Donnie Johnson’s tall-racked NC buck

On Saturday November 5, 2022, hunter Donnie Johnson and 16 year old daughter Sasha arrived at the stand near the Neuse River in Johnston County on a beautiful fall morning. Sasha had high hopes of killing her first deer on this warm morning as the rut neared. Sasha had passed many does and smaller bucks over the past two seasons waiting for a trophy buck to appear. She had plenty of incentive to wait as Donnie had killed a huge 164 ½” 10 point buck out of this stand the year prior.

​Throughout the morning, many does and yearlings came in and out of the food plot located in a flood plain next to a creek approximately 200 yards off the river. The does had dispersed and the woods had gone quiet when a large body deer was spotted next to the creel walking in the direction of the hunters. Donnie alerted Sasha to the deer and she got her rifle up and ready.

The deer finally cleared the brushy area and it turned out to be a tall tined seven pointer we had nicknamed “High Tower”. The buck was paralleling the food plot, walking very quickly, and was in moderate brush. Sasha was unable to get a comfortable shot due to the amount of brush and overwhelming excitement, and at the last minute, handed the rifle to her dad, Donnie.

Donnie then pulled up for a shot at approximately 120 yards and made a very last second shot on the deer just as his body began to enter the thicker cover. The deer fell to the ground immediately and was recovered at this site.

​A huge amount of excitement filled the stand. “High Tower” has G2’s slightly over 13” in length and has a total score of 131 ¾”. This is one of the more memorable hunts for hunter Donnie Johnson as his daughter Sasha was with him. The only thing that could have made it better was to “High Tower” been Sasha’s first deer.

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