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Right smack dab in the middle of the state of Virginia comes a uniquely racked buck that is likely to make the B&C all time record book.
Anthony “Zeke” Moss of Buckingham County is an avid outdoorsman, whether it’s deer hunting, elk hunting out west or bass fishing on the Virginia waterways. During the fall months Zeke focuses on deer hunting and his efforts are usually tuned in on bigger mature Bucks.
Zeke has a friend named Nanny Mae who is a 93 years young who owns 8 acres in neighboring Nelson County. He helps her maintain some of her fields by bush hogging them and in turn she allows him to hunt her land. Some might say that 8 acres isn’t a reasonable amount of land to really hunt, but in 2016 some local folks reported seeing a great buck traveling in and out of Nanny Mae's property. She also told Zeke about the buck which she named " Buster", she described it as the big one. Zeke decided to hang a trail camera on a used path coming through the property that headed toward a soybean field on neighboring property and he also hunted for the deer often in 2016, but never got pictures or saw the buck.
Going into the 2017 season Zeke decided he wouldn't hunt the property till November when the rut was more likely to persuade the buck to come out of hiding. He again hung a trail camera before the season and checked it in October in hopes of capturing a picture of the mythical animal. Although Zeke’s wife Crystal doesn’t hunt she enjoys the outdoors and really likes looking through the trail cam pictures and she rode along with Zeke to grab the SD card from the camera in mid October. As she started going through the pictures she was only seeing does and small bucks, as she was nearing the final picture all of the sudden there was Buster. Although only one picture on the whole card had the buck in it, hope was quickly restored.
Zeke was as eager as ever to hunt this buck, but he knew his plan to hunt him in November was the right thing to do. So like a kid anticipating Christmas Zeke held off till November 8th, which was an overcast rainy day with an advantageous wind. He thought the deer may move a bit early that day due to the conditions, so by 2pm he had climbed the limbs of the cedar tree that his King Kong lock on stand was in and he settled in for what he hoped to be the big night!
Before long a few does appeared in the bean field, and a few more does made they’re way by his stand heading toward the food source. Even with a steady rain falling, Zeke was feeling good about the situation. Time was moving on and as 4:30pm approached a few of the does in the area started acting a bit different and one in particular seemed very uneasy.
Zeke kept his attention to the area behind the does and out of nowhere comes another doe followed by Buster!
At first take Zeke thought the deer may be an elk or red stag with it’s very unique head gear. And although this hunter has harvested some very nice Virginia deer, this buck took “buck fever” to a new level. The doe that Buster was trailing hung up for a while mingling through the woods just beyond range, which only heightened Zekes anxiety. After about 20 minutes the doe began to head in Zekes direction and he prepared himself. The buck was moving steadily now and when he got about 40 yards away Zeke used his mouth to grunt at the buck which froze the Nelson County monster just long enough for him to fire his CVA Accura muzzleloader. Given the wet and dark conditions the smoke from the gun completely blocked Zekes view of the shot, but he could hear the buck running and then crash and then he could hear a gurgling sound coming from that direction so he felt pretty good about the shot placement. He placed a quick phone call to his father in law to report the news and ask for some advice, and he encouraged Zeke to give the buck a good hour.
Darkness fell around him, but he could still hear the buck gurgle periodically so he continued to sit in his treestand until he didn’t hear it anymore. It was now just after 6pm and the rain was coming down harder, so he decided to climb down and hopefully locate his buck nearby. Due to the rain he couldn’t locate blood in the spot he believed he hit the buck,so he used his flashlight to grid the area a bit. After moving through the dark woods about 30 yards he jumped the buck up and it ran. Now his anxiety was through the roof, and Zeke decided to retreat and come back tomorrow so he marked the area he last saw the buck and backed out and returned home.
As any of us can imagine this hunter couldn’t find a way to get much sleep. Zeke even googled “gurgling” as it pertains to Deer in order to put a plan together for the next morning.
As light came Zeke was ready to head toward the property where he hoped his great buck would be found, and his two sons, Mason & Chase begged to be part of the search party and not attend school. Since his sons knew of this bucks existence and their excitement couldn’t be contained, Zeke said yes. Also good friend John Branch joined the party and off they went.
