Hunter: Frank Vaughn
Points: 12 (4L, 8R)
County: Fulton
Season: 2016-2017
Hunt Story
The landowner of the property I was hunting on called to tell me that he had seen a nice-sized buck the week before the opening season. I was unable to get a picture of him on my game camera, so I put my faith on what he told me. I hunted all day Saturday, but I never saw a trace of him. I went back all day Sunday and got winded twice, but never saw a single deer. Feeling discouraged, I spoke to the landowner Sunday evening and he reassured me that he keeps seeing a large buck. On Monday, I decided to put my bow on my work truck just in case a weather front came in. Around 5 p.m., it got cloudy and started to storm. I called my wife and let her know I’d be late getting home because a storm was coming through. Around 6 p.m., I got set in my stand. By 7:30, I had already seen 11 deer, but not a single buck. A few minutes later, a deer came running toward me. I saw a lot of horns, but I wasn’t sure if he was a shooter. I used a grunt call, and he came closer to my tree. I could only see one side of his rack. It appeared to be a nice, tall rack. I made the 25-yard shot. He turned back and ran back over the hill where he originally came from. It looked like I hit him a little high, so I got out of the stand to search for any traces of blood. I wasn’t sure if I had a good hit, so I decided I would come back in the morning to track him. My friend and I arrived back the next morning at 6 a.m. to look for him. It was still dark outside. We found lots of traces of blood. He had only gone about 80 yards over the hill. We had him out the woods and to the cooler by daylight. He had an unusual rack, but he wasn’t a big deer. He’s still a deer to be proud of.
