N.C. teen is winner of first monthly Bag-A-Buck contest

Crossbow accounts for high-school senior’s 130-inch Bag-A-Buck trophy

It’s amazing that a 17-year-old high-school senior killed a 130-inch, 9-point buck in mid-September, 2020.

What’s more amazing is that she’s not sure it’s her biggest ever.

“I’ve got four of them mounted. I need to score the others. I think he’s the biggest, but one of them might be bigger.”

That’s how Natalie Garrett of Rougemount, N.C., a senior at Person Early College in Roxboro, described the huge buck she killed on Sept. 13, the second day of North Carolina’s statewide archery season. 

Garrett entered the buck in Carolina Sportsman’s Bag-A-Buck contest, and her entry was drawn on Sept. 30 as the winner of the August/September 2020 monthly contest. She will receive a free, one-year subscription to Carolina Sportsman and a $25 gift certificate to the online Sportsman’s Outdoor Store. 

All subscribers are eligible for the contest, which is divided into four monthly contests. The grand-prize winner, drawn from all entrants, will receive a two-day, deer/hog combo hunt for two people at South Carolina’s Cherokee Run Lodge, a $50 gift certificate to the Outdoor Store and a three-year subscription to Carolina Sportsman.

Teen hunter made 25-yard shot on the buck

Garrett killed the buck at 7:30 p.m. at 25 yards with a SUB-1XR Mission crossbow, hunting from a ground blind that her grandfather, who has been taking her hunting since she “was old enough to walk” had built that morning.

“Me and my grandpa went opening day… just knowing we were going to get lucky. But between the ticks and having only one seat, it did not go quite as planned,” she said. “So we gave up and I went home to a night of itching and tick-picking. 

“I set out the next day by myself and managed to dodge the ticks, luckily. We had been getting pictures of this deer on the trail camera all summer. And when he stepped out with five other bucks, I started shaking like a leaf from excitement. Once I got myself under control, the buck was halfway to the corn pile. He stared sniffing the air, so I just knew he wasn’t going to make it all the way. My grandpa had just set up a new ground blind and bush-hogged at 10 o’clock that morning. So I just knew (the buck) would get a scent of something and take off. But he finally made it to the corn pile, and I let the arrow sling.”

The buck was hit solidly behind the front shoulder and ran off. Garrett was unable to find him that night when the blood trail ran out. She went back out the next morning and found the buck.

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