Young Lady’s Best-Ever Buck Taken With Bow

Carly Patterson Brooks, of Tifton, arrowed this Pope & Young buck from Tift County.

Carly Patterson Brooks, of Tifton, recently arrowed a Pope & Young class buck from Tift County that grossed 150 inches and should land her in the top-5 best-ever bow bucks from the south Georgia county.

Since the passing of her parents in 2014, Carly said her brother, Clint, has stepped in to help when it comes to her deer hunting.

“Clint puts in a lot of the work for me to hunt, putting up stands and getting everything ready,” said Carly.

That work is put into property they both hunt in Worth County, but after learning someone else killed their target buck earlier in the season, Carly and Clint were bummed knowing they didn’t have any other big bucks on their radar.

“My father-in-law farms, and this time of year, he doesn’t have much time to hunt, so he offered up his stand (in Tift County),” said Carly. “I am a creature of habit, so I wasn’t sure about hunting somewhere new.”

Carly’s father-in-law, Michael, had a big buck on camera that was day-lighting every morning for about two weeks. Unfortunately, Carly was only able to hunt in the evenings due to work.

“The evening of Oct. 4, I got off work and hurried to my lock-on stand about 5:45 p.m.,” said Carly, “I was seeing deer every afternoon, but this hunt was slow.”

At 7:15 p.m., she finally heard a deer coming through the hardwoods behind her stand that was overlooking a clearcut.

“As soon as I caught a glimpse of his dark antlers, I knew it was him,” said Carly.

The big buck crept through the trees, and she was finally able to lay eyes on him.

“It was the biggest buck I have ever seen in the stand,” said Carly.

He turned to walk down a firebreak, which gave Carly the perfect opportunity to stand up and get her Elite Ember bow ready to draw back.

“He finally crossed into the clearcut, walking straight toward me at 15 yards,” said Carly, “Luckily, he turned back toward the food plot, quartering toward me and I drew back.”

He gave Carly the perfect shot at 27 yards.

“I saw the fletching still sticking out and was hopeful the Slick Trick broadhead was enough to get it done without passing through,” said Carly. “I was shaking and so scared that it was only by the Grace of God I hit him.”

Carly then called her brother, husband and father-in-law in an absolute panic to share the news. Luckily, they have a family friend, Tyler Goforth, who has a tracking dog.

“After the longest three hours of my life, we all headed out to search,” said Carly, “After about an hour and 450 yards later, we tracked him through a river bottom and found him on the edge of the pond.”

Carly took the brute to Jesse Tillman for processing and to have her trophy mounted. He was rough scored at 150 inches. She is entered in Week 4 of the Truck-Buck Contest.

“I’m still in shock, it was worth all the tears, work and waiting,” said Carly.

Carly Patterson Brooks said her buck grossed 150 inches and should put her in the top-5 best-ever bow bucks from Tift County.

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