Justin Rood, belly-crawled in a hayfield to get within crossbow range of this record book 8-point buck on an 80 degree, bug filled evening! But it was worth the effort!
Justin Rood had a goal to harvest a whitetail buck scoring 150 inches or bigger in his hunting career. In 2024, Justin had spotted a really big buck on camera on the 35 acres of land he hunts in Montcalm County. About 25 acres of this property is a hay field.
On October 26, 2024, while at a Michigan-Michigan State watch party, Justin’s phone signaled him, indicating he had a picture from a trail camera. He looked at the picture and said,” Oh my God,” and dropped his phone.
It was 5:23 p.m., and for a moment, he considered driving 1 hour to his property. However, knowing it was impractical, he stayed, but in his mind, he planned upcoming hunts to harvest this big buck. Unfortunately, he never saw the buck again in 2024. The picture showed the buck with split brow ties and a lot of mass. Just a big Michigan whitetail buck.
It was not until September 3, 2025, that Justin saw his big buck on camera again, traveling with another buck. Over the Labor Day weekend, Justin, while on an ATV, saw a bunch of deer in the back of the hay field, and one was much bigger than all of the others at 500 yards. He was pretty sure it was the same buck. Later, his hunting friend was spotting the same buck about every third evening in the back of the same field. Justin was very excited and was optimistic about the upcoming archery season. The buck was just a brute, a mainframe 8-point.
Justin had always hunted with a compound bow, but because of a muscle tear in his shoulder, he had borrowed a crossbow from his friend. Justin’s first day on the stand was October 3. It was 85 degrees, and he thought long and hard about whether he should hunt. After he talked to his hunting friend, he decided to go for it. Probably the best hunting decision of his career.
The morning hunt was unsuccessful; he moved to another location and, around 7 p.m., decided to get down. The bugs and heat were too much. Justin said, “As you work your way toward the hay field, you have an incline before you can see into the field. So, you can actually peek into the field without being seen by deer.”
He snuck up to look and see what was in the field, and as he got closer, he saw a buck that was either an 8- or 10-point at about 50 yards. He felt comfortable shooting up to 60 yards, and he was ready to shoot when he saw some movement and looked out further into the field and saw the big buck.
Justin ranged him at 100 yards. The hay was about 18 inches high and Justin decided to crawl toward the buck, hoping the buck would not detect him. After about 25 yards into the field, Justin was able to range the buck; he was now at 70 yards. At that moment, the buck made eye contact with Justin and just looked straight at him, staring at him for a few moments, and then started walking toward Justin. The buck walked about another 10 yards closer. A car traveling down the road stopped, and the buck turned and looked at it. Taking its focus off Justin, which allowed Justin to range the buck, and it was now at 60 yards.
Justin took advantage of the situation, aimed, and released his bolt. Justin thought he had hit the buck back, a gut shot. He watched the buck run off toward the woods with a sick feeling. You can only imagine what Justin was going through at this moment. He sat down for a few moments to gather his thoughts. He called his wife and said it might be a long night, then called his friend, who was not very far away hunting, and he came right over.
They sat there and talked, and his friend said, “Let’s see if we can find blood at the point of the hit.” They found red blood; unfortunately, it appeared to have inards in it. Now Justin was really thinking he had a bad hit on the buck.
They followed the trail, and the blood trail was clearer, and as they looked towards the woods, they could see the trophy buck on the ground. The arrow entered the deer’s neck and passed through it.
As both hunters approached the deer, they realized the buck was much bigger than they had thought. He had a huge body, eight points. The inside spread was 21 5/8 and the outside spread was 24 2/8 with a total official gross score of 159 2/8 inches. Just an unbelievable 8-point Michigan whitetail buck.
They estimated the buck was either 5 ½ or 6 ½ years old. The estimated dressed weight was over 200 pounds.
The record 8-point buck in Michigan scored 180 3/8 and was harvested in 2001, in Jackson County.
Justin told me it was very difficult for the two of them to load it into the back of his truck. He said the antlers made the body look smaller and the pictures do not do the deer justice.
While talking to Justin, I could tell he was very humbled by the entire experience and so grateful to have harvested a true Michigan trophy whitetail buck.
The author is Jeff Pendergraff, a retired Captain from the Law Enforcement Division of the MDNR.
