8-point trophy came 5 days after youth killed first buck
Ten-year-old Jacob Pearce of Currie killed his first buck, an 8 pointer, on Nov. 5, and his dad said while it was a nice buck, especially for a first, it was nothing compared to the buck he killed just five days later. That one was also an 8 pointer, but unlike the first buck, this was a 130-class deer, a true trophy, especially for Pender County.
Pearce was hunting with his dad at their hunt club, and had gotten in their box stand that afternoon. Pearce was looking at his iPad, which his dad said keeps the young hunter from getting bored. Around 5:20 p.m., his dad heard a promising noise in the woods.
“We hadn’t seen anything yet, but when I heard that noise, I told Jacob that I heard a limb snap, and that I thought we were about to see something,” said Robert Pearce.
“Dad, you say that all the time, but we never see anything,” replied Jacob Pearce.
But this time was different. Robert Pearce saw the deer first, and told his son that once the buck cleared some bushes, he should be able to see it too.
A few minutes later, the young hunter did see the deer, and it was headed for a corn pile about 75 yards from their stand. His dad told him that if the deer made it to the corn pile, he could shoot it if he wanted to.
“He got in my lap because he can barely see through the window in the stand otherwise. The buck went right to the corn pile and I asked if he wanted to shoot it. He said he did. I think I was shaking more than he was,” said Robert Pearce.
“He was aiming at it, and aiming at it, and I said he’s not going to stand there but forever. And then Jacob pulled the trigger.”
The two got out of the stand right away, as daylight was waning. They went right to the spot the deer was standing when Jacob Pearce shot, but they didn’t find any blood. A friend showed up to help them look, and luckily Robert Pearce had heard the direction the deer had run after the shot. They followed that path, still not finding any blood.
“I thought Jacob must have missed. There was just no blood anywhere, and I knew I was in the right spot. Then I found one small spot of blood, so we didn’t give up. We finally found the deer dead about 15 yards from there,” said Robert Pearce.
Jacob Pearce killed the deer with a Savage .243 youth model, and his dad said it’s got him wanting to hunt as much as possible. Fred Gorsky of Freddybears Taxidermy of Currie scored the buck and is handling the mounting duties.
“He’s still excited, but I think I’m even more excited for him. I’ve been hunting a long time and the biggest deer I’ve ever killed is maybe a 119. This is really the deer of a lifetime for Pender County, and I’m glad he got it. I think he’s hooked on hunting for life,” said Robert Pearce.
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