Hunter: Heather Johnson
Points: 11 (6L, 5R)
County: Montgomery
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
Its my birthday 🎂 its my birthday!! I was already pumped that morning to start with. Sometimes you just have a feeling. That morning i did. To start with, no hunting can be success without 3 main things. #1 an exceptional guide, i just happen to be blessed enough to call this man my husband. But he can pick it. He is an old buck himself so he knows the all the to dos and nots to do. # 2 management, I can't stress enough about good deer management. Knowing the true age of a buck, letting the small ones grow a few more years. Not shooting everything that walks. We see it around us all the time. People come in from out of town to hunt, you let a nice 2 year old 8 or 10 point walk just for the guy on next property to shoot him. But you have to stay true and diligent. Let him go and he will grow. Lol 😆 #3 Dedication... you have to be patient and put your time in. I t will not happen on the first hunt, maybe not second, and maybe not this season. But you have to be dedicated and keep going. Watch, follow the patterns of all the deer. Time will tell and pay off. OK, birthday morning.....we have several properties of land we hunt. That particular morning my guide recommend we hunt what we call Karma Ranch. Automatically i was supper excited, there is a lento on this property that had a small cedar " christmas 🎄 tree" on it for years so I Automatically spoke up and claimed that spot. Figured even if I didn't see anything I would be able to see how big my tree had grown. A cold snap had come through early that week so it was in low it's, beautiful clear weather. I climbed up and settled in. My tree was 3 times as big as last year. I was pure excited about it. Had done text my husband and told him I was going to put an orange bow on it "flagging tape" before I left lol for christmas. I always take pictures when I'm hunting, birds, squirrels, deer, just whatever. So today of course the tree. A doe comes through, heads on out towards my husband. It was probably another 45 minutes I could hear rustling back to my left side. I could see a deer coming through thee woods with my binoculars. Couldn't tell how big. Just it looked to be a buck. I thought well I get my phone and take a picture and send to my husband and let him know he has one on the way to him. I took a couple pics and by now he has his Head up in the branches every other step, sniffing rubbing. Closer he gets the better I start to see , Hey this is a shooter. I might better put the phone down and put my gun and scope on him. He steady heading my way, there are several scrapes on the ground and as he come in to me he stops to smell where the doe that just came through had left hers. At this time I'm convinced he is big. I'm going to try and shoot if he comes on in. I have my gun up ready and in he comes, he isn't but about 30 yards from me clear shot.. I squeeze the trigger and CLICK... omg yep u heard right. All excited about that Christmas tree this morning and I forgot to put one in the chamber. I'm scrambling now. I ejected the bullet... plop right to the ground..lol but he doesn't flinch to my surprise, so I continue to load one and close the bolt. Of course no clear shot now. But I'm ready this time. So I waited, he was about another 50feet and there is a break in the trees. I called to him and he stops. I squeeze the trigger this time and BBD!!! He didn't take another step. I text my husband to tell him, took a picture and sent it to him from in the tree. He said to wait about another 30 minutes or so before we would get down. That next 30 minutes was like a kid waiting on christmas morning to open gifts. When I got down and to the deer, I knew he was a nice one but where I put my hands around him it was just a pure adrenaline rush. He was HUGE!!! My super guide had done it again and put me right on the big boy. What wonderful b-day gift. I can saw that there is nothing like like a magical morning in southeast Georgia for hunters like us. It just does something special to the mind and soul. We did carry my deer to a local taxidermy and I'm going to have him mounted. Awesome birthday 🎂 🥳
