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Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
Many of the members of the small community of Thaxton Virginia were aware of a huge non-typical whitetail buck that roamed their area, and many of those members looked forward to deer season in hopes of having an opportunity to harvest this Virginia buck of a lifetime!
One such member and lifelong resident of the area, Jason Dooley was one of those hunters. Matter of fact in 2017 Jason had the giant buck at 30 yards broadside, and when he touched off his muzzleloader the cap fired but the charge was delayed in firing and he missed the buck. Jason could only sit and watch as the legendary deer of his dreams bounded out of sight. He hurried over to where the buck had stood and to his dismay there was no sign of impact.
With his tail tucked and hopes dashed Jason left the woods and couldn't bring himself to hunt for a full week. The image of the huge buck standing broadside continued to play back in his memory, even at times bringing him to tears.
As the hours turned into days and days into months this failed hunt still haunted him. Many of the locals still spoke of random sightings of the big non-typical and landowners as far away as 3 miles still shared trail cam pictures of him.
In the Spring of 2016 Jason had found the right side of this bucks shed antlers in a field, and a good friend found the other side several miles away. They promised each other that if either were to be able to harvest the buck that they would surrender their half to the successful hunter.
This buck was not only wise, and had managed to avoid all the hunters in the area he also was able to successfully avoid the night snipers with night kill permits on an nearby apple orchard.
As the 2018 season approached at least Jason had a good feeling that the buck was still alive with all the local buzz going around about recent nighttime sightings. Bow and muzzleloader season came and went with no sightings or word on the street of the buck being killed.
On Sunday morning of November 18th Jason sat out for his same treestand that he missed the buck out of just a year earlier. As he approached his stand in the very early morning light he heard a deer bound through a nearby thicket and stop, so he continued the short distance to his stand and settled in.
As day broke he continued to hear noise coming from the thicket, and before long a mature doe stepped out and proceeded tightly to the edge before disappearing back into the brush. Within moments the giant non-typical buck that had played in Jason's memory bank over and over emerged from the thicket on the same path as the doe.
Jason took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and steadied his Mossberg 30/06, and when the buck stopped for a moment Jason gently squeezed the trigger and the buck hit the ground motionless.
The moment, as Jason told me seemed surreal, as a flood of emotions hit him all at once. It was tears of joy this time that took him over and he hollered out through the woods "I got him"!
Jason wasted no time as he sprung from his stand actually missing a few rungs of the ladder on his descent. He said he felt as if he was walking on air as he approached the big non-typical. As he got to where the buck laid and placed his hands around it's massive rack the weight he had carried around for more than a year faded away and pure joy began to set in.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason about this unique hunt, and even though we haven't met yet I can tell that he is a very humble man and he is just beginning to realize what he has accomplished.
**B&C official score 183**
Enjoy the ride brother!
11/22/18
Jeff Phillips
