CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Jimmy George spends a lot of time during the off season scouting property he has leased in eastern Kanawha County. During the 2024 season he had his eyes on a nice buck which had been frequenting his food plot, but for whatever reason, he never could pick the right time to hunt him. For two yeas, he and the buck played cat and mouse.
“I laid eyes on him a couple of times during bow season. I had him at 25 yards on my food plot, but there were a bunch of turkeys and he wouldn’t come in. That’s as close as he got. He always skirted me the other times he came in. He just always knew something was up,” said George.
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The 2024 season came to an end and the big buck survived. George found one side of his sheds and in 2024 he was a nine point. So when the 2025 season arrived, he became Jimmy’s obsession.
“I finally figured out this year where he was bedding. I had an idea last year, but I figured it out and that’s how I got him. He always showed up in October for the last two years on my food plot. Then by November he’d be back near a stand on top of a ridge and I’d never get another picture of him on the food plot,” he explained.
Figuring out the buck’s pattern was puzzling. Even the rut didn’t seem to change the deer’s set trends. In every picture, he was solitary with no other deer around. He eluded Jimmy and every other hunter for a third season, or so it seemed.
On the final weekend of rifle season, Jimmy was on call at work and was able to get the Sunday to rifle hunt from his shooting house and was going to bow hunt on Monday. He drove to his camp to put fuel for his heater in the shooing house in anticipation of a long sit. Understanding where the buck was bedding, he took an alternative route into the food plot on an old gas road.
“I started walking and got to the first gas well and there were two does standing there. I got within probably 60 yards and I never saw him and he was standing right between them. The does trotted up the hill a little bit and he turned his head and I said, ‘That’s him!!!’ and I started panicking,” Jimmy explained.
The buck slowly rolled over the point, not spooked or panicked, but definitely out of sight. Jimmy started to slowly slip through the woods around the point. He was soon face to face with the buck he’d been watching for two years with no luck. It was the same buck for which he had passed up another 140-inch buck on his food plot several times during the season. The snow and wet leaves made the sneak much easier and although it only took a couple of minutes, to Jimmy laughed it seemed like forever. The shot was lethal, but almost anti-climatic given the circumstances.
“He was probably 50 or 60 yards and he was just eyeballing those does. He would not take his eyes off them. The does saw me, but he never really looked at me, he just knew something was up with those does,” said George.