LINCOLN COUNTY, W.Va. — Most hunters know these final 10 to fifteen minutes of sunshine within the day can usually be essentially the most essential moments of a daylong hunt. Nonetheless, once you’ve been within the woods since nicely earlier than dawn and also you’re exhausted, it’s usually simple to surrender. Hunter Luke Humphreys of Twister, W.Va. is glad he didn’t.
“It was the final day of the Mountaineer Heritage Season and after I pulled the set off and regarded down at my watch, there have been seven minutes left of capturing gentle on the final day of the 2024 fall season,” Luke defined on a latest version of West Virginia Outside.
The shot discovered its mark, but it surely wasn’t simply any deer Humphreys had killed, it turned out to be the finale of a protracted and troublesome 4 12 months quest.
The monster buck had first appeared on Luke’s radar 4 years in the past when he confirmed up on his path cameras on the household farm in Lincoln County. It was a relationship which might flourish for 3 extra years and the buck grew increasingly engaging with every passing season. He additionally turned increasingly troublesome to hunt.
“I’ve had loads of historical past with this deer. For 3 years I’ve been making an attempt to take him, but it surely’s been a sport of cat and mouse ever since,” he defined.
Throughout the 2024 archery season, Luke had three encounters with the buck, however every time the sensible outdated critter would take only one too many steps and get out of the capturing lane.
“I used to be at full draw on him 3 times, however I couldn’t cease him. He had that sixth sense, like most huge bucks do, to take yet another step behind the comb,” he stated.
Take heed to “Luke Humphreys — Mountaineer Heritage Buck” on Spreaker.
Throughout the third encounter, the buck left his hind quarters uncovered and Luke admitted there was a shot if he wished to place an arrow by means of the deer’s paunch. He selected to not take the the intestine shot and threat wounding the deer and it dying a sluggish loss of life away from everyone.
“I’ve acquired an excessive amount of respect for these whitetails to take an unethical shot, so I did the precise factor,” stated Humphreys.
Though Luke had saved the invention to himself, he knew nicely his neighbors had been exhausting hunters too and it was exhausting to consider anyone who did any quantity of scouting was unaware of the key buck which was clearly protecting a number of plots of floor. For the previous three years, Humphreys walked 67 miles based on his Onyx map in the hunt for the buck’s shed antlers. He by no means discovered a single one.
So it was the final hours of the final day of Mountaineer Heritage season in January. There was snow on the bottom and the climate was freezing. Luke was considering all he had tried to perform with the buck and figured the scouting for the 2025 season would begin at first gentle. Nonetheless, his considering modified when out of nowhere the massive buck confirmed up and began ambling down a logging street towards Luke’s place.
“I picked him out at 50 to 60 yards. He got here up from under these treetops. He got here proper as much as me and stood on the upside of these timber for a strong minute or two then made his means throughout a few logs and got here up the opposite facet of the ravine and offered me with frontal shot at 20 to 25 yards,” he stated.
Luke rigorously lifted his Grandpa’s sidelock muzzleloader into place and settled the iron sights on the buck’s shoulder.
“He was circled trying away and I let it rock and dropped him in his tracks,” stated Humphreys. “I couldn’t consider it and it was an emotional curler coaster for positive after that.”
The solar had set on a 4 12 months quest simply because the solar was setting on the season within the deep snow on a distant mountain in Lincoln County. It was a stark reminder the hunt is rarely over till the capturing gentle is totally gone.