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On Saturday, October 27, 2007, I was honored when a friend called to ask
if I would care to hunt that evening on a tract of his Meriwether County,
Georgia land. Being a woman hunter, it was somewhat of an "acceptance"
invitation into the mostly male participating sport.
I was told to bring my digital camera as I would most likely be taking a
lot of pictures of wildlife since the rules were stringent on the criteria
for shooting deer; 12 points or better, larger than a 200 lb. buck
previously shot by the land owner and of course.....no does! So, I
proceeded to climb the ladder into the very well equipped tower stand and
settled in for the "photo" shoot.
Being prepared, I loaded my rifle, made sure the safety was on (of
course), leaned it against one wall of the stand and clicked my camera
on. I sat for only a brief time, when out walked a 10 point buck. He
wasn't very large in weight, but he had a very nice rack. Even though it
near killed me to let him go by, I snapped the camera to prove that I
could exert "self control" and play by the rules. Shortly thereafter, I
enjoyed the playing of a doe and small button buck and then became
engrossed with a 6 point buck who seemed to enjoy being photographed.
While this buck entertained me with his nibbling of leaves, eating the
ground fare and proud stance, I reached to adjust my seat to keep him in
camera site. When I looked up from pulling my seat forward, there he
stood; the largest buck I had ever seen. I blinked five or six times to
make sure my eyes were right, gently placed the camera down (somewhere),
picked up my rifle, reversed the safety, aimed, said a prayer (smile) and
fired. As you can see from the photos, my "first buck" didn't meet the 12
point minimum, but definitely met the weight requirement. At 219 lbs.,
this eight point buck kept me from suffering any "wrath" from the hunting
club members.
Of course, no "first" buck story would be complete without some humor.
After I shot this deer, I immediately called my "host" to tell him of my
success. With a racing heart, dry mouth and shaking hands, I dialed his
cell phone only to hear him whisper, "I can't talk right now". "I am
watching two bucks spar, so I'll call you back." WHAT???? Well, I then
called two others and after hearing, "Sure....I know you're kidding" or "I
can't help you because I am out of town", I waited for someone to call me
back as the sun began to set. Finally, my host called back and hearing
the stress in my voice, he declared that he thought I was joking when I
called earlier. At that point, he called a geographically closer hunting
club member who came to my rescue. Others soon arrived to help load my
"big boy" in the truck and congratulate me on my success. Still after one
week, I continue to wear the grin you see in the photos.
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