Hunter: Jennifer Bishop
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Bartow
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
After an uneventful hunting trip to Cedar Creek WMA on opening day of rifle season, my husband and I set out on an afternoon hunt at our local hunt club in Bartow County. We arrived shortly after 4pm. That's a little later than we usually do afternoon hunts. We hiked to my preferred stand, wished each other "good luck "and I climbed in and got settled. My husband hiked on about three hundred yards further to his hunting blind. After almost three hours of seeing or hearing nothing more than a bird or an occasional squirrel, I settled back in my chair with my rifle across my lap. I could now barely see across the top of the wall of my hunting stand. After looking down at my phone, I noticed some movement from across the top of my stand. Leaning up, I realized I was looking at the tips of a set of antlers. I froze. But the chair or wooden floor of my stand must have made a noise. The buck must have heard something because he looked my way. Thankfully, I had covered my head and long platinum hair with a camouflage head cover/mask. I was also sitting behind camouflage netting. He looked for a few seconds, then he turned back. Next, I raised my Thompson Center 7mm Mag, to prop the barrel on the edge of my stand to steady it. I bumped the wall with the barrel. The deer heard that and looked my way again. A barking dog and someone firing a small caliber handgun in the distance distracted him. He turned his head, so I took my chance to stand up for a better shot. As I turned the safety off of my gun, he looked towards me one last time and turned to leave, unsure about what kept making noises from the stand. As the buck walked up the trail, I waited for my chance. He walked about three yards and turned his body slightly to the left and I took my shot. The deer took two steps and dropped. After a couple of minutes, I descended from my hunting blind to get a photo of my buck before the sun set. As I approached the deer, I was pleasantly surprised to find a ninth point. The tip was at the base of the right antler curving around the base from the back, in a claw-like shape. It measured one and a half inch long. The deer dressed out at approximately 120 pounds. This was my first deer. I have let several walk over the last twenty-eight years that I've been hunting deer with my husband and our three sons. Several small buck and several doe have got to live another day. This buck met all the requirements I had in mind for my first kill.
