Hunter: Grayson Watts
Points: 13 (6L, 7R)
County: Gwinnett
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
On the afternoon of December 6th, Grayson went out to his favorite stand on a small piece of property owned by family friends. He was joined by his Dad, Aaron, and younger brother, Easton. They arrived in the two-man, "buddy" stand around 3 pm and settled in for the evening hunt. At about 4 pm, a small buck wandered past at about 30 yards, following the small creek directly in front of their stand. This yearling buck had long "spike" antlers with just the beginnings of eye-guards. Grayson called it a 4-point and decided to wait on a more mature buck to come along. Not long after this, Easton was looking through his binoculars down the creek to the east when he whispered, "Deer! Don't move." Grayson soon spotted the deer himself and said, "It's a big one." By the time Aaron had spotted the deer in his binoculars, Grayson had already began to get into position for a shot. The deer was walking east to west along the same creek the smaller buck had traveled just a few minutes earlier. Waiting for the deer to get his head behind a large poplar tree, Grayson scooted to the front of his seat and rested his Marlin 30-30 lever action rifle on the stand's padded gun rest. "Just two more steps, Grayson, and you will have a perfect view of his vitals," Aaron whispered. "Are you ready?" "Yes," came the response. As the buck took the few more steps needed to get a clear shot, Aaron could see that this was going to be a GREAT first deer for his son. The "click" of the safety was followed by a brief pause before the report rang through the woods. Through the binoculars, Aaron could make out the tell-tale signs of a good shot. The buck took about four steps forward, wobbled, and toppled to the ground. The celebrating began immediately!
