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What was supposed to be a short hunt before work has turned into a whirlwind of attention which has left Dustin Nichols of Huddleston Virginia still pinching himself to make sure that this is real and not just a dream.
Dustin works for his family's logging company and had told his father that he would leave the woods at 8 a.m. and head to work. On that Wednesday morning 11/9/16 he decided to go to his favorite spot on the 220 acre Bedford County farm that is owned by his father and grandfather known as the "bottom". The bottom is a 30 acre field that is completely surrounded by woods in all directions and is a great spot for deer to feel comfortable feeding.
As the morning closed in on 8 a.m. Dustin had been watching a group of 6 does feeding and decided he would harvest one of them. He had just begun to raise his Thompson Encore muzzleloader when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A buck with big headgear came bounding out of the woods to join the party. When the big buck got to where the does were they all went different directions and the big buck was also moving around trying to decide which way to go.
Dustin quickly got his scope on the buck and had to lead him a bit because he was moving around. He fired a shot and to his amazement the buck fell right in his tracks. Dustin said "It all happened so fast that I wasn't sure what had just taken place". Once he got to the buck he began to realize just what he had done. Before him on the ground laid the biggest buck he had ever seen, the buck of a lifetime!
Other than a possible sighting several years ago at night, this buck had elluded all hunters and trail camera's.
Dustin wanting to share his excitement first called his father, who with more than 30 years of hunting experience was completely shocked at the bucks size. The next call was to his grandfather who met them at the farm and also agreed that this was the biggest buck he had ever laid eyes on in his 50 year hunting career.
Dustin is an ambitious 23 years of age and shot his first deer when he was 8 years old in third grade. He gives credit to both his father and grandfather for raising him to enjoy the outdoors and hunting, but this story may not have been written if Dustin had not made a recent decision.
See Dustin has another passion which occupies a considerable amount of his spare time and that is "Bull Riding", which he developed a love for as a kid when his father and grandfather would take him to watch bull riding.
Dustin told me that he decided to focus on family and get back to hunting and other things that he had missed while he was traveling around riding bulls.
Dustin Nichols big buck story has spread through his small community of Huddleston Virginia like wildfire and I am quite sure this story will continue to spread across Virginia in the coming years.
* At the VA STATE show in September of 2017 Dustin's buck won the Western Division as well as the overall top Va buck of the competition using the VA scoring system with a score of 246 15/16 *
* This great Bedford County buck scores 203 under the B&C scoring system *
I truly enjoyed my discussion with Dustin, I could tell just how humble and overjoyed he and his family are about his great Virginia buck harvest!
Way to go my friend!
Jeff Phillips
What was supposed to be a short hunt before work has turned into a whirlwind of attention which has left Dustin Nichols of Huddleston Virginia still pinching himself to make sure that this is real and not just a dream.
Dustin works for his family's logging company and had told his father that he would leave the woods at 8 a.m. and head to work. On that Wednesday morning 11/9/16 he decided to go to his favorite spot on the 220 acre Bedford County farm that is owned by his father and grandfather known as the "bottom". The bottom is a 30 acre field that is completely surrounded by woods in all directions and is a great spot for deer to feel comfortable feeding.
As the morning closed in on 8 a.m. Dustin had been watching a group of 6 does feeding and decided he would harvest one of them. He had just begun to raise his Thompson Encore muzzleloader when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A buck with big headgear came bounding out of the woods to join the party. When the big buck got to where the does were they all went different directions and the big buck was also moving around trying to decide which way to go.
Dustin quickly got his scope on the buck and had to lead him a bit because he was moving around. He fired a shot and to his amazement the buck fell right in his tracks. Dustin said "It all happened so fast that I wasn't sure what had just taken place". Once he got to the buck he began to realize just what he had done. Before him on the ground laid the biggest buck he had ever seen, the buck of a lifetime!
Other than a possible sighting several years ago at night, this buck had elluded all hunters and trail camera's.
Dustin wanting to share his excitement first called his father, who with more than 30 years of hunting experience was completely shocked at the bucks size. The next call was to his grandfather who met them at the farm and also agreed that this was the biggest buck he had ever laid eyes on in his 50 year hunting career.
Dustin is an ambitious 23 years of age and shot his first deer when he was 8 years old in third grade. He gives credit to both his father and grandfather for raising him to enjoy the outdoors and hunting, but this story may not have been written if Dustin had not made a recent decision.
