Hunter: Reid Roberts
Points: 11 (7L, 4R)
County: Lowndes
Season: 2022-2023
Hunt Story
Reid’s first deer! He has hunted hard this year. At the beginning of the year, he told his dad that he didn’t want to shoot a doe this year because he already had one of those. He watched several young bucks because his heart was set on shooting an 8-point. After so many fruitless hunts, he was beginning to lose any interest but continued to go. This morning, he woke up at 5, showered in the scent-free soap and put on his camo for another try. We went to sit in his Papa's deer stand for the first time this year. The stand is a Millennium ladder two-man stand. It faces a long narrow shooting lane stretching just over 400 yards through a young planted pine field. The creek bottom wraps around the back side of the stand. At about 7:15, our first deer was spotted as the doe quickly crossed the shooting lane. Nearly 10 minutes goes by and Reid has become focused on his Nintendo switch and his Pokémon game while dad scanned the woods for movement. As if it were a ghost appearing, his dad looked down and noticed a nice buck was 20 yards in front hitting a licking branch. Dad nudged Reid and said, “Hey here’s your buck”! Reid broke out of his Pokémon trance and grabbed the Savage 6.5 Creedmore. He shouldered it and found the deer in his scope. A few tense seconds go by as he adjusted the scope. He tried to see a clear opening through the few live oak leaves that hung in between. His dad reminded him of the repetitious instructions and said when you’re ready, squeeze. Reid said he couldn’t shoot because of the leaves but his dad encouraged him that the shot was good and he should take it. Upon the shot, the buck rated up on its back legs and lunged forward. He ran off the shooting lane to the left and obviously crashed amongst some scrub oaks. Reid and his dad exchanged some fist bumps and really tight hugs and then Reid started chanting, "cubed steak tonight, cubed steak tonight…” We climbed down and eased up to the motionless buck. Reid counted the tines 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11!!! “I killed an 11-point!” It was a great morning spent driving from house to house to drop the tailgate and tell the story again.
