If you recall, my daughter took out my old ExoMax back in October for a hunt on a day she had off in the middle of the week and managed to harvest a small 8pt. It was her largest buck at the point and the first she had taken when hunting solo.
Well, she started a new job late in the summer and didn't have enough vacation to join us on our annual southern migration. So, she was forced to stay behind and hold down the house. Fortunately for her, that week also happens to be the opening week of rifle deer season in Virginia and West Virginia.
While her boyfriend headed off to his deer stand in West Virginia, she headed over the mountain into Virginia. Around 8:30am a nice 8 point strolled over the ridge with the remnants of the last sapling he encountered still draped across his antlers. She knew he was the buck she was after the second she saw him. He stopped briefly at 50 yards and she let the Remington 700 .308 do its business. It ran about 30 yards and stopped, then ran back towards her about 20 yards before going down and rolling four times before coming to a stop.
After about 10 minutes she made the call she dreaded. She called her boyfriend and asked him to leave his stand and head her way with a game cart.
This was certainly a situation to phone a friend since the buck had about 100 lbs weight advantage on her. They managed to get it down the mountain, caped, processed and even got the head to the taxidermist.Here's the happy hunter...
I mounted her previous 8-point on a board. Here is a comparison of this 8-point to the one she took in October with her ExoMax.
We reviewed old game camera photos and believe we had this buck on camera once before.
Taking her biggest buck to date help take the sting out of missing the duck hunt in Arkansas. I couldn't be prouder. After years of experience hunting with me, she knew exactly what to do to take care of the entire process. The only thing left for me to do is show her how to wash out the ice chests when you are done because a week old bloody ice chest is a surprise best left unopened.
DuckHunt
