Dedicated Deer
It all started when Plonkett’s longtime hunting buddy Nathan Johnson checked their trail-camera and found a beautiful long-tined buck not far from his stand. Johnson was instantly fired-up and couldn’t wait to call his friend to tell him about the pictures. Both hunters decided to roll the dice and hit the woods hard on Saturday morning.It had been a long work week and they both were dead tired, but there was no way either hunter was going to miss a chance to have a face to face encounter with the high-racked buck. Johnson split off from Plonkett before daylight and quickly headed toward his stand. Plonkett had no idea that this would be the last time he would ever speak or share time in the woods with his good friend. Tragically, Johnson dozed off while in the stand that morning and fell to his death.Plonkett realized that his friend would not want him to give up on something that had brought both of them so much joy. Plonkett decided to hunt the buck that had made Johnson so excited. It was extremely tough climbing back into his best friend’s stand, but Plonkett wanted to tag the buck in Johnson’s memory.
It’s safe to say that Johnson was smiling down on Plonkett when he finally arrowed the buck toward the end of season. Plonkett dedicated this special whitetail to Johnson and is giving the mount to his wife and children. By no means did this hunt erase the hurt, but it has helped Plonkett and Johnson’s family cope with their loss.
| Species |
Whitetail |
| Location |
Missouri |
| Sportsmen |
Shane |
| Age |
30 |