When they arrived at the property they went directly to where Zeke had last jumped the buck and they spread out and started searching. It rained all night so there was absolutely no blood to follow and with the James River being only 300 yards away they all hoped to find the buck close by. They weren’t too far into the search when Mason hollered through the woods at the top of his lungs “here he is”.
The party quickly gathered around the beast and all were stunned & amazed at how unique and big it’s antlers were, and the high fives began. When they finally got the big buck out of the woods Nanny Mae met them and said "yep that's the big one".
For me I can recall seeing the picture of the buck when Zeke sent it to me to post on Star City Whitetail FB page and thinking in all the thousands of deer pictures I have seen over the years this bucks rack definitely stuck out!
Zeke is having a full body mount done of his buck by taxidermist Todd Rapalee. Todd looked at the bucks teeth and believes him to only be 4.5 years old. If that’s the case it’s fun to imagine what this buck may have looked like with a couple more years under his belt. I’m with Zeke, the hammer would be dropped if I saw him regardless of age.
This buck has 19 score able points and a 29 1/4 “ spread with both bases of his antlers measuring just short of 7". We all look forward to its official score over the next few months.
Zeke will have this full body mount at the Big Game shows for all to see given that the taxidermy work is complete.
Congratulations Zeke on a Virginia Buck for alltime!
**Official B&C score 182**
Jeff Phillips
11/24/17
Right smack dab in the middle of the state of Virginia comes a uniquely racked buck that is likely to make the B&C all time record book.
Anthony “Zeke” Moss of Buckingham County is an avid outdoorsman, whether it’s deer hunting, elk hunting out west or bass fishing on the Virginia waterways. During the fall months Zeke focuses on deer hunting and his efforts are usually tuned in on bigger mature Bucks.
Zeke has a friend named Nanny Mae who is a 93 years young who owns 8 acres in neighboring Nelson County. He helps her maintain some of her fields by bush hogging them and in turn she allows him to hunt her land. Some might say that 8 acres isn’t a reasonable amount of land to really hunt, but in 2016 some local folks reported seeing a great buck traveling in and out of Nanny Mae's property. She also told Zeke about the buck which she named " Buster", she described it as the big one. Zeke decided to hang a trail camera on a used path coming through the property that headed toward a soybean field on neighboring property and he also hunted for the deer often in 2016, but never got pictures or saw the buck.
Going into the 2017 season Zeke decided he wouldn't hunt the property till November when the rut was more likely to persuade the buck to come out of hiding. He again hung a trail camera before the season and checked it in October in hopes of capturing a picture of the mythical animal. Although Zeke’s wife Crystal doesn’t hunt she enjoys the outdoors and really likes looking through the trail cam pictures and she rode along with Zeke to grab the SD card from the camera in mid October. As she started going through the pictures she was only seeing does and small bucks, as she was nearing the final picture all of the sudden there was Buster. Although only one picture on the whole card had the buck in it, hope was quickly restored.
Zeke was as eager as ever to hunt this buck, but he knew his plan to hunt him in November was the right thing to do. So like a kid anticipating Christmas Zeke held off till November 8th, which was an overcast rainy day with an advantageous wind. He thought the deer may move a bit early that day due to the conditions, so by 2pm he had climbed the limbs of the cedar tree that his King Kong lock on stand was in and he settled in for what he hoped to be the big night!
Before long a few does appeared in the bean field, and a few more does made they’re way by his stand heading toward the food source. Even with a steady rain falling, Zeke was feeling good about the situation. Time was moving on and as 4:30pm approached a few of the does in the area started acting a bit different and one in particular seemed very uneasy.
Zeke kept his attention to the area behind the does and out of nowhere comes another doe followed by Buster!
At first take Zeke thought the deer may be an elk or red stag with it’s very unique head gear. And although this hunter has harvested some very nice Virginia deer, this buck took “buck fever” to a new level. The doe that Buster was trailing hung up for a while mingling through the woods just beyond range, which only heightened Zekes anxiety. After about 20 minutes the doe began to head in Zekes direction and he prepared himself. The buck was moving steadily now and when he got about 40 yards away Zeke used his mouth to grunt at the buck which froze the Nelson County monster just long enough for him to fire his CVA Accura muzzleloader. Given the wet and dark conditions the smoke from the gun completely blocked Zekes view of the shot, but he could hear the buck running and then crash and then he could hear a gurgling sound coming from that direction so he felt pretty good about the shot placement. He placed a quick phone call to his father in law to report the news and ask for some advice, and he encouraged Zeke to give the buck a good hour.