See Dustin has another passion which occupies a considerable amount of his spare time and that is "Bull Riding", which he developed a love for as a kid when his father and grandfather would take him to watch bull riding.
Dustin told me that he decided to focus on family and get back to hunting and other things that he had missed while he was traveling around riding bulls.
Dustin Nichols big buck story has spread through his small community of Huddleston Virginia like wildfire and I am quite sure this story will continue to spread across Virginia in the coming years.
* At the VA STATE show in September of 2017 Dustin's buck won the Western Division as well as the overall top Va buck of the competition using the VA scoring system with a score of 246 15/16 *
* This great Bedford County buck scores 203 under the B&C scoring system *
I truly enjoyed my discussion with Dustin, I could tell just how humble and overjoyed he and his family are about his great Virginia buck harvest!
Way to go my friend!
Jeff Phillips
What was supposed to be a short hunt before work has turned into a whirlwind of attention which has left Dustin Nichols of Huddleston Virginia still pinching himself to make sure that this is real and not just a dream.
Dustin works for his family's logging company and had told his father that he would leave the woods at 8 a.m. and head to work. On that Wednesday morning 11/9/16 he decided to go to his favorite spot on the 220 acre Bedford County farm that is owned by his father and grandfather known as the "bottom". The bottom is a 30 acre field that is completely surrounded by woods in all directions and is a great spot for deer to feel comfortable feeding.
As the morning closed in on 8 a.m. Dustin had been watching a group of 6 does feeding and decided he would harvest one of them. He had just begun to raise his Thompson Encore muzzleloader when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A buck with big headgear came bounding out of the woods to join the party. When the big buck got to where the does were they all went different directions and the big buck was also moving around trying to decide which way to go.
Dustin quickly got his scope on the buck and had to lead him a bit because he was moving around. He fired a shot and to his amazement the buck fell right in his tracks. Dustin said "It all happened so fast that I wasn't sure what had just taken place". Once he got to the buck he began to realize just what he had done. Before him on the ground laid the biggest buck he had ever seen, the buck of a lifetime!
Other than a possible sighting several years ago at night, this buck had elluded all hunters and trail camera's.
Dustin wanting to share his excitement first called his father, who with more than 30 years of hunting experience was completely shocked at the bucks size. The next call was to his grandfather who met them at the farm and also agreed that this was the biggest buck he had ever laid eyes on in his 50 year hunting career.
Dustin is an ambitious 23 years of age and shot his first deer when he was 8 years old in third grade. He gives credit to both his father and grandfather for raising him to enjoy the outdoors and hunting, but this story may not have been written if Dustin had not made a recent decision.
See Dustin has another passion which occupies a considerable amount of his spare time and that is "Bull Riding", which he developed a love for as a kid when his father and grandfather would take him to watch bull riding.
Dustin told me that he decided to focus on family and get back to hunting and other things that he had missed while he was traveling around riding bulls.
Dustin Nichols big buck story has spread through his small community of Huddleston Virginia like wildfire and I am quite sure this story will continue to spread across Virginia in the coming years.
* At the VA STATE show in September of 2017 Dustin's buck won the Western Division as well as the overall top Va buck of the competition using the VA scoring system with a score of 246 15/16 *
* This great Bedford County buck scores 203 under the B&C scoring system *
I truly enjoyed my discussion with Dustin, I could tell just how humble and overjoyed he and his family are about his great Virginia buck harvest!
Way to go my friend!
Jeff Phillips
What was supposed to be a short hunt before work has turned into a whirlwind of attention which has left Dustin Nichols of Huddleston Virginia still pinching himself to make sure that this is real and not just a dream.
Dustin works for his family's logging company and had told his father that he would leave the woods at 8 a.m. and head to work. On that Wednesday morning 11/9/16 he decided to go to his favorite spot on the 220 acre Bedford County farm that is owned by his father and grandfather known as the "bottom". The bottom is a 30 acre field that is completely surrounded by woods in all directions and is a great spot for deer to feel comfortable feeding.
As the morning closed in on 8 a.m. Dustin had been watching a group of 6 does feeding and decided he would harvest one of them. He had just begun to raise his Thompson Encore muzzleloader when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A buck with big headgear came bounding out of the woods to join the party. When the big buck got to where the does were they all went different directions and the big buck was also moving around trying to decide which way to go.
