Cletus T.
Senior Member
Well folks – last night was a special night in the deer woods for me and my son. If you have been a member on here for a while yall know that I’ve posted all kinds of adventures with me and my son Hunter Jack and some might even say you’ve seen him grown up through the years and while our outdoor adventures have mainly been of the fishing variety we have always hoped to drop a nice buck too and for a variety of reasons it’s just never lined up for us but it’s not been for a lack of trying as we’ve hunted real hard over the years, but it all came together last night for him. Soooooo here’s a little backstory and then the story of his first Buck kill.
We hunt a small piece of family land that is right smack dab in the middle of Suburban Gwinnett County. I grew up there as a kid and we use to have a ton of woods but over the years just like most things in Gwinnett County it got developed, but when I was a kid, we lived back in the woods off a dirt road! This little slice of Heaven is called Hillside Farm and it’s been in my Family forever and it’s where my Granddaddy raised his family and in turn where my Mom and Dad raised us but for the last 10-12 years we have tried so hard to score a good buck off the property as my Granddaddy loved Deer Hunting and sadly we lost him back in April of 2020 at the ripe ole age of 94. He lived a great life and we have so many wonderful memories of my Grandaddy and hunting and fishing together and he wanted one of us (Me or Hunter Jack or my Dad and Uncles) to get a good buck off Hillside but like I said – it just never happened. A lot of close calls – a couple bonehead misses – and just out right bad luck but that was not the story last night so here goes…………
Hunter Jack has been hunting hard since opening day and he’s hunted just about everyday since Sat. and we had decided to go hunt Hillside together after work yesterday. I’ve been hunting in my backwoods as I’ve got some Whoppers back there but HJ has been focusing on Hillside Farm (which is really just across the street from us) but we put in a new stand this summer that just seemed like a good area to be in, so I work all day – get home about 6 and HJ is chomping at the bite to get over to Hillside. To be honest – I was pretty worn out from a long day at work and I wasn’t that “fired-up” to go hunting – PLUS it was about 90 degrees outside so I just wasn’t feeling it – but HJ sure was and I got changed and off we went. I was in a two-man stand that overlooked a good field and HJ was down in the new stand which was close by but down in the woods a little bit more. We got in the woods about 6:20 and by 6:40 I’m getting texts from HJ that he’s got an 8-pointer and a couple spikes coming his way. I texted him back and said just relax and let them come to you. Meanwhile, I’m dealing with a freaking yellow-jacket that won’t leave me alone, so I was getting frustrated and sweating and then I had this black cat walking all around me and I took that as a bad-sign but maybe HJ would get a chance at one. 7:00 – I get a text from HJ saying he lost them, he’s not sure where they went but they just disappeared, and I told him to not worry – I’m sure they would come back as it got closer to dark so be ready. I still haven’t seen jack and at 7:45 I get a text from him saying they are coming back. 7:55 – text comes through that he just shot the 8-pointer but he’s not sure if he hit it good as he had to shoot it straight on I the chest as it would never turn broadside but he felt good about hitting it so I said I’m coming to you to see if we can find a blood trail.
We find his arrow and sure enough, it’s got good blood and hair on it and he pointed in the direction it ran off. He said he never heard it crash so it might still be on the move? We walk in that direction and found a few little drops of blood….then a few more and then some big drops of blood and smeared all over some tree leaves and it’s looking like it was a lethal hit but we didn’t want to push him off our property. Like I said – this is a small patch of woods and the last thing I want to do is keep pushing him. So we just wait there for a little bit and I call my Dad to let him know what is going on and while I’m on the phone with him – we hear a crash – and it’s pretty close so we give it about another 10 mins and then we continue on the blood trail and we are now finding just gobs of blood and after about a 30 yard trek we see his Buck bellied up! Ole Hunter Jack just about tackled me when he saw it. My foot was kind of caught in between two fallen trees and he stuck me like he was playing football again and just about took me to the ground, but it was such a special moment for him and for me. And for Granddaddy – even though he wasn’t physically with us we could feel him right there with us. We finally did it– we got a Hillside Farm Buck – he would have been tickled pink about it. And he would have wanted his picture taken with the deer too. That’s what he always did – he loved getting his picture taken with other people’s deer. One of the many funny things about him!
I’m so proud of Hunter Jack though as he hasn’t been bowhunting all that long. He got a compound bow in Dec. for Christmas and he hunted a little bit with it last season but not that much - he’s been practicing all summer and really putting in the effort and it all paid off last night. It was a moment / memory that will never fade for us. As Dad’s we always want to pass on our passion for the outdoors to our kids and to see your “min-me” who is not so mini anymore - just makes me swell up with pride!
