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Josh Neal had eyes on the 15-point buck every day for three straight weeks.
He had the kind of pattern most bowhunters dream about. For 22 days in a row, he laid eyes on this massive buck feeding through his soybean field in Webster County, Kentucky. And if he wasn’t seeing him in person, he was getting trail cam photos on his Tactacam Reveal. Forty-six straight days on camera, to be exact.
He had been scouting this buck since June on a farm that he had hunted plenty of times before.
With so much preparation, Neal wasn’t flying by the seat of his pants. Neal knew his target buck’s habits down to the hour, and with warm early-season temps and steady feeding patterns, he worked out a strategy that kept him from being busted while staying close to the action.
“I had cleared out an area in the beans just big enough for me to sit in, but once I got settled, I realized I’d underestimated the height of the soybeans,” he says. “I started second-guessing if I could get an arrow to the target without hitting the bean tops.”
Neal stayed put, clutching his Bowtech and waiting for an opportunity.
When the 15-point buck stepped into range, Neal was ready. All the sweat equity—watching, scouting, adjusting—led to this one moment.
“Gratitude was the first thing that hit me when I saw him,” Neal says. “I felt relief more than anything after the shot. Just knowing all the hard work hadn’t been spoiled by a bad break or a mistake.”
The arrow flew true, and the big buck didn’t make it far.
On the evening of September 6, the 46 day streak came to an end—in the best way possible.
“I shot him at 6:47 p.m. while sitting on the ground in a fully mature soybean field,” Neal says.
Neal didn’t do it alone. “A lot of friends had followed along with this deer’s story and were just as invested in it as I was,” he says.
As for advice to other hunters trying to kill a deer like this? Neal keeps it simple: “All-year scouting, patience, and creativity. That’s what gets it done.”