Dustin quickly got his scope on the buck and had to lead him a bit because he was moving around. He fired a shot and to his amazement the buck fell right in his tracks. Dustin said "It all happened so fast that I wasn't sure what had just taken place". Once he got to the buck he began to realize just what he had done. Before him on the ground laid the biggest buck he had ever seen, the buck of a lifetime!
Other than a possible sighting several years ago at night, this buck had elluded all hunters and trail camera's.
Dustin wanting to share his excitement first called his father, who with more than 30 years of hunting experience was completely shocked at the bucks size. The next call was to his grandfather who met them at the farm and also agreed that this was the biggest buck he had ever laid eyes on in his 50 year hunting career.
Dustin is an ambitious 23 years of age and shot his first deer when he was 8 years old in third grade. He gives credit to both his father and grandfather for raising him to enjoy the outdoors and hunting, but this story may not have been written if Dustin had not made a recent decision.
See Dustin has another passion which occupies a considerable amount of his spare time and that is "Bull Riding", which he developed a love for as a kid when his father and grandfather would take him to watch bull riding.
Dustin told me that he decided to focus on family and get back to hunting and other things that he had missed while he was traveling around riding bulls.
Dustin Nichols big buck story has spread through his small community of Huddleston Virginia like wildfire and I am quite sure this story will continue to spread across Virginia in the coming years.
* At the VA STATE show in September of 2017 Dustin's buck won the Western Division as well as the overall top Va buck of the competition using the VA scoring system with a score of 246 15/16 *
* This great Bedford County buck scores 203 under the B&C scoring system *
I truly enjoyed my discussion with Dustin, I could tell just how humble and overjoyed he and his family are about his great Virginia buck harvest!
Way to go my friend!
Jeff Phillips
What was supposed to be a short hunt before work has turned into a whirlwind of attention which has left Dustin Nichols of Huddleston Virginia still pinching himself to make sure that this is real and not just a dream.
Dustin works for his family's logging company and had told his father that he would leave the woods at 8 a.m. and head to work. On that Wednesday morning 11/9/16 he decided to go to his favorite spot on the 220 acre Bedford County farm that is owned by his father and grandfather known as the "bottom". The bottom is a 30 acre field that is completely surrounded by woods in all directions and is a great spot for deer to feel comfortable feeding.
As the morning closed in on 8 a.m. Dustin had been watching a group of 6 does feeding and decided he would harvest one of them. He had just begun to raise his Thompson Encore muzzleloader when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A buck with big headgear came bounding out of the woods to join the party. When the big buck got to where the does were they all went different directions and the big buck was also moving around trying to decide which way to go.
Dustin quickly got his scope on the buck and had to lead him a bit because he was moving around. He fired a shot and to his amazement the buck fell right in his tracks. Dustin said "It all happened so fast that I wasn't sure what had just taken place". Once he got to the buck he began to realize just what he had done. Before him on the ground laid the biggest buck he had ever seen, the buck of a lifetime!
Other than a possible sighting several years ago at night, this buck had elluded all hunters and trail camera's.
Dustin wanting to share his excitement first called his father, who with more than 30 years of hunting experience was completely shocked at the bucks size. The next call was to his grandfather who met them at the farm and also agreed that this was the biggest buck he had ever laid eyes on in his 50 year hunting career.
Dustin is an ambitious 23 years of age and shot his first deer when he was 8 years old in third grade. He gives credit to both his father and grandfather for raising him to enjoy the outdoors and hunting, but this story may not have been written if Dustin had not made a recent decision.
See Dustin has another passion which occupies a considerable amount of his spare time and that is "Bull Riding", which he developed a love for as a kid when his father and grandfather would take him to watch bull riding.
Dustin told me that he decided to focus on family and get back to hunting and other things that he had missed while he was traveling around riding bulls.
Dustin Nichols big buck story has spread through his small community of Huddleston Virginia like wildfire and I am quite sure this story will continue to spread across Virginia in the coming years.
* At the VA STATE show in September of 2017 Dustin's buck won the Western Division as well as the overall top Va buck of the competition using the VA scoring system with a score of 246 15/16 *
* This great Bedford County buck scores 203 under the B&C scoring system *
I truly enjoyed my discussion with Dustin, I could tell just how humble and overjoyed he and his family are about his great Virginia buck harvest!
Way to go my friend!
Jeff Phillips
