Hunter: Jackson Tatum
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Hancock
Season: 2018-2019
Hunt Story
Jackson has been shooting a compound bow since he was 5 years old. His dad and grandfather starting taking him hunting when he was 3 years old. When Jackson was 11 years old, he asked his father and I to take him to an outdoor 3D bow tournament. Jackson used his hunting bow and placed first in his age group. Since then, it has been an obsession. We have been through several competition bows and have traveled to many different states for tournaments. Jackson will usually shoot 2-3 hours a day during competition season. He even has his own range set up at our home. We had trail-cam pictures of this large 8 pointer and Jackson was determined to take him down. The buck was eating from a locust tree every evening- no he wasn't killed eating out of a feeder. On Friday, September 14, 2018, the buck came to the tree but the route he took would have been a 60-70 yard shot. Jackson let him go. Wednesday, September 19, 2018, Jackson got in the stand around 5 p.m. with the outdoor temperature in the high 90s in Hancock County. Around 6 p.m. the buck came out headed to the locust tree. Jackson didn't have time to put the range finder on him but with all his competition shooting, he knew it was approximately 40 yards. He aimed low anticipating the buck ducking the shot (which of course he did duck about 6 inches) and hit both lungs. He heard a crash, but we have always told him to back out and never go look for the deer. We gave the deer 3 hours. Jackson, his dad and our tracking dog went to try and find this buck. Our dog went about a 100 yards from where the buck was standing when shot and there he laid.
