There’s something special about chasing thick-necked bucks during the rut. For the past couple of weeks, that’s what I’ve been doing in my home state of Kentucky and I’ve realized that the rut can be just as tough on hunters as it is for mature bucks.

A couple months of hunting hard have caught up to me, but everything finally fell into place when the top-heavy buck that I’ve been waiting on showed up during a cold and wet hunt this past Wednesday.

After passing on several deer, I began to wonder why the massive-racked 9-pointer had suddenly disappeared. For a little while, I thought that maybe another hunter had already tagged my buck, because the outside hunting pressure had really picked up.

If you've received this photo of an incredible buck with a wicked droptine in your inbox recently, you might just want to hit delete. The photo has been flying around the web with claims that the deer was killed by a car in Pennsylvania.

However, we got in touch with an inside source at PA Fish and Game and found out that the buck was actually killed in 2006 by a hunter named Dan Miller in Kentucky.

At one time or another, all of us have endured a really bad day in the woods when nothing seems to go our way. However, as hunters it’s important to understand that really bad luck can quickly change in the blink of an eye. The trick is to roll with the punches, keep a positive attitude and stay locked to your stand, especially during the rut. This is exactly what my good friend and cameraman Michael Petrey did this past weekend and his perseverance paid off with a really nice 20-point buck.