11/01/2026
TEAM GRO Lifetime member from Massachusetts Rob Cote posted this today and I wish you all had experiences like this. Here are his words, Big F-ing Buck Bob did it again! A true legend of a buck in our eyes, Larry, finally messed up after 6 years of my dad and I hoping and wishing he'd walk by one of us one day. We've never really pursued Larry, he's always been the most elusive and transient buck we've known in our area. We have 6 years of pictures of him (I'll share in a separate post) and have never been able to get a pattern, or figure out where he beds, or get multiple pics of him in the same week. Its always been random pics, over 6 years and 4 square miles and I believe him to be all if 10+ years old based on the pictures, we'll def have him aged. Two years ago he all the sudden showed up in the woods we hunt the most, this being the 3rd year there and I don't think even then, in the area we hunt the most and run the most of our cams combined between me and my dad, we've ever had more than like 8-10 pics over a season, last year we might have got 3-4 pics of him. Two weeks ago, with one tag left I had a hunch where he may be living and I asked a land owner for permission but he denied me access because his wife loves watching the deer (couldn't blame her, I am same) but he did confirm with pictures Larry was living on his property the last two years. Naturally I went into obsession mode with one tag and finally after 6 learning where Larry lives and I started scouting the maps, access, and dipping into what tiny pockets of legal hunting woods I could around this guys property honoring his wishes to stay off his land despite it not being posted. I hunted Larry 7 times in the last two weeks, from the outside looking in I got to watch him within 100yds 4 times, once at 70 where I actually for decently close to killing him this past Tuesday. On Thursday night at 11pm my dad got him on cam 1.6 miles from his home and I knew then, it might be over, he may actually go rut crazed transient Larry again and be impossible to keep tabs on. Yesterday morning was my first morning hunt so I planned to get close to his home again and observe in hopes of watching him go to bed or catch him active that morning and right when I woke up I got a 4am video of him back home, it was on, sort of. I hunted him in the morning and tried a new tree in the afternoon closer to where he was at 4am, but that bu**er between 4am and 6pm left his home again, crossed the road, and walked by my dad .8 miles from his home on his way to another nightly excursion to check the vast landscape for a hot doe. He walked by the wrong guy, head down, slowly cruising at 15yds and Big Buck Bob put a great shot on him. The blood trail was easy to follow, he only went maybe 100yds and we walked up on him too exhausted and too mortally wounded to get up. Big Buck Bob walked up and put a finishing shot on him and the rest was history!! Larry the Legend is finally coming home with the Cote boys into my basement to join all the big bucks we've killed since 2012. Absolute epic animal, he dressed out at 208lbs which we all thought was light for his immense body size. I know you're all thinking that I'm thinking "my dad shot MY buck" and I'll be honest it hurts, but I really only invested heavily in him for 2 weeks and as I say every year, there is no one else I'd rather hunt with, or "lose one of my bucks to" than my best friend, hunting partner, my dad. He puts more stand time in than literally anyone I know, and I couldn't be happy for him and proud of him to have shot his first 200lb buck and biggest buck of his life. Most bucks we find, we can usually get on and figure out, and start building plans around... Larry was our ghost, our elusive legend, the buck we never felt confident we had a chance on, the one that always gets away, until yesterday. Hell yeah Big Buck Bob
