Hunter: Colton Steele
Points: 7 (4L, 3R)
County: Jefferson
Season: 2023-2024
Hunt Story
I have been moving stands trying to spot this deer I named Elk since 2021. He had tall tines compared to the deer we normally see. It was youth weekend and I was excited to get a head start with my dad. Elk had only been seen a few times this year. We had not been able to get our cameras working for a while because my cousin was killed in an accident on 8/27/23 and that was the weekend we were at camp to replace batteries and clean up. We had to leave as soon as we heard the news. We knew we had to get the cameras working before youth weekend so my dad took me out of school on the Friday before opening youth because we had a bye week in football and no practice and I was passing all my classes. That whole week I was waiting on Elk to show on one of our cameras and he only showed up once and it was at a different stand. I hunted the stand we call the Hut and he did not show that Moring, I stayed in the stand until about 1 p.m. and then I was so hungry I asked my Dad to come and get me. I was excited to get back, so I ate and went back to hunting. I was ready to go back at 2 while everyone else was hanging out at camp. I was not sure what stand I wanted to go to because he was last seen at the hut but last year I saw him on camera a lot at the tripod. I knew everyone at camp was hoping they would see him but I was praying it would be 1st. I got in the stand and did not see a deer for over 3 hours and then, there he was. I was nervous. I pulled the trigger and he fell right there and did not even take a step. I was shaking and my heart was beating so fast. I called my dad immediately and said "Elk is down". He came flying up about 5 minutes later. We were all so excited.
