It took five years and two months, countless batteries, close to 1,000 miles of scouting, and more trail cameras than you would believe for Patrick Burns to finally kill the whitetail he named “The Electric Buck.”
Burns found the first set of sheds from the buck in September 2016 on public land in his home state of Massachusetts — that’s when the obsession started. “I immediately put cameras all over the area looking for every bit of deer sign and waiting patiently for my first pics of this brute, but it never happened that year,” said Burns.
It wasn’t until 2017 that Burns got the first and only picture of the buck that year. It was a blurry nighttime picture of a buck with a crazy rack that looked like electricity on his head — the inspiration for his name. “I didn’t even realize that it was him until shed season when I found one side, and put two and two together,” said Burns.
After broadening his search in 2019, he started to get consistent pictures, some at the edge of daylight, but the area “The Electric Buck” lived in was vast big woods with plenty of swamps, high ridges and cover for him to hide. Burns used several Spypoint cellular cameras to help him learn the buck’s habits and movements without disturbing or leaving scent in the area. In the off-season, Burns had found only one side of his rack, nudging him closer to locating his core area.
Hunting a mature buck on public land is tough as it is, but in 2019 Burns was thrown a curveball when another hunter posted a picture and location on social media of “The Electric Buck.” An influx of other hunters entered the woods, all trying to bag the buck Burns was after.
2020 was the first year Burns started capturing daylight pictures and video on his Spypoint cameras while the buck was in velvet. He scouted hard year-round, trying to hone in on “Ole Sparky’s” hideout. He found his full set of antlers in February in over 1 foot of snow and ironically shot him not far from where he found the blood from his pedicles. The sheds scored in the mid-180s.
“2021. I knew this was the closest and best chance I had at this legend, and early on I was getting daylight pictures of him in velvet and all through the season. I even had a beautiful picture of him hitting a scrape opening day at 4:45 while I sat 100 yards away in a different tree. We continued to play cat and mouse up until the evening of Nov. 4 when this cat finally got his chance,” said Burns.
On the morning of Nov. 4, Burns went to the same stand that he had been hunting for the past week that was right in the buck’s bedroom. “He was over 100 yards away walking up the ridge through the thicket. All I could see was bushes moving and the occasional glimpse of his rack. As he got further away I decided to grunt to see if he might turn. He stopped in his tracks and paused for 10 minutes. Then finally I started hearing movement again and he was heading straight to me. He stayed in the thick cover the entire time. He eventually gave me the opportunity for a shot and although he was facing me almost straight on, I knew I could make an ethical shot. I owed him that. After the shot he spun and ran for 20 yards and expired,” said Burns.
“I was obsessed. Addicted. Infatuated with this buck for years. I’m still in disbelief. Hard work, dedication, and some amazing hunting friends and mentors made this possible. I appreciate all of you who I’ve shared pictures with and have encouraged me over the years,” said Burns.
