Hunter Shot a Nice Buck, But Went Home With an Antlerless Deer

Taylor County, GA – This story wandered across my Facebook feed recently, and I couldn’t help sharing it with you here. It seems that a Georgia hunter reportedly shot himself a nice buck on January 2, only to find it antlerless when he got to it!

When hunter Mac Cole spotted the deer approaching a food plot, he took notice. When the buck paused at the edge of the plot, Mac knew it was on.

Mac could see good tine length and a big beam, and he took the shot.

The deer didn’t run at the shot, instead falling dead on the spot. Mac couldn’t see the buck, though, so he texted his wife (who was hunting in a nearby stand) that he had shot a buck, and asked her to approach it. That way, Mac could remain alert and ready in case the buck got up and had to be shot again.

When she arrived, she saw a deer lying there–but it had no rack!

‘She thought that I was mistaken and had shot a doe,’ Mac said. ‘When she got closer, she saw the antlers laying just above his head. She was holding them when I got down and walked to her.’

Clearly, the buck’s antlers were just about ready to shed, and when the deer collapsed after being shot, they just fell right off its head.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.