Hunter: Avrie Elise Nowalk
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Fulton
Season: 2021-2022
Hunt Story
September 23rd a cold front rolled in with high pressure and we knew it would be good hunting. There had been lots of activity going on in our camera. We woke up September 25th morning going to the stand. My dad and I had seen the buck that we named Scar twice that morning and he would not let me shoot it because he had seen bigger deer in there so we let him walk both times. I was so excited to see a deer this big and could not believe my dad made me let him go. Leaving the stand to go grab lunch and take a quick nap at home I told my dad that if we see Scar when we go back to the stand that afternoon he was coming home with us. Later that evening when we had gone back to the stand there was not much activity but a few does and baby bucks, at this point I had started to lose hope. I put my head back to close my eyes for a minute and the second I slowly sat back up I saw Scar and an inbred that I also had my eye on to shoot. My dad started videoing me and asking me which one I wanted to shoot. I said that I told him if we saw Scar again I was bringing him home. Scar was standing at a bad angle where his head was facing me and I couldn't get a good shot on the chest so we watched him eat for what seemed like forever. Crossing my fingers hoping he would turn broadside to get more corn he finally did. Unfortunately, he kept walking and stopping where trees were in my shot. Eventually, he started to try and walk off. I was so scared that he was going to get away. My dad did a quick grunt call with his mouth and Scar stopped where I had a perfect shot and looked up. I fired the crossbow and the arrow went higher than I expected it to go but it was a spine shot that broke his back which cause him to drop in his tracks. Sitting there watching him for a minute he laid his head down. I had thought I killed him but he quickly shot his head up and we realized that the shot was not going to kill him. So I quickly handed my dad the crossbow to re-cock and put a new arrow in. Scar was trying to crawl away with his two front legs and I couldn't get a good shot because he was on the ground until he tried to stand bringing his chest up. I fired the crossbow and missed about 4 feet to the right. Knowing I missed I quickly handed my dad the crossbow to re-cock again and put another arrow in it. At this point I was so nervous because it was our last arrow. Keeping an eye on the deer I saw he was getting further and further away. I got another good angle to shoot. When I fired for the third time I soon realized I missed about 3 feet too high. So with no arrows left I was panicking. We had to think very fast. My dad started crawling down the stand to go find one of the missed arrows to get another shot. As I was still in the stand I was looking for one of the knives for my dad just in case. I looked over and my dad was waving me to come down because he had found an arrow. Not thinking I grabbed the limb saw and started my way down the stand. My dad re-cocked the crossbow and I leaned up against a little tree about 20 yards away. Scar was laying on his side with a perfect shot for me. I got set up and my dad told me to fire. Trying to fire I realized the crossbow was still on safety so I had to quickly take it off and shoot. I shot my fourth arrow with a perfect chest shot. At that moment I knew he was going to die. I looked back at my dad and felt my heart beating out of my chest. I said I told you he was coming home with us.