Brenda ~ An AR Lady Hunter

I have been hunting for almost 15 years. Most of those were with a muzzleloader or a rifle. I started hunting with a crossbow about 7 years ago, but had never had any success until I took a small 5-point buck with it in 2005.

On October 28th of 2006, I was about to take the biggest buck ever. The day started out like any other day of the bow season. I had missed a doe a week earlier. My husband David, my son Andy and daughter Stephanie and I got everything gathered up and headed out to Gene Rush WMA in Newton County, Arkansas, to an area where we had seen deer on almost every trip we had taken there. I had seen a nice 8-point buck during muzzleloader season just a few days before, but he would never come into range. I was hoping for a chance to take him. David and Andy went to an area that bordered the field where I had seen the buck. They were going to watch a ravine where the deer came through. Stephanie and I headed out for the field. As we were coming to the opening, we saw 3 does feeding at the far end of the field. We watched them until they fed off of the field before going to our spot to set up.

We sat there for a couple of hours and didn’t see anything else. After talking to David on the radio we decided to shift locations. After a few stops to check out some other areas we finally made it to another location that had a lot of buck sign. We opted to go ahead and have lunch and then we would trade hunting partners and go separate directions.

This time, Stephanie and David headed south while Andy and I went north. It was warm that day with sunshine and it was already noon. We had planned on sitting in the edge of the woods along the field where the deer come out to feed. The trail was a well worn one with scrapes and rubs everywhere. As luck would have it, we started down the hill and about 30 yards in front of us at the bottom a nice buck went across the road, never missing a beat. I told Andy, “Well, there went a nice buck.” I thought to myself that I would never see that one again. I made a decision to wait there and not go on to the field. I could hear the buck in the bushes and knew he was still there. The road was red clay that was dry and made for a quiet stalk. I told Andy to stay there and get down and not move. I finally made it down far enough that I could see the tips of the buck’s antlers when he raised his head. I got ready for a shot if it presented itself. He was working a scrape about 15 yards inside the brush line.

I was in the middle of the road with out any cover whatsoever. I waited patiently while the buck worked over his scrape. Finally he turned back towards the road. I asked the Lord to send him back out. My prayer was answered in just about another minute as the buck started walking out of the brush and back toward the road. I knew the exact spot he would come out at and was already for the shot. As he stepped out from behind the bush, he looked at me and I let the bolt fly. I knew that the shot was perfect. The buck jumped straight up and took off across the road. I got on the radio and told David that I just shot the biggest buck of my life. He told me to calm down and he and Stephanie would be right there. I went to the spot where the buck went into the brush and found my arrow. It was covered and he left a good blood trail. Andy and I tracked him for about thirty yards where we found him piled up at the bottom of the ravine.

Stephanie, Andy and I finally got him to the car after over an hour of dragging. We were only about one hundred yards from the car. The hardest pat of it all was getting him back out of the ravine. I wouldn’t let David help because he has a history of heart problems and we didn’t need him to have a heart attack He weighted 225 on the hoof. He had eight points with one broken. I never got him scored.
I think that this buck was sent to me because my dad was one of my hunting partners over the past few years and I moved away and had not been able to hunt with him for the past three years. I lost my dad in February 2007 from a heart attack. He will be with me each time I go out to hunt.

Ar_ladyhunter is a friend of mine at CamoSpace and she gave me permission to post her story. She was also fortunate to have her story published in Buckmasters Online in 2006. She resides in Harrison, Arkansas.