Hunter: Hadleigh Hulsey
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Elbert
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
We were hunting a food plot in the middle of a stand of 15-year-old planted pines. We knew several nice bucks had been using the plot each afternoon from a trail cam on the edge of the plot. The week before, a nice buck stepped out and worked a scrape on the edge of the field, but it was a little too dark for a shot. The afternoon of the 20th was the next chance we had to get to Elbert County. Several does were already in the field when we arrived at 3 p.m. We used a coyote howl to clear the field so that we could get to the stand undetected. About 4:30 p.m. several does started working their way back into the field. About 5:15 p.m. the does got nervous and kept watching the edge of the field. After a few minutes, we saw a nice buck chasing a small doe back in the pines. Eventually the buck came into the field and started feeding about 150 yards from the box stand we were sitting in. Suddenly, all the does started walking out of the far end of the field. Hadleigh immediately got her gun ready. When the buck turned to follow the does, I grunted pretty loud to get the buck's attention. He stopped and turned for a perfect quartering-away shot. Hadleigh got steady and made a perfect shot right behind the buck's left shoulder. As he exited the field, it was obvious that he wasn't going far. We waited about 20 minutes and headed out to recover her buck. The buck had only made it about 40 yards past the edge of the field. Once we settled down a little and started looking at the buck closer, we noticed that his left eye had been recently poked out, most likely while fighting. Hadleigh told me she wanted the taxidermist to mount the buck without his left eyeball, since that was how he was when she shot him. She plans to hang him in her bedroom next to the 8-point she killed 2 years ago. It was an amazing evening spent in the woods with my oldest daughter and oldest son.
