Laura Tucker wins October Bag A Buck

Tucker tags out with wide-racked buck

Hunting in Warren County, NC on Oct. 25, Laura Tucker killed a buck she’d observed on trail cameras for some time.

The 10-point buck she’d nicknamed “Tex” had a 21-inch spread and weighed 174 pounds. It taunted her on her Stealth Cam that morning.

Tucker was taking a break at work when she used her cell phone to see if anything had shown up at her stand, and there was Tex. She decided that once she got off work, she’d try her luck and see if he’d make an afternoon appearance.

Once in her ground blind, Tucker saw some action almost immediately when a doe made a brief appearance to eat radishes from the food plot. When that deer left, a 30-minute lull followed, but things quickly got exciting when Tucker saw another deer, this time a buck.

“I saw a deer moving from the top right through a small patch of trees toward the food plot,” she said. “I could not tell what it was at first, so I scanned the area while waiting for it to appear in the clearing. When it did, I saw the side view of a buck. But I could not immediately realize which one it was, until he turned his 21-inch wide rack to face me.”

Interesting photos

“I cocked the hammer on my TC Encore muzzleloader. As soon as he stopped broadside about 80 yards away, I pulled the trigger and the smoke cloud ensued. And my last buck tag for NC was filled,” she said.

Tucker submitted a series of photos to our Bag A Buck Contest taken by her trail camera, showing the buck in the clearing that morning, then showing the buck go down as muzzleloader smoke billows from her ground blind.

Tucker wins a 1-year subscription to Carolina Sportsman Magazine, a Mini Maglite, an 18-ounce Yeti Rambler and a two-pack of Lowcountry Seasonings, and is entered for the Grand Prize, which includes a 2-day, two-person hunt at Cherokee Run Hunting Lodge in Chesterfield, SC.