8-point buck showed up after rain
Jaye Moore of Bennettsville, SC killed a Marlboro County 8-point buck on Sept. 7, 2024 at around 7:40 p.m. He shot the buck with a Reminton X-bolt 7mm from 105 yards away while hunting from the ground.
He had a history with this buck, sighting it in the flesh as well as on trail camera footage.
Moore shares his story with us here:
“As a police officer, it makes things difficult at times to be able to get out in the woods and hunt on the days I work, because there’s some days that your body tells you that it’s tired. On Sept. 6, 2024, I told myself that I wasn’t going to go sneak in the blind because I know I needed some rest. Lo and behold when I got up the next morning for work, I was sick to my stomach. Both of my shooter bucks that I’ve had on camera, moved during shooting light.
So I told myself that if I had the opportunity to go hunting when I got off, I was going to sneak in to the ground blind. As I got home and took care of my dog, I questioned would it be worth going hunting due to the temperature had risen up and it got a little hot. But as I was outside, I looked east back to where I would be going hunting and noticed the cloud coverage in that area. I pulled up the radar on my phone and it showed a possible shower or two during shooting light.
So I rushed by putting the rifle and my bag in the truck, and proceeded to get in the blind. As I arrived to my blind, I noticed off in the distance that the rain was close. I got situated in the blind and waited. Of course what’s next, THE RAIN. The rain started coming down about 6:45 pm and it rained up until about 7:20 pm. Then all of a sudden a calmness came across the edge of the cotton field and a slight breeze hit me in the face. As an avid hunter, I knew to get ready because the deer were fixing to move.
I looked down at my phone to get a quick glance at the time and as I looked back up, there he was. One of my target bucks entered the edge of the cotton field. Trail camera pictures did not do him justice, for he was way bigger than the pictures I could see. As the deer started to put his head down and started to eat on some corn, I eased up my Browning X-Bolt 7mm, that my father gave me and tried to compose myself. I put the crosshairs on the deer’s shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The buck ran off and I immediately made a call because the buck didn’t drop.
I ran down to where the buck was at to see if there was any blood. I was a little disappointed because I couldn’t see any blood whatsoever. So I backed out to my truck and was going to wait on a friend to help track. Of course, curiosity got to me and I went back and began to track. As I entered in where the buck ran into, I still was not seeing any blood. I told myself that this was going to be a grid search and hopefully I’ll run across him. After going into the woods about 30 yards, I looked to my right and there he was. There was no blood at all and I found out why, BUCK FEVER. I noticed the shot was further back but I was thankful because there he was.
After one quick glance at the deer, his weight immediately got my attention. For the deer to be that weight, I knew I was gonna have an issue. So I cleared a path in the thicket and began to pull the deer back to the edge of the cotton field. Thanks to a good friend, we finally got him loaded! As we all do as hunters, we began to take guesses at his weight. I immediately estimated the deer to weigh 210 pounds. My friend estimated the deer to be 215 pounds. I think we were all shocked once the deer was put on the scale at the processor. A shocking 220.4 pounds is what the chocolate-horned 8-point weighed. It’s definitely my biggest deer of my life as far as weight and I’m pretty sure my body will hate me later!”
Bag A Buck Contest
Congratulations to Moore, who is now in the running for our monthly prize of a free 1-year subscription to Carolina Sportsman Magazine, a Sportsman hat, a two-pack of Lowcountry Seasonings, as well as our Grand Prize, which includes a 1-year-subscription to Carolina Sportsman Magazine, a Sportsman hat, and a 2-day, two-person hunt at Cherokee Run Hunting Lodge in Chesterfield, SC.
See all the bucks entered so far, and upload yours at www.carolinasportsman.com/bag-a-buck-2024
