Hunter: James Darden
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Dougherty
Season: 2016-2017
Hunt Story
This is my son's first deer. We sat in a ground blind on the edge of a farm road approximately 30 yards from the edge of a half-acre food plot planted along the Cooleewahee Creek. At 6:15 p.m., a large doe entered the food plot but was very nervous about the presence of our blind. She kept looking at us as she quickly walked across the food plot. She stopped once, facing directly away from us, and James asked me if he could take the shot. I told him, "No, either wait for a perfect broadside shot when she is standing still or let her walk away." He was heartbroken as she left the plot to enter the thick surrounding woods. I reminded him that it was still early and a lot of times bucks follow does. As the words were leaving my mouth, a nice 8-pointer stepped out in the plot on the same trail from which the doe had appeared. James already had his rifle on the shooting sticks with his face on the stock from following the doe across the plot. The buck stepped out into the food plot and froze broadside staring at our blind. James immediately fired a shot that hit the buck in the front shoulder. Upon bullet impact, the buck dropped his head and dashed across the plot and into the thick woods. We waited 30 minutes before we began our search, but wanted to get on the blood trail before dark. The buck ran approximately 35 yards after the shot and died. There was no exit wound and the deer left NO BLOOD TRAIL to follow. We recovered him by simply walking through the thick swamp brush along the same trail he ran on. This buck was killed with a German K98 Mauser rifle from World War 2 that James' great grandfather sporterized into a custom hunting rifle 60 years ago. The handloaded cartridge was also made for this gun by the same great grandfather. James was named after this man, who loved deer hunting all of his life.
