Haydentown man kills trophy Montana buck on ‘Buckmasters’ hunt
Winning a hunting trip to Montana as well as a new rifle and duds for the hunt was a nice surprise for a Fayette County hunter.
Shooting a trophy white-tailed deer buck and hanging out with an alligator hunting TV personality from Alabama made the trip unforgettable.
“It was a blast,” said Jeremy Smith of Haydentown, who won the “Montana Rifle Hunt Giveaway” from “Buckmasters.”
His five day hunt in Sidney, Mont., in late October was filmed and will be aired on the “Buckmasters” TV show on the Outdoors channel.
“I did good. I shot a 12 point,” Smith said.
“That was the biggest deer I’ve ever seen.”
A husband and father of two, Smith said he killed the buck on the fourth day of the five-day hunt on a ranch in cattle country in eastern Montana near the Yellowstone River.
“It’s all open range. No fences,” he said.
Accompanied by a guide who filmed the hunt, he said he hunted from tree stands in the mornings and evenings.
“I saw a lots of deer. I saw over 200 deer when I was there,” Smith said.
They used trucks or ATVs to travel between the lodge on the ranch and their tree stands
“Buckmasters” paid for his airlines flights to and from North Dakota and gave him a new Savage .308-caliber scoped rifle, ammunition, hunting clothes and boots and a knife. Smith said luggage fees were his only expense.
The guide shuttled him between the airport and the lodge where he met Jacob Landry of the History Channel’s “Swam People” TV series as a part of the trip.
Landry harvested a monster 10-point buck, measuring 149.5 inches that was a little bigger that Smith’s buck, which scored 146.5 inches.
Smith said Landry is easy going and has a familiarity that make him easy to talk with during the breaks between their separate hunts.
“Talking to Jacob was like talking to someone I’ve know long time,” Smith said.
He said Jackie Bushman, “Buckmasters” host and founder, wasn’t on the trip, but Bushman called him to tell him he won the trip.
Smith said he forgot about the contest a while after he entered on Facebook, but was pleasantly surprised when he got the call.
“It was Jackie Bushman saying I won. He called himself. It was a big surprise,” Smith said.
Winning the hunt also won Smith a spot on “Buckmasters” commercial for this year’s Montana hunt giveaway, which he said he entered again.
He said “Buckmasters” will tell him when the show featuring his hunt will be aired.
In the meantime, Smith said he is waiting for a local taxidermist to finish mounting his big Montana buck.
He said the donated the meat from the deer to a program there that provides it to the needy.