Hunter: Hank Baxter
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Jackson
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
Hank and I woke up at about 600am on Sunday morning 11/17/24 to go hunting. It was a very cold morning, and we had a good feeling the deer were going to be moving. We are lucky enough to live on the property that Hank harvested this deer on, so after a short walk to the stand we were ready. When we got in the stand, we said our prayers as we always do, then we opened our eyes with excitement and anticipation. Just a few minutes later the sun began to come up as we could barely begin to see the deer coming in. We started out just seeing a couple does, about 5 minutes later 3 more came in. With it being the rut, Hank knew to keep his eyes peeled for bucks and that they move in and out quicker than normal. At 705am, we had been in the stand for approximately 30 minutes when this big 8 came into our field of view. It was not completely daylight yet in the woods, but we could see that this buck was a shooter. As expected, he was approaching quickly and was on a mission. Hank raised his 7mm-08, that I had passed down to him just this year, trying to get the deer to stop long enough to take a shot. He tried a deer bleat to get him stop which was unsuccessful, the buck kept moving onward further and further to being out of sight. Hank, breathing heavily at this point, called out one more time with a deer bleat which got the bucks attention this time. Before the buck could take another step Hank pulled the trigger and dropped him in his tracks! He made a perfect shot and said, "Mama, I floored him!" Seeing his excitement and seeing him happy is what makes this mama's heart beat. I couldn't have been prouder of him. A few minutes later as we climbed out of the stand and walked towards the buck, we realized he had more mass than we thought, which made Hank's smile grow even bigger. Hank walked up beside the buck, got down on his knees and folded his hands, thanking the Lord for this amazing opportunity.
