Hunter: Trevor Jones
Points: 10 (5L, 5R)
County: Greene
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
Trevor and I have been sitting in stands for three years waiting for a "shooter buck." He had never shot a buck before. I always told him I wanted to be there when he harvested his first buck. We have let countless bucks walk over the past three years because we wanted to see them grow bigger, and to Trevor's credit, he wanted his first buck to be a "wall hanger." This particular morning we were late getting into the stand (7:15 am) with sunrise at 7:50 am. Wind conditions were perfect to approach the stand. Trevor was the first to see the buck as he came out of the hardwoods back behind me at about 8:10 am. I finally located the buck in my binoculars, quickly counted 8 points, and knew immediately it was a nice mature buck. Trouble was he was 85 yards away walking from our left to right in a small thicket of woods. What we realized later was that he was making rubs on the small pines. I looked down and saw Trevor's knees shaking. He said, "Dad, what is making that happen?" I told him adrenaline and he needed to breath more. I asked Trevor if he could still see the buck (I had lost the buck in my binoculars) and he said "yes." I told him to pick up his gun and see if he could locate the buck in his scope, which he did. After another 10 minutes the buck began to move back through the thicket and was moving from our right to left. The only shot Trevor was going to be able to make would be if the buck continued to move right to left and passed between two pines that had about an 8-foot opening. As luck would have it, that's exactly what the buck did! Trevor said he had the buck in his sights. I had the buck in my binoculars and confirmed he was within the opening. He said, "Can I shoot?" I replied, "kill him." A near perfect shot! I watched the buck crumble, so I new he had made an impact shot. After about 3 minutes the buck got up and walked back behind our stand and died. We let the buck sit for another 10 minutes to make sure he died peacefully. When we approached him I realized that this was a 10-pointer and not the 8 I thought I counted when I was spotting him. A truly magnificent animal that we thanked Jesus for for letting us harvest him. My guess is that he was at least a 3.5 year old, maybe a 4 year old buck. Trevor and I "high-fived" and talked about all the bucks we let walk with the hope we could one day find a buck like this. I'm proud of Trevor for being patient and knowing he could make a tough shot if that old buck kept moving. A great "dad moment" and a lifetime memory maker for Trevor and me.
