Female hunter bags two bucks in six minutes

Crossbow accounts for Orange County trophies.

When Rhonda Snyder of Hillsborough started dating her husband, Kenny, she admitted she went deer hunting with him for obvious reasons. Now with two high-school aged children, she has more time on her hands and has grown to love deer hunting, especially bow season.

She’s really been in love with it since Sept. 16, when she used her Tenpoint crossbow to take two impressive Orange County bucks – a main-frame 8-pointer with a drop tine and a big 7-pointer – within six minutes of each other.

The two bucks were standing in almost the same place when she took her shots, and she and her husband discovered the expired bucks within 10 feet of each other — with almost identical holes in their left sides indicating heart-lung shots.

In the same amount of time it takes to toast a couple of slices of bread, Rhonda Snyder put about 245 inches of antler on the ground, a feat not many other hunters — male or female — will accomplish in North Carolina this season.

“Kenny and I settled in our ground blind around 5 p.m.,” said Rhonda Snyder, who works as an accounted for a consulting firm in Hillsborough. “Around 5:35, we noticed two bucks approaching our set-up, and Kenny immediately recognized one of them as a big drop-tine buck from a trail-camera picture a friend had (gotten) about two weeks earlier on a neighboring farm over a half-mile away.”

Before reaching their primary shooting lane, the bigger buck suddenly became alert and seemed on edge. But after about a minute of surveying the area, it relaxed and turned toward the lane and took a couple of steps.

The second buck, noticing the 8-pointer’s suspicious behavior, held back about 20 or 30 yards and watched.

“The drop-tine buck never did quite reach our shooting lane, but I was able to adjust enough to get a good shot position and make the 20-yard shot,” Rhonda Snyder said. “The shot felt good, and I was pretty sure I had made a good hit.”

After her arrow passed through its body, the buck ran back in the direction from which it came and disappeared. The second buck ran off in the same direction.

“We checked the time, and it was 5:38 p.m.,” she said.

Kenny Snyder reloaded and re-cocked the crossbow.

“Considering the second buck was also a big one, we decided it would be worth (it) to see if he might return with a little coaxing,” Rhonda Snyder said. “Kenny got out his grunt call and blew on it four or five times over about a minute. After a brief wait, we noticed movement ahead and realized the second buck was coming back at a hurried pace.”

When the 7-pointer got within 30 or 40 yards, it put its nose to the ground and picked up the other buck’s track and quickly scent-trailed him to the exact spot where Rhonda Snyder had shot the first buck.

“I again steadied the sights behind his shoulder and squeezed the trigger,” she said. “The arrow hit its mark, and the buck quickly ran off in the same direction as the first. It was 5:44.”

After waiting 20 minutes, the Snyders climbed out of their ground blind and walked to where both deer had been standing.

“We found good (blood) sign at the spot where the deer had been and quickly picked up the trail,” Rhonda Snyder said. “After following the blood trails for about 75 yards or so, we spotted not one, but both bucks, ahead, lying just 10 yards apart.

“I couldn’t believe what had just happened.  I’d harvested my largest and third-largest bucks only six minutes apart.”

Kenny Snyder estimated the 8-pointer’s rack at 130 to 135 inches, while the 7-pointer will likely measure in the 110-inch range. The bigger buck weighed 175 pounds and the smaller one 160 pounds.

“We love venison, so my family will have some good eating for a while,” Rhonda Snyder said. “I’m a little sad my buck hunting is finished so early in the season, but I’m thankful to be in this position, really, and look forward to trying to do my part toward trimming the doe population a bit throughout the rest of the season.”

Rhonda Snyder, who has hunted deer seriously since 2003, said these two trophies were the 12th and 13th bucks she has killed. She’s also taken seven does.

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