Browning Defender Wireless Helps Customer Josh Linderman Score Buck of a Lifetime

Browning Trail Cameras customer Josh Linderman had a very successful 2021 bow season in Mid Missouri. Josh states that a large part of his success was due to the new Browning Defender Cellular trail cameras that he deployed to try and get his eyes on a buck named "Medusa" that he has been chasing for a couple years. Josh shares his success story below:

Over the past couple years, I had an idea of what kind of pattern this whitetail had.  It seemed like he always showed back up in the second week of October, and when he did, it was a pretty small kill window before he moved on to rut somewhere else.

On October 9th, I received a picture from my Browning Defender Cell Cam. It was the picture I had been waiting for. The buck my buddies and I had named “Medusa” was back and in shooting light. That was all I needed to know I had to hunt him hard the next 5 days.

Sunday morning I made a tactical plan to go in that evening and see if I could get my eye on him. That evening came and went with no sign of Medusa. I still had hope though, knowing that our first cold front was moving in the next day. Monday came around and I was full of anxiety thinking of the evening that was to come. Carefully planning every move to slip into my stand and have a chance at this once in a lifetime whitetail.

It’s 3:30 and I just got settled into my deer stand, feeling good about my entry point. A couple hours go by as I patiently waited for Medusa to make his last light appearance. At 5:15, I heard a commotion of blue Jays to my left in the thick timber. I scanned the area but with no luck of spotting anything. Ten minutes later, the blue jays were at it again, and I knew there had to be a deer close. I glanced to the my left, and then to my front, nothing. Glanced back to my left and there he was. My heart went wild. There was no mistaking who it was.

37 yards. That was all the further the buck I had lost so much sleep over, strategized for, talked hours about, stood. After five minutes of watching him stand facing me, he made the fatal mistake and turned broadside and that’s when I took my shot. I watched him jump as my arrow punched through his chest and he took off running. The shot wasn’t my best, but I knew it was lethal. I knew I needed to back out and give him time to expire.

I laid in bed that night tossing and turning, anxious to find him in the morning. Praying that I would find him. Finally, daylight came and I met a friend of mine with his blood tracking dog and we headed down to where I last saw him. A hour and a half later, we found him. He didn’t go more than 160 yards and had bedded down and expired.

There was a lot of emotion that went on as I finally got to put my hands on a buck that I had wanted to put my tag on for so many years. I now have memories that will last a lifetime involving my family and friends, who knew how long we had been after that buck.

None of it would have happened if it wasn’t for having my Browning cell cam letting me know real time information of Medusa showing back up.