Darkness fell around him, but he could still hear the buck gurgle periodically so he continued to sit in his treestand until he didn’t hear it anymore. It was now just after 6pm and the rain was coming down harder, so he decided to climb down and hopefully locate his buck nearby. Due to the rain he couldn’t locate blood in the spot he believed he hit the buck,so he used his flashlight to grid the area a bit. After moving through the dark woods about 30 yards he jumped the buck up and it ran. Now his anxiety was through the roof, and Zeke decided to retreat and come back tomorrow so he marked the area he last saw the buck and backed out and returned home.
As any of us can imagine this hunter couldn’t find a way to get much sleep. Zeke even googled “gurgling” as it pertains to Deer in order to put a plan together for the next morning.
As light came Zeke was ready to head toward the property where he hoped his great buck would be found, and his two sons, Mason & Chase begged to be part of the search party and not attend school. Since his sons knew of this bucks existence and their excitement couldn’t be contained, Zeke said yes. Also good friend John Branch joined the party and off they went.
When they arrived at the property they went directly to where Zeke had last jumped the buck and they spread out and started searching. It rained all night so there was absolutely no blood to follow and with the James River being only 300 yards away they all hoped to find the buck close by. They weren’t too far into the search when Mason hollered through the woods at the top of his lungs “here he is”.
The party quickly gathered around the beast and all were stunned & amazed at how unique and big it’s antlers were, and the high fives began. When they finally got the big buck out of the woods Nanny Mae met them and said "yep that's the big one".
For me I can recall seeing the picture of the buck when Zeke sent it to me to post on Star City Whitetail FB page and thinking in all the thousands of deer pictures I have seen over the years this bucks rack definitely stuck out!
Zeke is having a full body mount done of his buck by taxidermist Todd Rapalee. Todd looked at the bucks teeth and believes him to only be 4.5 years old. If that’s the case it’s fun to imagine what this buck may have looked like with a couple more years under his belt. I’m with Zeke, the hammer would be dropped if I saw him regardless of age.
This buck has 19 score able points and a 29 1/4 “ spread with both bases of his antlers measuring just short of 7". We all look forward to its official score over the next few months.
Zeke will have this full body mount at the Big Game shows for all to see given that the taxidermy work is complete.
Congratulations Zeke on a Virginia Buck for alltime!
**Official B&C score 182**
Jeff Phillips
11/24/17
Right smack dab in the middle of the state of Virginia comes a uniquely racked buck that is likely to make the B&C all time record book.
Anthony “Zeke” Moss of Buckingham County is an avid outdoorsman, whether it’s deer hunting, elk hunting out west or bass fishing on the Virginia waterways. During the fall months Zeke focuses on deer hunting and his efforts are usually tuned in on bigger mature Bucks.
Zeke has a friend named Nanny Mae who is a 93 years young who owns 8 acres in neighboring Nelson County. He helps her maintain some of her fields by bush hogging them and in turn she allows him to hunt her land. Some might say that 8 acres isn’t a reasonable amount of land to really hunt, but in 2016 some local folks reported seeing a great buck traveling in and out of Nanny Mae's property. She also told Zeke about the buck which she named " Buster", she described it as the big one. Zeke decided to hang a trail camera on a used path coming through the property that headed toward a soybean field on neighboring property and he also hunted for the deer often in 2016, but never got pictures or saw the buck.
Going into the 2017 season Zeke decided he wouldn't hunt the property till November when the rut was more likely to persuade the buck to come out of hiding. He again hung a trail camera before the season and checked it in October in hopes of capturing a picture of the mythical animal. Although Zeke’s wife Crystal doesn’t hunt she enjoys the outdoors and really likes looking through the trail cam pictures and she rode along with Zeke to grab the SD card from the camera in mid October. As she started going through the pictures she was only seeing does and small bucks, as she was nearing the final picture all of the sudden there was Buster. Although only one picture on the whole card had the buck in it, hope was quickly restored.
