220-pound, 8-point buck ends string of bad luck for S.C. huntress

Buck was chasing a doe, offered 40-yard shot

Jon Schutte had a proud moment in the outdoors last week. But it’s not because of anything he did. It’s because his wife killed her first deer, and it was a good one. The 220-pound, 8-point buck she killed in Horry County put an end to a lot of bad luck for his wife Marti, and proved that perseverance pays off.

Marti started hunting last season, and got a shot at a buck which she missed. Two days later, she saw the same deer on the side of the road after it was hit by a car. Later in the season, she shot a doe on the three year anniversary of her husband’s first deer. But, her doe ran off, they lost the blood trail to darkness, and when they finally found it the next morning, coyotes had eaten it.

This season, she missed a shot at a doe, then did the same thing with a buck.

But on Oct. 7, Marti finally made true on a shot at her big buck, finally killing her first deer.

“A doe came out but Marti could not get a clean shot at it. She was content on letting it go. Then, 200 yards behind it, this beast emerged out of the tall weeds, hot on the doe trail. It gave her a perfect shot at 40 yards and fell right in front of our stand,” said Jon.

They took the buck to 707 Deer Processing, who joined in her celebration, and had some encouraging words for hunters who haven’t had much luck this season, and a reason to get into the woods as soon as possible.

“The rut is in full swing right now! This buck had already burned off the majority of his fat stores and a good bit of his muscle weight from chasing females for breeding. He is the biggest buck checked into 707 this year. Marti’s buck was one of two really great deer harvested by women today,” 707 Deer Processing posted on their Facebook page.

The other deer, they said, was a nice buck brought in by Pam Gasque just a few minutes before Marti checked hers in.

“Women ruled the day this morning. Today was the first doe day, and every deer except one was a buck this morning. We have heard a lot of comments about big deer moving late in the morning and in the middle of the day right now,” they said.