Kaleb
Berryhill
Morganton
Burke County, NC
9-14-2024
7pm
Barnett Crossbow
20 yards
Ground
Tracked it 50 yards
8
Flesh
9
No
Evening
The morning hunt on Saturday September 14, 2024 was exciting with us seeing 9 deer and my daughter almost getting a doe for her first deer. We left the morning hunt at 11am to go get lunch and buy some clothes because she’s growing like a weed. The evening hunt began with my daughter and I leaving home at 4pm to get back in the woods only to realize we had left the crossbow at home after getting to our destination. On the way back home to get the crossbow I asked if she wanted to hunt at home or go back to our spot and she insisted we go back. So after getting in the blind at 5pm we were sweating to death since it was 80 degrees and walked 200 yards to the blind. Once settled in we were watching a large retailed hawk hunt field mice while being pestered by 2 blue jays. The hawk went 2 for 2 on field mice before being chased off by someone’s Great Pyrenees and Lab that were “running amuck” as my daughter said. My daughter was a little discouraged, afraid no deer would show up due to the dogs, but I told her it was only 5:30pm and we had plenty of time. As my daughter is doing math problems on her tablet to help pass some time, I notice something white slipping through the woods only to realize the dogs were back. A few seconds later the blowing of some deer ensued. Now the discouragement really set in as my daughter said that we might as well leave because the dogs ruined the hunt. We were trying to decide whether or not to leave when I look up and notice a spike 40 yards out as it walks out of sight behind trees and brush. I tell my daughter let’s just stick it out. A few seconds later the spike starts blowing the woods down. I check our wind and it was perfect so I knew he wasn’t blowing at us. By this time it’s around 6:30pm and the woods go silent. Things have settled back down as it’s closing in on 7pm and I close one side of the blind because too much light was coming in. As soon as my butt hits the seat I look to my right and out pops a nice buck at 15 yards. I reach with my left hand and literally jerk my daughter up out of her seat scaring her to death. The buck stops behind some trees so I’m getting the crossbow and her in position. The buck steps out from behind the trees but she can’t get on him so we had to reposition the stand the crossbow was on and finally she zeroed in on him. I told her to put the top circle on him and let it fly. At this time he had turned quartering away and the next thing I know he jumps like a bucking bronco and I knew she hit him. I turned to look at my daughter who was in disbelief of what just happened. I told her she hit him and the tears ensued for us both as we gave each other a big hug. Unfortunately this all happened so fast we didn’t get the cameras turned on. I told her we needed to give him time to expire so we agreed to sit still for about 30 minutes which lasted all of 10 minutes. We were too excited to sit still so we snuck out quietly and took our stuff to the truck. We got our flashlights and headed back to our spot at 7:20pm. At the spot of impact we were looking for blood and the bolt but couldn’t find anything until we turned on the flashlight. The thick tree canopy made it dark and difficult to see without the flashlight. My daughter was getting really excited after spotting the blood. After following the blood trail for 15 yards we located the bolt which was saturated with blood. At this point I got really excited knowing he wasn’t going to be much farther. We had gotten maybe 15 more yards into the blood trail when we both see him laying 29 more yards ahead. She looks at me and says, “is that him.” I grabbed her up and said, “you got him babe!” We approach him and once we got our hands on him the tears started again and we realized he was a 9 pointer. I told her she was blessed because there are people that hunt for years without killing a 9 pointer or a buck, and for her first deer to be a 9 pointer at 8 years old was amazing!! She made a unbelievable quartering away shot for her age and took this deer without the aid of bait, scent, attractant, or anything. Just God, us, and plain ole hunt’n. We were both so thankful that God had this all planned out for us and gave us a memory that would never be forgotten.
