Justin Gilmore could hear the 22-point buck long before he spotted it. When the stag finally stepped out of the shadows, Gilmore almost couldn’t believe his eyes.
The Independence man had been hunkered in a stand on his family’s 42 acres in Camden, part of Ray County, since the crack of dawn. He, along with his uncle and cousin, set out opening day of the firearms portion of deer season and were hoping to harvest some deer.
Gilmore donned clothes he set outside days before to lose his human scent, sprayed his boots and watched does and small-point bucks pass through the trees.