She won top female youth honors at 2015 Dixie Deer Classic
Fifteen-year-old Haylie Richard of Butner, North Carolina arrowed a 144-inch trophy 12-point buck in Granville County, N.C. on Nov. 25. Richard isn’t new to killing trophy bucks though. Back in October 2015, Richard took down a massive 147-inch 9-pointer just before sundown, winning the top prize at the 2016 Dixie Deer Classic for the female and youth categories.
This year, Haylie and her father Anthony Richard, pursued the trophy 12-pointer for weeks. The deer showed up early in the season and she made it her mission to get this deer in her sights.
“We have been watching him since the second week of September on camera,” Anthony Richard said. “He was nocturnal up until two weeks ago and I told Haylie she needed to be ready for him.”
Haylie was determined to get this deer. In fact, for the last month, she had dedicated just about every free minute she had to getting this deer. But, the deer was not making it easy for the youth hunter.
“He was jumping the road on me. He would show up in the same night on different stand sites ½-mile apart from each other,” she said.
But on that Saturday afternoon, the buck made its fatal mistake.
“I kept telling her, if she stayed on him, eventually they would meet and on Saturday afternoon, they finally met and Haylie shot him at 18 yards with her Horton Bone Collector (crossbow) when the deer was quartering to her,” her father said.
Her excitement was uncontrollable. After waiting an hour, she began looking for the deer, finding it within 60 yards of his demise.
While this buck isn’t the biggest of her hunting career, she was tickled to get him after setting dozens of hours in the deer stand after him.
“When we walked up on him, her flashlight was shaking in her hand,” her dad said. “She was about as excited as I have ever seen her. She was hard after him for a while and it was a pleasure to finally see her get him.”
Haylie will take her buck to the Dixie Deer Classic and hopes she can take another top prize. And with 12 points and 144 inches of total antler, a top spot at the 2017 Dixie Deer Classic is sure a possibility.
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