Ridgeland fire fighter gets 5-minute buck, Bag-A-Buck prize

Lineace’s entry is November winner in South Carolina Sportsman contest

It was the best 5-minute hunting trip of Greg Linacre’s career; it produced a 6-point buck and a Bag-A-Buck contest prize.

A 26-year-old Bluffton firefighter from Ridgeland, Linacre eased into the Beaufort County woods the afternoon of Nov. 10, intending to find a stand site in a new area he was hunting. Along the way, he killed a heavy, main-frame 6-point buck with small “crab claws” on the end of each beam.

He entered the buck in South Carolina Sportsman’s Bag-A-Buck contest two days later, and on Dec. 1, his entry was drawn as the winner of the monthly contest for November.

For winning the monthly contest, Linacre will receive a gift certificate to the online Sportsman Store and a year’s subscription to South Carolina Sportsman magazine. Along with every other entrant, he will be eligible for the grand prize, which includes a Leupold optics package (rangefinder, binoculars, scope), a blackpowder gun from Nichols Store in Rock Hill and a two-person, one-day hunt from Cherokee Ridge Hunting Lodge in Chesterfield. It will be awarded at the Palmetto Sportsmen’s Classic in Columbia next March.

Two minutes into a 10-minute walk, Linacre saw big antlers poking out of thick brush to his left. He shouldered his Howa .308 and saw a big buck staring back at him.

“He was bedded down with a doe; I think that’s why he didn’t get up and run,” said Linacre, who had a shot through the brush at the buck’s neck. Moments later, the 165-pound buck, which had a 17½-inch spread, was down for good.

“My hunt lasted five minutes from the time I left my truck to the time I had my hands on his antlers.,” Linacre said.