After hunting all last season together in the same stand, my son, Caleb and I put up another stand for him to hunt out of. The season started off slow, with both of us reporting seeing does and yearlings around our stands. On this particular morning, we were in our stands and I shot at a deer. Caleb, having heard me shoot, asked if it was me and wanted to know if I wanted him to come help look for blood. I told him to stay put, and finish hunting his stand. I found my buck, a 4 point, and loaded him on the four wheeler and took it to the truck. Caleb seemed a little discouraged, having not seen anything that morning. As I sat in the truck drinking my coffee, we exchanged texts and I assured him that he needed to be patient. I then heard a shot ring out, followed by a text: “BIG BUCK BIG BUCK”
Unbeknownst to me, as I was texting Caleb, he heard a noise coming from behind his stand, where never really thought to look. The noise was coming from a pine tree that was shaking. Caleb looked through his binoculars and saw one tine. He said he pulled his 6mm Creedmore rifle up and found three tines rubbing on the pine tree through the scope. Caleb said he watched the buck for about 10 seconds and pullled the trigger.
When I got there, I had Caleb stay in the stand and walk me to where he had last seen the deer. When I got to the spot, I couldn’t believe my eyes!
He had shot a 171 lb, 8 point at about 80 yards, and drop it where it stood.
Talk about a proud dad moment!
Hunter’s name: Joshua Miller
Florence South Carolina
Darlington, SC
19 Oct, 2025
8-point buck
