2009 8 Pt. Buck by Jessica Heeg

I’ve been shooting archery since I was eight years old. My passion is competitive shooting including indoor and outdoor tournaments, but going hunting in the fall with my dad is something I always look forward to. Over the past years I’ve shot a few does and passed up several small bucks. I’ve always believed in the concept of letting them go so they can grow into large bucks. Since my dad has several deer cams in the woods, we knew there were some trophy bucks out there and it would be worth the wait.

On Sunday October 11th, my dad and I woke up at 4:30am, a small sacrifice for a good hunt if we were lucky! When we got to the woods we put on our hunting gear and set out for the long walk to our stands. It was still dark out at this time and cold. Luckily the day before my dad bought me a set of Justin Charles Exposition Thermals to stay warm. After what seemed like miles walking, we finally reached my tree-stand. My stand is in a huge white pine, it was a sticky mess climbing up the climbing stick, but it’s a lot easier than using the branches. As I climbed up my stand a huge owl busted out of the tree right by my stand, I think it even startled dad, and scared the heck out of me! Once I got settled in and cleared all the owls out, Dad headed off to his stand a couple hundred yards away, and I was ready for the hunt.

As the sun began to rise and the birds started to chirp, the anticipation and excitement was building with hopes of seeing a nice buck. Around seven o’clock, a doe and two fawns came out of the woods and onto my trail. Their careful footsteps made quiet crunches on the frosty leaves. The doe was a nice size and gave me plenty of opportunities to shoot, but I had a feeling this would be the morning that a buck would cross my path. As the doe and her fawns went off into the nearby field I kept my bow lying across my lap. It was so cold out that morning that I didn’t want to move! However, around 7:30 I had a feeling I should stand up and get ready for a buck if he were to come my way. Luckily, a few minutes later I looked to my right and coming down the path was a nice size buck! I knew that if he was coming down the path in front of me, I would need to be ready and drawn back in order to get a shot at him. When the buck was a few yards away from the shooting lane, I carefully pulled back, despite the nerves of seeing the huge buck in front of me and how close it was underneath the stand. But just as he was walking by, he turned to face the stand and walked right up to the tree! At this point I had to let down because it was too tiring to hold that long. I knew this would be a risk because he might hear me, or I wouldn’t have any time to get another chance of drawing back when he turns around. It was then when I looked down at the rack and saw how wide he was, I knew he was going down! When I regained some energy and strength I pulled back again, aimed at the shooting lane and waited for him to cross. It was now 7:45 and just as I anticipated, he slowly walked right into the lane; I squeezed the trigger on my release and smack! He took off running! I knew I had a good shot on him because after he took off running, a few seconds later I heard the crash in the woods, he was down! I was so excited I got my buck!

I just about ran down my stand and went to go get dad to share the news. When we first started to track the buck we found a good amount of blood to lead us to the deer. After 35-40 yards of tracking we found him and I couldn’t have been more excited! I ended up double-lunging him and clipping the heart. After I helped Dad clean and dress him, we got the quad to haul the buck out, and met mom to take some nice pictures. Overall it was a great experience for me. I enjoyed spending this hunting season with my dad. I was glad that all the practice shots using our shooting platform on the roof, and sitting in the stand in the cold, paid off. I encourage hunters to be patient and let the small guys go, because you never know when the monster will come strolling through your shooting lane.

Little Bow Peep

Aka – Jessica Heeg