Hunter: Dylan Thayer
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Rockdale
Season: 2020-2021
Hunt Story
It was Sunday Sept. 27th. A couple buddies and I woke up early that morning to go goose hunting. After getting rained on all morning and not seeing a goose, we decided to try and kill a deer that evening. I figured it was my last chance to climb a stand for a while due to the fact that I was having surgery on my knee the next day. We checked the weather and it looked good, wasn't supposed to be raining. We got to the property and in the house to get ready, and it started pouring down rain. We decided to wait until that shower passed and then head to the stand. It started to slow down so we walked to our stands. I was sitting in a ladder stand and we put a lock on up right above it, so my best friend could sit with me. After about 20 minutes being in the stand, it started raining again, and it didn't stop until about 30 minutes before dark. I hadn't seen a deer, while my buddy on the other side of the property had seen about 18. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed two bucks walking through the woods about to come out into my main shooting lane. I grabbed my bow and got ready. The first one walked out and it was a small 6-point, but the one in the back was a pretty solid deer. I kept going back and forth with myself trying to decide if I was going to shoot this deer or not, and at this point, he turned and started walking away. When he did this, I instantly regretted my decision of not taking the opportunity to shoot. I watched this deer walk off to about 80 yards and my buddy was questioning why I didn't shoot it. I was pretty disappointed, but then I glanced up, and he was walking right back to us. I grabbed my bow again and when he got to 30 yards, I drew back. He then turned broadside and was about to be out of the shooting lane, my buddy stopped him with the classic "meh". At this point I had the pin on the mark and all there was left to do was squeeze off the release. I felt the bow jump and heard "thwack". I knew I had hit the deer. However, since it was low light and my Lumenok failed to turn on, I didn't know how good of a shot I had made. This was my first deer I have shot with a bow so sharing that moment in that tree with my best friend was pretty emotional. We then climbed down and walked back to the house on the property, meeting our other buddy. It was raining so hard before then that my phone had water damage and I couldn't even make a phone call. I called my dad to tell him what had happened. It was a moment we had both been waiting for and hoping for for years. He's the one that got me into hunting and we had spent countless hours into sighting in bows and hanging stands and basically anything else to do with hunting. We gave the deer probably 30 minutes after shooting it before we went to look for blood. At the sight of the shot, we instantly picked up on blood. After following a solid blood-trail in and out of thick underbrush for about 80 yards, we glanced up and he was laying right up in front of us. It was a moment I'll never forget. I've got to thank the good Lord for sending this buck to me and my great buddy for taking me hunting on his property.
