Hunter: Randy Crane
Points: 10 (5L, 5R)
County: Upson
Season: 2016-2017
Hunt Story
My hunting buddy, Mike Gresham, and I had just finished our coffee, and I decided to hunt out of my son's stand in a mixture of white oaks and pines. I was there about 5 minutes when I realized I had not put a cap on my rifle. It got worse when i remembered that I left them on the counter in my camper. I climbed down and went back to camp to get the caps. I was back in the stand around 8:10. At 9:25 I looked up the hill to my left and saw what I thought was a nose through some short oaks. All of a sudden a 10- to 12-foot sapling started thrashing back and forth. I thought this is no doe. He stepped out facing me down the hill. I had hit my doe bleat about 10 minutes earlier and as he came down toward me he grunted a soft grunt. He stepped behind a cedar tree, and all I could see was his rack! A few seconds later he turned and stepped back into the opening and dropped his head feeding on acorns. I put the crosshairs on his shoulder and pulled the trigger. He bolted straight ahead and turned up hill as he went out of sight. I thought I head him crash. I called my buddy, and he said to wait until he could get there if I could stand it. Twenty minutes later we started tracking the deer. After about 20 yards, we found a couple of drops of blood on some leaves and after a couple more steps I looked up and saw what I thought was my deer. My buddy looked up and said yes that is him, and we high-fived each other! As I looked down I took a moment in awe of his size and symmetry. I then thanked the Lord for sending me such a beautiful animal.
