MAC
Elliott Smith - Wisconsin - October 7th, 2024
By: Brennen Nading (@nadingbr)
The story of "Mac" began back in 2022 when he was a recognizable 3 year old buck running around on the Wisconsin property that Elliott Smith hunts. After several encounters that season, the guys were excited to see what the future held for that particular deer. The 2023 season rolled around and "Mac" made a good jump from 3 to 4 years old. Elliott made the decision to bet on the deer and give him one more year. Rolling into the 2024 season, at 5.5 years old, "Mac" was finally at the top of the hit list. Several sightings this summer and trail camera photos galore had Elliott pumped for the season to kick off. With dry conditions over the past month, the buck was frequenting a water hole that had been placed in the timber a couple years back. On Monday evening, Elliott slipped into the water hole set with high anticipation. As luck would have it, "Mac" would be the first deer they would see that night. The shot was back, and they knew they needed to slip out and wait until morning to try and recover the deer. After 15 hours, they took up the trail. With very little blood, the guys pressed on. After finding close to 10 different beds with blood in them, they once again backed out. 24 hours after the shot, Elliott brought in a tracking dog. Although the dog didn't take them to the deer, it was able to locate more beds and ultimately gave Ellliott a sense of direction of travel. By the way the dog was acting, the handler figured the buck had been bumped and pushed by coyotes. 2 nights after the shot, Elliott had two different gentlemen show up with thermal drones to try and locate the deer that he was very confident had expired by now. No luck. Down but not out, Elliott refused to give up the search. After logging nearly 10 more miles on foot grid searching, he found the sign he had been waiting for. He noticed 20-30 vultures circling a standing corn field. "Mac" was finally recovered! Looking back, the dog had them within 75 yards of the deer 2 days prior. The thermal drones were likely unsuccessful due to the fact that the deer had been expired for too long and was no longer showing up for the drone pilots. Bow hunting is a game of inches, and these animals are incredibly tough. Although this one didn't end as scripted, it was Elliott's persistence to never give up that led him to wrap his 2024 Wisconsin archery tag on this highly documented buck we know as "Mac".