Solo Sit, Big 11-Point For Teen, Special Moment For Entire Family

By Chad Bilotti

God is good!

We had pictures of this buck since June, but they were all at night. We stopped feeding the first week of December where we had all the pictures in hopes the buck would move to our back field where we had another feed station.

After checking cameras, this buck did in fact move and was on camera at midnight every night. We had two days of tempts in the 20s, and the buck started moving right before dark. We waited for the right wind, and on the second evening he showed up.

My son Jackson turned 13 in October, and we talked about how he could sit alone once he completed the Hunters Safety course. He was fired up and dedicated many evenings to complete the course. Jackson has hunted with his dad and Pawpaw for the past three seasons (harvesting five deer), and it was determined he was ready to sit alone.

Jackson Bilotti, 13, of Newnan with his Meriwether County 11-pointer taken Dec. 20 at 5:45 p.m. on a 250-acre tract of family hunting land.

With his dad and younger brother James perched 150 yards away, Jackson climbed into our shooting house stand for an evening he will never forget.

Jackson said the only deer I am going to shoot is the big 11-point. (He has already killed a doe and 10-point this season). Right before dark the big 11-point showed himself and the .243 barked!

Our family purchased this land 23 years ago, and it’s the biggest buck we have harvested. But the memory of the entire Bilotti gang of hunters tracking and recovering the buck together was almost surreal.

God has blessed our family in so many ways we just give him the glory to allow us to manage this resource of land, and being with family is something which these boys will not soon forget.

Editor’s Note: As GON members, Jackson Bilotti is entered in both the GON Truck-Buck Contest and the GON Youth Big-Buck Contest. Both contests have weekly winners. The highest-scoring buck each week of the Georgia deer season earns the hunter a spot in the Grand Prize Shoot-Outs that are held each year at the GON Ag-Pro Outdoor Blast.