Hunter: Noah Martin
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Hall
Season: 2016-2017
Hunt Story
There never have been a lot of deer on our small place in Hall County, but this year me and my Grandpa put a lot of work into planting good food plots to try and get deer to stay on the property. The food plots died, but when the temps dropped, I went to scout and found that a buck had left rubs and scrapes all throughout the hardwood bottom on our property. I hunted this bottom in several different places for about a week using my Summit. I hunted about four days without seeing a single deer. Finally, I decided to move my stand to the location where I could see the most. I was on the edge of the hardwood bottom, but I could also see most of the large pasture next to it. Friday morning at about 8 I grunted, and popped the call a little to have the affect of a buck tending a doe. Then at about 8:30 the buck stepped out at about 200 yards in the pasture. I had no trail-cam pics of the deer, but I was pretty sure this was the buck I had been hunting. It never once turned, so all I saw was its left side, and I knew it was a good deer, but I didn't think it would be as big as it was. I tried to get situated to prop on my Summit for a shot, but there were limbs blocking. Afraid that the buck was going to leave, I stood up and took a free hand shot. I shot just under the deer. I bolted another in, and took a second shot, using the first BDC dot on my scope, and the deer jumped like it had been hit. It ran a circle in the pasture, and then eased off into the woods. I felt confident in the shot, but I was still worried. My dad came back there on foot so he wouldn't spook anything. I sent him to where I thought it went in the woods, and I headed to where I shot it. Just before I got to where the deer was standing, I glanced down into the hardwoods and saw a big ol' white belly sticking out. I eased in slowly just in case the deer was still alive, and as I approached it, I saw that its rack was sticking up of the ground higher than its body. That's when the real excitement kicked in. I hollered for my dad, and after we celebrated and thanked the Lord, we drug it to a cool spot and took some good pictures. The deer grossed 124 inches and was 17.5 inches wide. That puts it at my second-best buck ever. This was definitely a hunt I will never forget.
