Hunter: Ansley Claire Lance
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Putnam
Season: 2022-2023
Hunt Story
My gymnastic girl traded her leotard for some camo Saturday. Took my 9-year-old daughter into a new blind for opening morning. This was a new small food plot my 12-year-old son and I put in earlier in the summer. This was supposed to be his spot and we have had a few bucks coming in there on camera. Of course because of no rain the food plot was mainly dirt, but we have had some corn out and had a hardwood bottom nearby with a lot of acorns. My 12-year-old son decided last minute to go to a friend's house and didn’t want to go opening morning. So his sister got the go ahead and decided to get up and go. It was pretty cold and we got in the blind about 6:45 am while it was still pretty dark. Got her all set up with gun on a tripod in between us. Right at daylight we had a few does come into the corn. As it got daylight they worked their way around to our left and out of sight. About 8:00 we heard some walking in the dry leaves of the hardwood bottom. I looked down there and saw a few big bodies headed our way. I told Ansley to look left and she could see a couple of bucks coming in. Sure enough three bucks came up the hill and into the plot. First one was a small 4-point, second one was a smaller 8 and then the bigger 8 stopped before the plot and never came in. The bucks seemed pretty nervous and walked off into the woods and some does came in from our left. The bigger buck never came in and vanished into the woods without ever giving us a shot. The three does came in the plot and started eating. They hung around for about 20 minutes and then started getting very nervous. We were worried they had scented us and were going to blow. Ansley Claire asked me what was wrong with them? I said just be still hopefully they will come back. A few minutes later we saw some movement and one of the small bucks came back into view. Next the smaller 8 came in again and started to eat at the corn. Ansley Claire said, “Daddy I can see another buck in the woods.” I told her to be still and hopefully he would come in. I finally saw him and he was standing in the woods just looking at us. Soon he started to walk in and slowly came a step at a time looking around after every step. Soon he came into full sight and started to eat at the corn in the plot. I told AC to get the gun on him and get ready for him to turn. He was straight on and head down. She said she could see him in the scope. I told her to wait until he turned. As soon as he turned and was broadside, I reached over and pushed the safety off and told her to “shoot him!” She said she was shaking and I said take a breath and squeeze the trigger. She said ok and shot! Bang! The deer dropped. She dropped him in his tracks! I pulled out my phone and recorded her and all her excitement. She was so excited and said, “I’m shaking!” The best part of the story was as soon as she shot, her older brother called me. He said “Did she drop that deer? I saw it go down on the camera!” He was watching on the cell camera as the deer were there and saw it all go down. Surprisingly he was more excited than she was! It was a great day and one we won’t forget as a family anytime soon! Proud of my girl!
