Hunter: Jackie Corbin
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Forsyth
Season: 2018-2019
Hunt Story
I arrived at my hunting location early opening morning with plans of trying to eliminate a coyote or two since that was all I had on camera for the past two weeks other than the occasional doe just moving through. After climbing the tree and getting settled in, I received several texts from hunting buddies wishing each other good luck. I was thinking to myself “I’ll need it”! Then all of a sudden, the loudest clanging noise you've ever heard about scared me out of my stand, my little Makita flashlight had slipped out of my pocket and landed on the platform of my climber. I thought to myself “great, now I'm really going to need some luck”. About ten minutes later, I got a text from another friend with a few pictures of some nice bucks on his trail cam. While in the process of replying I hear a limb crack directly behind me. When I turn to look there is a nice buck directly under my tree and another about fifteen yards behind. I quickly put my phone away and grab my bow. The bucks were so close to me I didn’t even want to risk standing up. I twisted slowly to my right as quietly as I could, but my foot caught on the elastic band on the platform and spooked the deer. Both of the bucks trotted about three good hops and then turned to look back. I used this as an opportunity to draw my Hoyt back, and as soon as they stopped I was already settled on the buck closest to me. I let the arrow fly and immediately knew I hit the deer a little far back. After waiting more than an hour, I climbed down to investigate the blood on the arrow. It was bright red, but there was also evidence of a gut shot. I knew I had hit the buck a little back so I decided to back out and give him some time. On my way home, I called Jerry Russel with his amazing tracking dog Bear. He suggested I wait a minimum of six hours and asked if I wanted him to meet me and see if we could recover the deer. I immediately agreed to meet him at 1 p.m. After arriving at my hunting location, I showed Mr. Russel and Bear where I had shot the deer and they took it from there. After Bear got on the buck’s trail, I stayed back to let him work. They got about forty yards ahead of me and Mr. Russel said “We've got good blood up here”! I anxiously rushed up the trail, and when I got close Jerry looked at me and smiled. I knew by the look on his face they had found my deer. The buck hadn't gone sixty yards from my tree, I just hadn't seen him go down. Words couldn't describe the relief I felt when I saw the buck. The first words out of my mouth were "Thank You Lord". I’d like to thank Jerry and his awesome tracking buddy Bear. I couldn’t feel more blessed to have such an amazing opening day, one I’ll never forget!
