Cameron Vet wins November Bag-A-Buck Contest

10-Pointer falls to muzzleloader

Veteran’s Day last November was an especially good one for Ben Simmons of Cameron. A 52-year-old retired U.S. Army veteran who is an employment manager at Fayetteville State University, Simmons killed a nice 10-point buck the afternoon of Nov. 11 on a piece of leased property in Lee County.

Two days later, he entered North Carolina Sportsman’s Bag-A-Buck contest presented by Rivers West, and on Nov. 30, his entry was drawn as winner of the monthly contest for November.

Simmons’ monthly prize package includes a $25 gift certificate from Overton’s, a camping blanket from Rivers West, a muzzleloader from Nichols Store in Rock Hill, S.C., a North Carolina Sportsman T-shirt and window decal, a Tink’s scent kit, Realtree hats and Monster Buck DVDs, a Plano storage box, a truck-bed liner from Line-X, and a copy of Cooking on the Wild Side by Ty Conti, the magazine’s publisher.

In addition, Simmons will remain eligible, along with every other hunter who enters the contest through Dec. 31, for the grand prize: a 2-day deer hunt from Fourth Generation Outfitters, a Weatherby rifle and $25 gift certificate from Overton’s, a Leopold scope, a fiberglass deer blind from Four Sons Marine, a truck-bed liner from Line-X and a full set of hunting clothes from Rivers West.

Simmons got a glimpse of the big buck he killed the morning of Nov. 11, but the buck slipped back in a thicket without presenting him the opportunity for a killing shot. Instead, his younger brother, visiting from New York, killed a 6-point buck – his first deer ever.

That afternoon, it was starting to get dark, and Simmons was thinking it was going to take a miracle to outdo his brother. Set up in a tree stand adjacent to a thick bedding area, he saw the buck ease out of the thicket in his direction.

“It was about 5 o’clock, and I looked up and he was about 30 yards away. I had a good view of his vitals, but I waited three or four minutes, then he stepped out into just the right spot,” Simmons said.

A single shot from his CVA 209 muzzleloader, loaded with a Powerbelt bullet and Triple Seven powder, took the buck through the vitals, dropping it on the spot. Simmons said the buck weighed around 180 pounds and carried a symmetric 5×5 frame.