Hunter: Karen Simmons
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: Randolph
Season: 2015-2016
Hunt Story
This was the last day of our hunting trip, the four days of hunting didn't show much promise. The camp had three strong weeks of hunting pressure. The belief was the rut was over, and we only had small bucks and a few small does being seen. I picked a stand that was in the area of a shooter we had on our trail cameras. The area still had active scrapes, and being one of my last hunts, I felt this was the least hunted stand. The morning was beautiful in the 30s, and I watched the sun come up and the woods come alive. Around 8:30, a nice doe came out on the food plot. She was a big doe, and I was temped to shoot, but I didn't. I watched her work her way toward my hut, to a point she was 10 feet away. I was really tempted but let her walk. She went behind my stand that had an active scrape. She was out of sight. To my left I heard what I assumed were those pesky squirrels running around my stand. It wasn't—it was the buck we had hoped would come out. He came out with his nose down into the food plot. I pulled my rifle up and tried to contain my nerves. I grunted, and he raised his head gave me a perfect broadside shot. I pulled the trigger, he ran toward a trail at the edge of the field. I waited 45 minuets ( seemed like four hours) and this beautiful 9-point was where I saw him heading about 100 yards away.
