Buck may become new NC youth bowhunting record
On Sept. 9, the second day of North Carolina’s archery season, 12-year-old Elijah Evans pulled the trigger on his grandfather’s Parker crossbow and killed a 13-point buck that may take over the top spot for youth crossbow buck in North Carolina.
The buck’s massive rack has been green scored by Efland’s Kenny Snyder at 164 4/8 gross inches.
Evans, who lives in Mebane, NC shot the buck around 7:40 p.m., and not long before that, he missed a text from stepdad Anthony Riley who had received an alert on his phone from Evans’ blood sugar monitor alerting him of low sugar level.
Luckily Evans, who has juvenile diabetes, didn’t feel the negative effects like blurred vision or dizziness that often accompany low blood sugar, and he was able to concentrate on sending his 100-grain Muzzy broadhead to his target, hitting the deer behind the shoulders.
Jimmy Evans, Elijah’s grandfather, was in the two-seat tower stand with him on the hunt, and had to discourage the young hunter from shooting a smaller deer earlier in the day.
“He wanted to shoot a small-rack buck earlier, but I wouldn’t let him. I’d seen this buck July 30 and another day this summer. I also had some trail camera pictures that showed his rack in velvet,” said the elder Evans, who spent the two weeks prior teaching his grandson to shoot the crossbow at still targets.
This trophy buck was the first live target Elijah had ever shot at with a crossbow, so he was understandably a little nervous.
“When I first saw the buck, I got nervous, but Paw-Paw said to look through the scope and put the line on the second stop from the bottom and squeeze the trigger easy. I did, and I saw the arrow hit. I knew he was hit because he ran with his head down and tail tucked,” he said.
After waiting 10 minutes, the duo descended from the stand and looked for the deer, but found no sign of it. They went back to Elijah’s grandparent’s house to get flashlights and a search party made up of extended family, then returned for a more thorough search. At 10 p.m., they found the buck about 90 yards from the corn pile.
The mass of the buck’s rack is truly impressive. Both H1s scored 6 0/8, the H2s scored 6 0/8 and 5 2/8, the H3s measured 5 3/8 and 3 6/8, and the H4s were 3 1/8 and 1 5/8, according to Snyder, who admitted he wasn’t sure about his scoring on the left H4, or of the deer’s left G3, which was shaped like a turkey foot.