Zeke was as eager as ever to hunt this buck, but he knew his plan to hunt him in November was the right thing to do. So like a kid anticipating Christmas Zeke held off till November 8th, which was an overcast rainy day with an advantageous wind. He thought the deer may move a bit early that day due to the conditions, so by 2pm he had climbed the limbs of the cedar tree that his King Kong lock on stand was in and he settled in for what he hoped to be the big night!
Before long a few does appeared in the bean field, and a few more does made they’re way by his stand heading toward the food source. Even with a steady rain falling, Zeke was feeling good about the situation. Time was moving on and as 4:30pm approached a few of the does in the area started acting a bit different and one in particular seemed very uneasy.
Zeke kept his attention to the area behind the does and out of nowhere comes another doe followed by Buster!
At first take Zeke thought the deer may be an elk or red stag with it’s very unique head gear. And although this hunter has harvested some very nice Virginia deer, this buck took “buck fever” to a new level. The doe that Buster was trailing hung up for a while mingling through the woods just beyond range, which only heightened Zekes anxiety. After about 20 minutes the doe began to head in Zekes direction and he prepared himself. The buck was moving steadily now and when he got about 40 yards away Zeke used his mouth to grunt at the buck which froze the Nelson County monster just long enough for him to fire his CVA Accura muzzleloader. Given the wet and dark conditions the smoke from the gun completely blocked Zekes view of the shot, but he could hear the buck running and then crash and then he could hear a gurgling sound coming from that direction so he felt pretty good about the shot placement. He placed a quick phone call to his father in law to report the news and ask for some advice, and he encouraged Zeke to give the buck a good hour.
Darkness fell around him, but he could still hear the buck gurgle periodically so he continued to sit in his treestand until he didn’t hear it anymore. It was now just after 6pm and the rain was coming down harder, so he decided to climb down and hopefully locate his buck nearby. Due to the rain he couldn’t locate blood in the spot he believed he hit the buck,so he used his flashlight to grid the area a bit. After moving through the dark woods about 30 yards he jumped the buck up and it ran. Now his anxiety was through the roof, and Zeke decided to retreat and come back tomorrow so he marked the area he last saw the buck and backed out and returned home.
As any of us can imagine this hunter couldn’t find a way to get much sleep. Zeke even googled “gurgling” as it pertains to Deer in order to put a plan together for the next morning.
As light came Zeke was ready to head toward the property where he hoped his great buck would be found, and his two sons, Mason & Chase begged to be part of the search party and not attend school. Since his sons knew of this bucks existence and their excitement couldn’t be contained, Zeke said yes. Also good friend John Branch joined the party and off they went.
When they arrived at the property they went directly to where Zeke had last jumped the buck and they spread out and started searching. It rained all night so there was absolutely no blood to follow and with the James River being only 300 yards away they all hoped to find the buck close by. They weren’t too far into the search when Mason hollered through the woods at the top of his lungs “here he is”.
The party quickly gathered around the beast and all were stunned & amazed at how unique and big it’s antlers were, and the high fives began. When they finally got the big buck out of the woods Nanny Mae met them and said "yep that's the big one".
For me I can recall seeing the picture of the buck when Zeke sent it to me to post on Star City Whitetail FB page and thinking in all the thousands of deer pictures I have seen over the years this bucks rack definitely stuck out!
Zeke is having a full body mount done of his buck by taxidermist Todd Rapalee. Todd looked at the bucks teeth and believes him to only be 4.5 years old. If that’s the case it’s fun to imagine what this buck may have looked like with a couple more years under his belt. I’m with Zeke, the hammer would be dropped if I saw him regardless of age.
This buck has 19 score able points and a 29 1/4 “ spread with both bases of his antlers measuring just short of 7". We all look forward to its official score over the next few months.
Zeke will have this full body mount at the Big Game shows for all to see given that the taxidermy work is complete.
Congratulations Zeke on a Virginia Buck for alltime!
**Official B&C score 182**
Jeff Phillips
11/24/17
