Cory Johnston and his brother, Chris, take their deer hunting seriously, as do most near their Canadian homes just north of Lake Ontario. So Cory was thrilled after taking a buck that was the talk of the area.
Cory’s post of the 8 1/2-year-old deer the Johnstons have been tracking almost half its life simply started with, “The legend has fallen.” He said finally bringing down “The Big 9” was bittersweet, mixing his sense of pride with knowing the interesting pursuit was over.
“I got it on camera the first time four years ago,” Cory said. “I felt it was a pretty young deer and didn’t really want to kill it. I didn’t shoot it. After that it just kept getting bigger and bigger.
“We’ve hunted it for four years and only ever seen it three times. One time I had him at 80 yards, but I just couldn’t get a real good shot and let him go. This year he walked by at 60 yards, 10 minutes after legal light, and that was that.”
The Johnston brothers are coming off a successful first year on the Bassmaster Elite Series. Both were in the hunt to win several tournaments and vied for the Toyota Angler of the Year title. Cory was at Power-Pole meetings when the Canadian firearm season started, giving Chris a head start, yet Chris was happy the deer stayed in the family.
“It didn’t matter if it was me or him that killed. It was just one of those deer we wanted bad,” Cory said. “It wasn’t a 180-inch deer, but he was just one of those ones that was super special. You’ve put so much time and effort into to figuring out where he is, where he’s going. And we followed him for four years.”
It was somewhat of a miracle the buck even made it to Cory’s stand that morning. It was a hotly pursued deer known to by most in the area. The Johnstons own a decent amount of land and have permission to hunt about 1,000 acres in the region, mostly spread on 100-acre farms. Cory said there’s a lot of agriculture, tree lines, small bush lots and, most concerning, a lot of highways.
“For this deer to get by all the cars, all the hunters, it’s pretty amazing,” he said. “There were a lot of hunters around us, kind of a brown-and-down group. We’ve lost a few good bucks to them in the past handful of years. They get lucky. It is what it is. I know a couple other people had him on cameras. We’ve had him on multiple farms.”
Cory said they learned a lot following The Big 9 over the years, like his constant travel habits. From game cams and talk, they discovered he showed up on farms miles apart, across several highways, in just a few hours.
“It’s incredible how smart these critters actually are,” Cory posted. “My wife can attest to how many hours I have tried to learn this deer’s travel routes and how he moves from place to place. It’s a lot like finding bass in a way.”
On his second day of the hunt, Cory said he got his stand a little earlier than normal because cameras last captured the buck going by there just minutes before legal light.
“This is a spot where I killed my third biggest buck. Exact stand, exact setup, same everything,” he said. “I get set up. I look at my watch, it’s like two minutes to legal shoot, and it had just snowed like 8 inches, so you could see real well. I’m sitting another five or six minutes.
“You can’t hear anything when they’re walking in the snow. I’m in a funnel in between two bedding areas, and I look to my right and it’s just creeping through the hardwoods. Just a little chip shot, 60 yards.”
The Big 9 weighed 235 pounds field-dressed, and Cory believes its antlers will score in the 150-inch range. He said it’s a mainframe 10 and with stickers has 13 or 14 points, depending on how much of a stickler you are.
“I’m positive how old it is,” he said. “For the area we hunt, it’s a big one. The reason I say that is because there’s so many hunters around and the bush lots are so small, everyone kills ‘em. We manage all our stuff and let them go. We won’t shoot a 3 ½-year old deer. There’s a group of us who do that. We’re trying to get that to catch on, but it’s tough.”
For his next act, Cory wants to follow up with a successful sophomore season on the Elites. Cory finished third in two events, and Chris had two runner-up finishes. Cory had a chance to win the AOY on the final day of the season, finishing 8 points shy in third, while Chris, in the top 10 most of the year, fell late in the season to finish 16th. They hope one of them is the first Canadian to win an Elite event or secure an AOY.
“We’re going to try, that’s for sure,” Cory said. “We made some big-time sponsor changes this year. We’re excited to get it going.
“I kind of got a bitter taste in my mouth from last year, with missing out on that AOY. I’m going to be coming hard this year. I want it, and I know Chris wants to beat me just as bad, so he’ll be there I’m sure.”
