Chris Ellis' Buck
By Rob Chillinsky - Appalachian Whitetails Field Team
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As hunters we all have one common factor among us, the dream of harvesting a mature giant whitetail buck. For most of us, this dream is what drives us to the countless hours of scouting, endless days and nights in the field, empty wallets, and the motivation to keep us going back to our stand season after season. Even though the odds of harvesting one of these magnificent whitetails is up there with hitting the lottery, patience and perseverance can overcome these odds and bring you home with a buck of a lifetime. Chris Ellis, a dedicated archery hunter from Irwin Pa, put the odds in his favor this year and harvested an absolute monster buck that all hunters dream about.
The story of Chris’s buck all comes down to endless hours of scouting and spotting to locate some mature bucks for himself and his crew of hunting buddies to target this season. Chris knows as well as any seasoned hunter that mature bucks very rarely just fall into your lap and in order to harvest one, you have to know where they are located. The piece of property that Chris put his attention to was small, but offered the perfect ambush spot for some big whitetails. The property was a text book perfect funnel in between some heavily hunted property that Chris and his buddies were seeing good deer on. After some careful stand set ups and very encouraging trail camera pictures, the rut couldn’t come fast enough to get into the property!
The date was November the 3rd, and with the rut almost at full swing, Chris entered the woods with high expectations of seeing some large racked bucks cruising through the funnel scent checking for doe. Chris’s stand was set up in a position where he could hunt and see through most of the funnel with the wind blowing into the funnel so cruising bucks could catch wind of his buck territorial scent spread around his tree stand. Chris arrived at his stand around 2:30pm, sprayed down with scent killer, and applied his Apparition Scents “Dead Red” around his tree stand to finish his preparation for the hunt. After settling into his stand, with the stage set, Chris was anxious for what was to come, and he didn’t have to wait long!
At 3:00pm Chris caught first movement of the evening, a doe trotting straight towards his position. Shortly after, which we all know happens this time of year; a very large buck was nose to the ground chasing the doe! Both the buck and doe kept working his direction until they caught wind of the “Dead Red” scent that was applied around his stand. Both deer stopped around twenty yards, but were not offering Chris a chance to get his bow at full draw yet. Seconds felt like hours while Chris was staring at this giant buck below him while waiting for the opportunity to get an arrow flying in his direction. In the middle of this intense moment, a neighboring property fired up a log splitter catching both the buck and doe’s attention. With little time for error, Chris got his bow to full draw and his twenty yard pin settled onto the buck’s vitals. The arrow flew true and straight to where he was aiming; the buck hunched up, kicked his back legs, and ran a mere 30 yards before crashing down into a nearby creek. Knowing the hit was good, and seeing the buck crash close by, Chris knew he didn’t have to wait long to retrieve his trophy, but using his better judgment, backed out, called a couple buddies, and waited it out.
After a short wait, they entered back into the woods to retrieve the trophy. As predicted, the buck was down right where he saw him crash down towards the creek. Walking up to the animal, Chris finally realized what he accomplished. All the patience, scouting, and perseverance had finally paid off with an absolute giant whitetail and he couldn’t have been happier.
Chris truly took a buck of a lifetime that all hunters could only dream about harvesting. The buck is a true monster, and a testimony of how dedicated scouting and patience can make harvesting a buck like this a reality. Chris is very excited to tell everyone his story of his trophy, but most of all, is happy that his friends and family were all there to experience and celebrate this moment with him.
