Developing a plan, putting in the work and having it all come together is the hope of Bassmaster Elite Series anglers for each tournament. Taking that route for deer season, Drew Benton scored the biggest buck of his life.
The 2016 Elite Rookie of the Year from Panama City, Fla., moved to Blakely, Ga., last spring and began managing his property in between tournaments.
“We moved to Early County to a farm last May, right between Lake Seminole and Lake Eufaula. First on my agenda was to try to set up everything to draw deer to it,” Benton said. “I planted about 6 acres of iron clay peas, radishes, turnips and wheat, everything you could think of.”
With son, Cade, 5, by his side most of the time, Benton set out to create food plots to draw in deer.
“We’re surrounded by agriculture,” he said. “We didn’t have a lot of deer on it until all that ag got picked. Once I was the only available food source around, I’ve got a ton of deer now.”
Showing up on Benton’s game cams almost two months ago, “The Majestic” was named quickly after friends saw photos. The buck became No. 1 on Benton’s hit list, but it was elusive.
“I’ve been hunting him hard. He would show up, then disappear, then show up again for a few days, then disappear again,” he said. “I figured where I thought he was bedding. He was spending his nights in the fields I planted. I got a couple pictures of him right at daylight and just after daylight going to an area on our property that’s just a thick, thick bedding area.”
With sponsor Millennium Marine Tree Stands sending him “a pile of stands,” Benton set one up in the area. But with Majestic being here today, gone tomorrow, he actually went to the stand Nov. 30 targeting another buck he captured on game cams.
“I went in on kind of a questionable wind and drug a scent drag in there,” Benton said. “You put a rag on a string, put doe estrus scent on it and just drag it behind you. It covers up your scent and gives them a female scent to follow.”
While the other buck didn’t show, Majestic trailed Benton’s drag and came into view around 8 a.m.
“It was really pretty simple, but I wasn’t expecting it to happen,” he said. “I hadn’t had a picture of him in a while.
“As soon as I saw him, I knew it was him. He had a hurt foot that was pretty swoll up. He wouldn’t put any weight on it. That right shoulder was pretty skinny. I saw that shoulder and knew exactly which one it was.”
One shot later and Benton has his new personal best buck that green scored exactly 160. Majestic sports a 21-inch inside spread, 5 1/4-inch bases and a 7 1/3-inch mass measurement on the palmated side. Benton’s excitement was shared by his family, especially Cade.
“He was in bed and I came up through the house,” Benton said. “I told him to wake up — I had a surprise for him. He came out there in his boots. I wrapped a jacket around him. He was still in his underwear. He said, ‘Oh man, that’s a big ole buck.’ He ran inside and woke up his mom up. He brought her out there to see it.”
Cade is “ate up” with hunting, going out with Benton to the plots and to check cameras. Benton said he’s become comfortable shooting a crossbow and almost took a shot at another deer on the opening of Florida’s season.
“I didn’t want to push him. He wanted me to shoot it,” Benton said. “If the conditions and circumstances were right, I think he would have been alright. The deer kept moving around; it just wasn’t a good situation.”
Cade’s first deer remains for the future, as does more work for Benton on the farm. Among them, he wants to remove some serious underbrush that has deer cutting across his front yard to go between food plots.
“I haven’t got all that done yet,” he said. “You never know what you’ve got whenever you get new property. I’ve leased property all over now, central Georgia, Florida. You never know what you’ve got that first year. I definitely have some potential where I’m at.”
It’s coming together, though, somewhat like his Elite career. Benton scored his first Elite Series win in 2018 and qualified for his third Classic by finishing ninth in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings in 2019. The Elite season begins in less than two months, back at the St. Johns River where Benton started last season with a bang.
“I’m looking forward to this season, but to be honest, I’m kind of been enjoying my time off,” he said. “I think it makes you just get more hungry for it the next year. You can’t just keep doing it and doing it and be successful. I think you get drained and wore out. You’ve got to stop and reset, and I think (hunting) that does it for me.”
It’s been a great break and, like most others, Benton is ready to get back into fishing mode. He had left all the rods on his deck after competing in the AOY Championship on Lake St. Clair, and they were still there when he sold his boat a couple days ago, mostly because hunting and managing the farm has taken all his time.
“That’s kind of my release outside of fishing. I really enjoy taking care of property and managing for deer, and everything that’s involved in it, the work aspect,” he said. “For everything to pay off, that’s pretty cool.”
