165-pound buck green-scored 110 inches
Caroline Reid of Little Mountain, South Carolina is no stranger to a deer stand. In fact, thanks to proper raising from her dad and brothers, she’s been hunting all her life. That experience came in handy on Aug. 29, when she waited out a line of uncooperative bucks to get the perfect shot on a 10-point in Allendale County.
Reid and her fiancé, Brad Youngblood, left out that afternoon for their favorite hunting spot — a 1000-acre tract known as the Soggy Bottom Hunting Club. After checking the wind direction to choose the most suitable stand, they parted, and Reid made her way to a ladder stand overlooking a creek bed with a row of loose corn about 125 yards upwind.
“I went and got in the stand, it was kind of late, there was already a doe and 2 fawns out,” said Reid. “I climbed up, didn’t spook them or anything, sat in the stand and watched them a little while and had some turkeys come up on me. Then, a 4-point walked out and a 6-point walked out — I knew that wasn’t quite what we were looking for. Then, the 10-point walked out.”
Deciding this was a shooter, Reid had an obstacle to overcome. The bucks’ position on the row of corn — that ran lengthwise from her stand ― put her in a precarious situation. Rather than lining up to eat like a trough, they lined up head to rear without giving Reid a clear shot at the buck she wanted. Admitting that she was nervously watching for 10 to 15 minutes, Reid steeled her nerves as she peered through her scope and waited for an opening.
“There was a little fawn playing around near them,” said Reid. “He was getting irritated with the fawn, and finally, he stepped out and stomped his foot at him.”
When he did, the buck turned broadside, and Reid squeezed the trigger on her Browning X-Bolt .308. The 165-grain, Hornady SST Superformance bullet punctured his right shoulder and he crumpled into a pile without taking another step at around 7:30 that evening.
“Brad and I are pretty competitive when it comes to hunting,” said Reid. “So, I got a fist bump and then he said something along the lines of, ‘All right, now I’m going to catch up with you.’ It’s been like that every season we’ve been together.”
Reid’s buck weighed 165 pounds with an inside spread of 15¾ inches. It was green scored at 110 net inches.
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