Sorry for the long read but I had to tell it right!
Thank you for taking the time to check out the post and I hope everybody has a fun and safe Deer Season this year. Now – it’s daddy’s turn to smoke a Buck!
Cletus
We hunt a small piece of family land that is right smack dab in the middle of Suburban Gwinnett County. I grew up there as a kid and we use to have a ton of woods but over the years just like most things in Gwinnett County it got developed, but when I was a kid, we lived back in the woods off a dirt road! This little slice of Heaven is called Hillside Farm and it’s been in my Family forever and it’s where my Granddaddy raised his family and in turn where my Mom and Dad raised us but for the last 10-12 years we have tried so hard to score a good buck off the property as my Granddaddy loved Deer Hunting and sadly we lost him back in April of 2020 at the ripe ole age of 94. He lived a great life and we have so many wonderful memories of my Grandaddy and hunting and fishing together and he wanted one of us (Me or Hunter Jack or my Dad and Uncles) to get a good buck off Hillside but like I said – it just never happened. A lot of close calls – a couple bonehead misses – and just out right bad luck but that was not the story last night so here goes…………
Hunter Jack has been hunting hard since opening day and he’s hunted just about everyday since Sat. and we had decided to go hunt Hillside together after work yesterday. I’ve been hunting in my backwoods as I’ve got some Whoppers back there but HJ has been focusing on Hillside Farm (which is really just across the street from us) but we put in a new stand this summer that just seemed like a good area to be in, so I work all day – get home about 6 and HJ is chomping at the bite to get over to Hillside. To be honest – I was pretty worn out from a long day at work and I wasn’t that “fired-up” to go hunting – PLUS it was about 90 degrees outside so I just wasn’t feeling it – but HJ sure was and I got changed and off we went. I was in a two-man stand that overlooked a good field and HJ was down in the new stand which was close by but down in the woods a little bit more. We got in the woods about 6:20 and by 6:40 I’m getting texts from HJ that he’s got an 8-pointer and a couple spikes coming his way. I texted him back and said just relax and let them come to you. Meanwhile, I’m dealing with a freaking yellow-jacket that won’t leave me alone, so I was getting frustrated and sweating and then I had this black cat walking all around me and I took that as a bad-sign but maybe HJ would get a chance at one. 7:00 – I get a text from HJ saying he lost them, he’s not sure where they went but they just disappeared, and I told him to not worry – I’m sure they would come back as it got closer to dark so be ready. I still haven’t seen jack and at 7:45 I get a text from him saying they are coming back. 7:55 – text comes through that he just shot the 8-pointer but he’s not sure if he hit it good as he had to shoot it straight on I the chest as it would never turn broadside but he felt good about hitting it so I said I’m coming to you to see if we can find a blood trail.
We find his arrow and sure enough, it’s got good blood and hair on it and he pointed in the direction it ran off. He said he never heard it crash so it might still be on the move? We walk in that direction and found a few little drops of blood….then a few more and then some big drops of blood and smeared all over some tree leaves and it’s looking like it was a lethal hit but we didn’t want to push him off our property. Like I said – this is a small patch of woods and the last thing I want to do is keep pushing him. So we just wait there for a little bit and I call my Dad to let him know what is going on and while I’m on the phone with him – we hear a crash – and it’s pretty close so we give it about another 10 mins and then we continue on the blood trail and we are now finding just gobs of blood and after about a 30 yard trek we see his Buck bellied up! Ole Hunter Jack just about tackled me when he saw it. My foot was kind of caught in between two fallen trees and he stuck me like he was playing football again and just about took me to the ground, but it was such a special moment for him and for me. And for Granddaddy – even though he wasn’t physically with us we could feel him right there with us. We finally did it– we got a Hillside Farm Buck – he would have been tickled pink about it. And he would have wanted his picture taken with the deer too. That’s what he always did – he loved getting his picture taken with other people’s deer. One of the many funny things about him!
I’m so proud of Hunter Jack though as he hasn’t been bowhunting all that long. He got a compound bow in Dec. for Christmas and he hunted a little bit with it last season but not that much - he’s been practicing all summer and really putting in the effort and it all paid off last night. It was a moment / memory that will never fade for us. As Dad’s we always want to pass on our passion for the outdoors to our kids and to see your “min-me” who is not so mini anymore - just makes me swell up with pride!
Sorry for the long read but I had to tell it right!
Thank you for taking the time to check out the post and I hope everybody has a fun and safe Deer Season this year. Now – it’s daddy’s turn to smoke a Buck!
Cletus
