8-point buck was hunter’s first
Michelle Sawyer of Latta, SC killed a Marion County 8-point buck on Sept. 4, 2024 during an evening hunt. She shot the deer with a Browning A-Bolt .243 from 100 yards away from an elevated stand.
She was newly familiar with the buck. It had shown up numerous times on trail camera footage over the previous week, including a couple of daytime visits.
“This buck had shown up on camera in daylight hours the previous two days with the change in weather temperatures and the cool front coming in,” said Sawyer.
She was hoping to score her first buck, and she and her boyfriend decided that day would offer her a good chance.
“My boyfriend, Colby Sarvis, and I decided that we would take advantage of the first chance we got to go hunting together on Sept. 4,” she said. “We knew this buck and several others were feeding during daylight hours and thought it would offer the best chance to finally harvest a buck. We struck out to get into the stand that afternoon around 6:15pm, and hoped that the cooling temperatures and northeast wind would not only keep the bucks active, but would deter the mosquitoes as well (they were terrible even with a Thermacell!).”
Pretty quickly, they started to see activity.
“It wasn’t long into our sit when 11 does and a spike popped out and began to feed,” she said. “They stuck around for about a half hour before starting to filter off into the woods. As the last few does were left feeding, another deer popped out along our shooting lane. The doe looked behind her and here he came, walking out broadside.”
Sawyer wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass her by.
“I steadied myself on the shooting rail as the buck stopped, and squeezed off a shot,” she said. “The buck hunched up and took off into the woods as if he had been hit hard in the shoulder. We climbed down out of the stand and walked to where we had last seen the buck enter the woods and went roughly 20 yards before finding him.”
This was Sawyer’s third year of hunting, and she’s glad to have finally bagged a buck
“After a long three seasons of being patient and waiting, my wait was over!” she said. “We drug him out and snapped a few pictures, tagged and reported him, and off we went to T-Dubbs Deer Processing in Latta for processing! Patience definitely pays off!”
Bag A Buck Contest
Congratulations to Sawyer, 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
