. Good luck, be safe, and shoot straight.

New York State Big Buck Club Green Score 155 6/8 by Jeff Fox