It is finally here! Trucker shot this beauty last deer season. His grandparents, Dad, Aunt and Uncle all chipped in to have it mounted for him. Trucker hunts out of a cabin with his Dad, Grampy, a couple great-Uncles and some friends; his great-Uncle started this shack in the sixties, I think. So far, this buck has the widest inside spread that has been shot out of the shack. The base of the rack is bigger around than my wrist!
Trucker and the King could tell you the story of the hunt better than I could. I can tell you how neat it was to a Mom's/wife's heart to hear their voices on the phone soon after it was shot. They called once from their cell, while still in the woods, but lost signal. We have caller ID so I knew it was the King's cell calling our house, but never even heard them trying to talk. Within thirty minutes the phone rang again, this time from Carol's house. It was Trucker telling me he shot a nine pointer, and telling me the story. I could hear the King in the background telling him to tell me it had a 21 1/2 " inside spread. I could hear the excitement in the Trucker's voice. The King got on the phone next, I could hear his voice shaking - he was so excited.
I will treasure that phone call in my mind forever. To hear that much excitement in both of their voices; if you don't know my son or husband, they are both quite laid back - it is not too often you see or hear them like this, was a gift from God. I was thankful that they share this passion for hunting and that they could be within shouting distance of each other when the deer was shot so that they could share that moment together when they both walked up to the buck, down on the ground.
The King heard the shot and knew it came from Trucker's stand. I don't know if he could see Trucker or not. The King waited a few minutes, then walked in towards Trucker. He met Trucker in the woods and Trucker told him he shot an eight pointer. Trucker pointed the direction the buck was in and told his Dad he was sure it was down. As they were walking towards it, the King saw one side of the rack sticking up out of the snow and knew right away it was a nice buck. He told me later he took off running towards it and got to it before Trucker even got to it! That's when they discovered it was a nine pointer instead of an eight pointer.
When the King got on the phone to talk to me, his shaky, excited voice said, "Oh, it's a dandy!" I can still hear him talking that day!
Trucker just came in from the garage as I was getting ready to post this. He wants me to make sure I say it was shot at 90 yards. Here is the story coming from Trucker.
I was in my tree stand on my Grandpa Dan's property. There is a big elm tree on the ground in front of me. At 7:10 A.M. the buck walked in and did a sort of J at me and stopped at 90 yards. I used my knee as a rest for my Savage 7mm-08 left handed bolt action rifle. I have open sights so he was a small target at 90 yards. I shot him in the gut but the bullet when up to the heart. He didn't drop at first so I shot him in the butt. My dad came from behind me and went to where I shot and there it lay dead. There was a guy from a different shack who was closer to it than I was but I still got it. I had bragging rights at school for the biggest buck except my science teacher shot a 12 pointer but that was the only competition.
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