Group axis hunts

Continued from page 4 throughout the evening but were still waiting on their target buck. Feeling the daylight escaping him, Trussell floated the idea of trying a spot-and-stalk approach. Bristow stayed staunch to their original plan, though, as he felt like hanging tight could still pay off.

Then, with the last bit of daylight fading, out walked the axis buck Trussell was waiting for.

“I saw movement in the brush, and started to ask Bristow what it was when I realized it was him,” Trussell recalled. “The axis buck was moving quickly and I didn’t have much time to make a shot. I could feel the tension in the blind building at this point, as my buddies seemed to be as worked up as I was.”

Trussell ended up having to shoot the buck while he was on the move with his 6mm SAUM, but it appeared as if he made a good shot.

“We were pretty positive that the buck had fallen over and expired in the brush we saw him disappear into,” Trussell said. Because the deer ran into fairly thick brush, the group decided to give the buck some time to expire and headed back to camp to gather long sleeves and pants, as well as thermal optics to track it down.

However, it turned out Trussell’s axis had fallen over right where they last saw him go into the brush.

“I actually found him using my thermal optics, and it was an incredible moment to celebrate the harvest, surrounded by my close friends,” Trussell said. “It’s a hunt that I’ll never forget.”

Trussell’s axis buck’s left beam was just shy of 34 inches, and its right beam measured a hair longer than 34.5 inches. The axis was estimated to weigh 250 pounds or more.