Hunter: Jackson Benjamin
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Sumter
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
Sunday morning, my dad and I decided to sit in the same stand we had the day before with my brother. We got to the woods around 7:00 (Sun in the sky) and walked to our stand. I had my great-granddad's 30.06, and my dad carried the AR. He had already reached his buck limit, so I was the buck hunter. In the stand, Dad handed me our electric ear-muffs. I slid them on and was surprised to be able to hear the wind through the trees, the tweeting birds, and every leaf that hit the ground. It was so loud! I listened to all the noises for probably 30 minutes and dozed off. Dad woke me up and said, "There's a deer over there! Do you see it?" "Yeah" I said still sleep eyes trying to find it. "Get the gun up" "Okay" I picked it up and laid it on the gun rail still searching. I finally saw it as it stepped behind some briers, only getting a glimpse of the giant trophy rack behind its ears. I looked through the scope watching his body through some thin bushes. "He's gonna come out to the right between those trees." I moved the gun compensating for the coming deer but he never appeared in my crosshairs. "Do you see him?" I raised my hand up like, "No" "On your 2 o'clock. I looked over from my scope and swung the rifle over to see the deer. He seemed enormous in the scope. I closed my eyes and took a breath saying a quick prayer in my head, "Help". I opened my eyes only to see him walk away into the trees. My muscles untensed in disbelief. My dad clawed for his grunt call, grunted once, and back came the Alpha ready to fight. "Do you see him?" "Yes" I focused on his shoulder. Dad spooked,"Meh". He froze. I let out a breathe and squeezed the trigger. He kicked up and ran into the forest. I sat up and look at my smiling dad. My nerves were going crazy, but I tried not to show it. "We should give him about 30 minutes," he said. After 20 minutes of waiting, we couldn't take it. We found a blood spot, but when we walked around the corner there he was.
