Mississippi Hunter Snags Famous GPS-Tracked Buck

A Mississippi hunter shot the most famous deer in the state, closing the story on the well-known buck.

Known as Buck No. 140, the deer had been tagged and tracked since late 2020 with a GPS collar by Mississippi State University and the state Department of Wildlife.

In the spring of 2021, the buck traversed from Mississippi to Louisiana on an 18-mile journey, including swimming for a mile all the way across the Mississippi River.

Buck No. 140 went back to Mississippi in the fall. All told, he made two trips to Louisiana in the spring, then back to Mississippi each fall, while being tracked.

The tracking was part of a project to study chronic wasting disease, a severe and fatal disease affecting deer, elk and moose.

The deer was shot by Trevor Martin, who along with his friend Aaron Graham, won a drawing to hunt in a Wildlife Management Area.

According to Martin:

“We were talking about him on the way up. When you go in the woods you never know what you’ll see, but I never expected that to happen. That’s like winning the lottery. It’s like one in a million.

“I got my binoculars and saw he was a big buck. He was acting like he was headed back into the treeline.

“Five good steps and he would have been back in the treeline. I was like, ‘Oh no, you’re not getting away from me.’ I squeezed off the trigger and let him have it.”

Martin was absolutely shocked when he realized the deer he shot was the famous Buck No. 140.

He is planning to take the deer to a taxidermist to be mounted. It will also be tested by researchers for chronic wasting disease.

The deer was 5.5 years old with an unofficial gross score of 136.

Martin has received many congratulatory wishes about his trophic shot on his Facebook page, although one commenter suggested this was a lab-grown deer. He has also received several negative comments from anti-hunting individuals.