Hunter: Statham Sapp
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Wilcox
Season: 2018-2019
Hunt Story
I knew it should be a great morning for hunting. It rained all day the previous two days, and a cold front was moving in quick behind the rain. It was extremely windy, but I felt confident the deer would move with the raining moving out for good overnight. I decided to hunt a family owned peanut field that had recently been picked, mainly because I could see so far here. I always like to be able to see as far as possible when the rut starts kicking in. As day broke, hens went to clucking and cutting all around me. They even got a couple of jakes fired up and gobbling. I listened to them for about an hour, and they finally decided to head on into the field. I watched the turkeys for a good 30 minutes, but still no deer. I decided to pick up my rattle bag and make a little noise to see if I could stir a deer up. I rattled for about 60 seconds, and then I put the bag down and starting scanning the field. The turkeys paid me no attention, and after a couple of minutes, my attention immediately went back to them. They were over my left shoulder on the backside of the field, just before a blind spot that limited me from seeing the corner of the field. My eyes were glued to them. Suddenly, my vision of the turkeys was completely blocked. A big buck came directly from my blind spot and was halfway across the field when my eyes caught him. He was directly in line of the turkeys, except he was only 75 yards from me. He was walking at a steady pace, looking in all directions. I am assuming he was hunting those two deer he thought was fighting. I immediately reached for my rifle, and as soon as I propped and got my eye to the scope, he stopped. I put my crossed hairs right behind his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. He hit the dirt. Trying to gather myself from the excitement, the deer starts trying to stand up, and I notice blood gushing out about 2 inches below his spine. I shot way high. I put the cross hairs back on him, and shot again. No way I letting him get away. I saw dirt fly up behind him. I thought I had missed, so I sent him another one. I knew this one connected. He hit the dirt again and I watched him immediately expire through my scope. Again, I gathered myself and went to look at my kill. It was easily the biggest buck I had ever shot. I was a little discouraged to find that the end of his right main beam had been broken off. He was a main frame 9 point, but this made him an 8 point. Regardless, I was over the moon. My brother and brother-in-law came to help me load him shortly thereafter, and they called the broken main beam "character". I thought, "character, I like that". He is now caped and in the freezer, headed to the taxidermist soon. I want to give all of the glory to God. Without him, none of this is possible. I also want to thank God for giving me sweet redemption. I can say this with ease now, but I missed this same deer 8 days prior to killing him. That made it all the much better looking back now.
