Thousands of dollars in prizes
Becca Koon of Gilbert, SC is the Grand Prize winner of the 2022 Carolina Sportsman Bag-A-Buck Contest. Koon entered the contest with three different bucks, and provided photos and videos of all three hunts in her contest submissions.
Koon’s first buck came in Lexington County within the first week of South Carolina’s Aug. 15 season opener for Game Zone 3. This was an 8-point buck that she killed while hunting from a two-person stand with her daughter Lila keeping her company and helping her with camera work. They captured some great video of the hunt from multiple camera angles.
On Oct. 3, Koon killed her second buck of the season while targeting a specific deer she’d been observing on trail camera footage. She’d hunted several evenings in a row, passing on numerous deer while waiting on her target animal.
When an 11-point buck walked within 20 yards of her stand, she realized it was one she’d never seen before, not even in any of her trail camera photos. She decided to shoot this buck, which was nicer than her original target. Like her first contest submission, this one also included a video of the hunt.
Later that same week, on Oct. 7, she was in the stand again, hoping one of two big 9-point bucks that her cameras had been tracking would show up. She’d passed on several other bucks since shooting the 11-pointer.
Koon had the cameras rolling again during this hunt, and a few deer showed up feeding on acorns and her bait pile when she noticed a big-bodied deer in the background, walking along the acorn ridge. It was a 9-pointer, but it wasn’t either of those she was targeting.
While watching the deer, she noticed just how unique it was. All four of the buck’s legs were white below the knees, the back of both hams were also white, and it had a solid white tail with a black tip.
When that deer turned broadside, she delivered a shot that took it down.
The winning combo
Of the three bucks she entered, none were the biggest of the contest. However, our panel of judges stressed that it is rarely the biggest buck that ever wins the contest’s Grand Prize.
As one panel member stated: “Many contestants send in their photo with very little explanation of the hunt. Some don’t even tell us what county in which they were hunting.
“We appreciate all of those entrants, but what we really love is to hear the whole story of how the hunt went down. Koon provided us with pictures, stories and even videos of all three of her hunts. One of her videos also included kids, and how she and her husband keep kids involved in the outdoors. That added to the appeal greatly. She would have been a strong candidate even if she’d entered only one of her hunts.”
As the Grand Prize winner Koon was awarded numerous prizes, including a 2-day, two-person deer/hog hunt at Cherokee Run Hunting Lodge in Chesterfield, SC.
She also received a 3-year subscription to Carolina Sportsman Magazine, as well as these prizes:
Pyramyd Air Gun package: .50-caliber Seneca Dragon Claw Ready-to-Hunt combo
MAGLITE Field Ops Bundle
Grey Man Tactical Vehicle Hunting Gun Rack package
Barnett Hyper XP 405 Crossbow
To read Koon’s complete stories and see her videos, as well as the other 300+ entrants, visit carolinasportsman.com/bag-a-buck-gallery.
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