My nephew, Zaydin, has been hunting with me for four years. Last year, he moved to Wisconsin, so this season I had to wait for him to be free and come down to hunt with me. That happened to be right at the beginning of November.
I had some intel on the farm and scouted a great spot — the same area Zaydin had hunted nearby and liked the previous year. We were going to hang two stands.
Before we even left the truck, Zaydin, who is 15, insisted on shooting his bow several times. This made me incredibly proud. When I was 15, I just wanted to hit the woods as fast as possible. But Zaydin was ethical and demanded he be confident in his shot. I’m glad he did, because I had to move a pin on his sight before he was finally satisfied.
The Stands and the Encounter
With that resolved, we hiked back. Zaydin carried one stand, and I carried the other, along with our bows, packs, and cameras. As I worked on securing the first stand, I had Zaydin sit on the ground, watching for deer in the field. Once his stand was secured, I told him to climb up and sit while I worked on hanging the second one behind him.
Suddenly, Zaydin whispered, “Uncle Chucky, there are does coming out.”
I froze, settling onto a tree limb as a group of does filtered out into the field. It wasn’t long after that Zaydin whispered again, this time with more urgency: “Big buck. There’s a big buck coming.”
I quickly grabbed the camera and, just barely, got it recording. The deer worked the scrape in front of us and then paused in the shooting lane. Zaydin stopped him perfectly. It was a slight quartering-towards shot, but he made a great decision and sent his arrow right into the heart.
Excitement poured out of both of us, filling the air. It felt like reliving the moment I got my own first buck, and I got to watch Zaydin be just as thrilled.
The buck bolted back into the woods. As I watched Zaydin’s reaction, I looked up and saw a doe staring at us from just ten yards away. I quickly told him not to move, and he froze until she finally put her head down and walked away. Then, we celebrated with a high-five.
The Tracking Challenge
We climbed down. We had seen his arrow still lodged in the buck’s shoulder as he ran, but we searched for blood and found none right away. I opted to back out.
“We’ll head back to the truck and drive to the other side of the farm,” I told him. “I know where this deer ran.”
Last season, I shot a buck in the same area and hit him in the shoulder. That deer literally ran back to the thick bedding area, and I knew Zaydin’s buck would follow the same path.
Back at the truck, Uncle Chuck was tired. I had been working before hunting, then clearing shooting lanes and hanging stands. I started to doze off. Zaydin, however, couldn’t take it. The second I opened my eyes, he asked, “You ready to go yet? Can we go look for my deer?”
I laughed. “Yes, buddy, we’re going to find your deer.” That feeling — that pure, unbridled excitement — is what we want all young hunters to experience in the outdoors.
We waited another 30 minutes, and I convinced him to eat some food. Then, we drove to the edge of the woods and started walking toward the bedding area. We got to the spot where I found my buck last year, looked up, and there he was — alive, lying in a briar patch and looking back at us. We immediately backed off to give the deer more time.
The Final Recovery
We grabbed our lights and headed back down the trail. I accidentally took a different path this time, and we scared a deer. I thought it was his buck, and I feared the hunt was over. But Zaydin was insistent.
“I don’t think that’s where he was, Uncle Chucky. I think my deer was closer to the creek.”
I listened to him. “Maybe you’re right, buddy.” We walked back up to the original location. Sure enough, his buck was still there, finally expired. We must have scared the life out of him the second time!
6 TRACKING TIPS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE DEER
After four years of bowhunting, Zaydin Mims had finally recovered his first-ever whitetail buck.
In previous years, he had been fortunate enough to harvest three does, and I had always field-dressed them for him. But this was his first buck, and he’s getting older. “It’s time for you to learn how to field dress your own deer,” I told him.
I needed that laugh. He made a classic, hilarious mistake that every hunter learns not to do, bringing back memories of my own early days. It wasn’t so funny when the smell wouldn’t go away as we dragged the deer, but you have to learn somehow, right?
We dragged the buck out to the field edge, turned the truck around for better light, and snapped some great pictures. He called everyone he knew to share the news. Now, I feel like I’m in trouble — I have a feeling he’s going to be that lucky every time and shoot a lot of big bucks!
