A good deed turned into a really good day for Chad Everett of Mebane. Last Nov. 17, Everett, a fireman for the city of Burlington, decided since it was raining, he would pass up hunting and head to his grandmother’s home near Hillsborough to get her leaves up.
That morning, while tooling on his lawn tractor, sweeping up leaves, Everett happened to look across a small pond and saw a big buck standing in a hay field.
About 30 minutes later, after retrieving a shotgun from his truck and sneaking up on the buck, Everett was waiting on his brother to bring him a rifle. But when the buck appeared ready to leave the area, Everett felt like he had to take a shot. He hammered the buck once, then a second time as it circled, putting it down.
Two months later, he had another really good day — when his entry in North Carolina Sportsman’s Bag-A-Buck contest was chosen as the grand-prize winner. He picked up his Leopold Vari-XIII scope and a Line-X truck bed liner at the Dixie Deer Classic in Raleigh in early March, and he’ll receive a 2-day hunt this fall from Fourth Generation Outfitters in Currituck County.
“The rain was coming in that day, so I decided to go to my grandmother’s and get her leaves up,” said Everett, 31. “I was mulching the leaves up, and I looked up, and he was standing in this hayfield by this little pond.
“There was a big silo, and he was behind the silo from me, so I got my shotgun and got around behind the silo. I looked out, and he was bedded down, facing me, about 50 yards away. I called my brother to see what I should do — I’d left the mower running, but I’d disengaged the blade. I peaked around the corner, and all I could see was his face and head.
“My brother was gonna bring my rifle, and he was on his way. In fact, he was just about to turn into the driveway when I peaked around the corner and the buck stood up. I had my shotgun (a Remington 11-87), and I had a 3½-inch shell in the barrel backed up by three 3-inch shells, so I took the safety off and shot.”
Everett said the buck, 50 yards away, jumped straight up, obviously hit by the load of 00 buckshot. It started away from him but circled, and Everett suddenly found himself with his gun up as the deer headed straight for him. He fired again at 15 yards, and the buck stumbled down, piling up five yards from him.
The buck had an 18-inch wide, 10-point rack Everett scored at 137 B&C points.
“I hunt pretty close to there, and we had been seeing some nice deer around,” he said. “When I shot him, a little doe got up and ran off; he was bedded down in that hayfield with that doe.”
With the deer down, Everett went back and finished getting up those leaves.
Everett’s entry was selected at random from all entries in the 4-month contest — including the winners of the four monthly contests.
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