Hunter: Jack Mooney
Points: 11 (6L, 5R)
County: Irwin
Season: 2024-2025
Hunt Story
My dad and I were sitting in a box stand we call "The Ticket Booth" and I was so cold that I was shaking the whole deer stand. I had already shot an 8-point deer earlier in the season, so I was doe hunting. I had already tried to shoot a lot of does, but they went behind us before I could get a good shot. I was cold, but having fun. We sat for awhile then a doe came out running followed by a small buck, also running. But they were both running not from each other, but from something else. I didn't know what they were running from, but we knew it was something. They went past us, then we sat for awhile, then we saw two does, one was a yearling, but I was going to shoot the big doe. I was just about to squeeze off the trigger when something with a lot of tan points blocked my path. I didn't know what it was until he stepped right out into that lane. He walked across the lane and into the woods. The doe went with him, but the yearling stayed. It was that yearling that saved me, she drew that buck to about 70 yards to where I had a shot on him. The buck turned right as I shot. We thought the shot was back so we waited 30 minutes, then my dad went to see if he could find blood. He found a lot of good blood, bones, hair, and some bullet. My dad came back and we got out of the stand, and decided to give him time so we went back to our house, and ate a good old breakfast. Later we went out to try to find him. We got somebody to help us, and went back to the spot to find him. When we got back there we got out of the truck and into the woods. I went into the woods alone on the doe's trail, while my dad went somewhere else. We had been back there a good 20 minutes when my dad yelled out that he found him. I was so excited that I fell a couple of times running. When I walked up to him he was just as big as I imagined. We took pictures, and loaded him up to skin him.
