Saturday morning my fiancé was able to knock down her first buck. I have taken her a couple times before and she has shot a couple does but never a buck. She made a great shot at 230 yards and he only went about 40 yards before he piled up. She was shooting my Rem 700 chambered in 308. I'll put the story of the hunt after the pic for those that are interested. He is not a 150 inch wall hanger but he is her first buck and we couldn't be happier with how it worked out!
![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2022/11/full-30562-157948-img_9008.jpg)
So I have been trapping this farm for the past week or so. So far I have caught 7 coyotes, 2 gray fox, a bobcat, a beaver, and an otter on his farm. He hasn't let anyone deer hunt in the last 6 or 7 years and to say the deer are thick would be an understatement. I check my traps before work and usually do my remakes in the evenings on my way home. Two evenings last week I saw a couple good bucks running around so I asked him if we could trade my trapping for deer hunting privileges. We had already agreed I was allowed to turkey hunt and waterfowl hunt in exchange for trapping but nothing was said about deer. Luckily he allowed us to hunt so I took her Saturday morning. There is an old box stand overlooking his back hay field, the field is about 25 acres up on the top of some rolling hills. You can see for what seems like miles from up there.
I had been seeing 40-50 deer when I would go remake sets in the evenings. It was 8AM Saturday and we hadn't seen a deer yet. I didn't know where they had all went and I was feeling a bit discouraged. All of the sudden it was like a switch came on and the woods came alive. There were does all around and we saw a good buck in the distance chasing them on the next property. I could tell in the binoculars he looked like an 8 point and would be a great first buck for her. We watched him chase does full throttle for quite some time on the next property and he finally came back our way but dipped into the cutover beside us without presenting a shot opportunity. 15 or 20 minutes went by and it was like the switch had been turned off. Nothing was moving or chasing.
About that time a small 4 point came out down to our left on the opposite side of us from the cutover. He had a mature doe with him. She asked if she could shoot that buck but I told her to hold off for now because we may have a shot at a better one. I told her I bet that bigger buck won't like that little buck being with that doe. Sure enough out comes the buck we had seen chasing the does all around. He was standing stone still staring that 4 point down daring him to make a move on that doe. I ranged him at 233 yards and told her to take her shot, that was her buck. She did good and controlled her breathing even though I could tell she was shaking like a leaf. After what felt like forever she settled down and squeezed off her shot. She hit him a little bit forward of where she had aimed and got in the shoulders so he plowed down after about 30 or 40 yards and laid over. It was a great shot that brought him down very quickly, we just lost a little hamburger meat.
Luckily the deer ran further out into the field and fell. She was absolutely ecstatic that she was able to see him go down. She called her dad and my dad to tell them about it and I went to get the truck. We drove the truck right to him and took him back to the house.
Overall it was a great morning of hunting and I am super thankful it worked out for her. I'm proud of her for making the long shot and staying calm even with buck fever. Around here we don't have many shots over 100 yards, so she definitely tested her abilities!
