Oct. 17–30 we were having a cold front move in with some mornings in the low 30s. On Oct. 20, Sam texted me a trail cam pic of a nice 8-point walking at sunset. On Friday he sent me a pic of two bucks fighting inside 20 yards of the popup blind. So he had me call him later that day and said we really need to try and go. I hadn’t really been watching the trail cams because we had a trespasser last week and neighboring dogs almost daily. He asked me to put corn out as well which peaked my interest because that means deer are walking. So I checked a couple cameras and saw a couple bucks patterning every 6 hours. The problem was my wife Jennifer was leaving for Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, and I wanted to spend as much time with her and her with the boys. 

Friday we went to dinner with Uncle Kevin and he wanted me to play golf Saturday, which I declined. Told him we weren’t doing anything but I told Camden, my oldest son, to wake me up before 5:30 if he was awake and I would check cameras to make sure nothing walked within the past 2 hours or so. Well, 5:32 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, Camden woke me up and told me to check cameras. I got up, went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. We had maybe one picture from the entire night. I woke Jennifer up and told her Camden woke me up to hunt, and she was adamant we need to go. We brushed our teeth and went downstairs to get dressed. 

We made the 35-minute drive with ease, but I had never been in the dark and couldn’t find the turn. So we had to take the back way, which had us driving all over the property and when we parked under Keller’s tree and opened the door, there were dogs barking inside 100 yards. Our heads dropped. We just went through a long drive and waking up early, but I said screw it and we drove over the corn (quickly) and parked at the other side about 100–150 yards from the blind. We got out and Camden was scared because of the dogs still barking, but I reassured him I would protect us. We sprayed our boots with no-scent spray and walked in. The windows were barely cracked on the blind and the tripod wouldn’t reach so we walked through how we would shoot with me holding the barrel. It looked like it would work.

I was on a stool and Camden to my left on the ground. The blind was bought for me by Jennifer for our anniversary last year and two of the sides are see-through from inside to out, but you can’t see inside from outside, so Camden could see the birds and rabbit on the corn. We had a rooster crowing behind us and again a bad sign was the neighbor shot at 7:17, then again at 7:35. We were both getting cold around 8, and Camden asked when the deer would come out or when we would leave. I told him I didn’t know and we would leave at 9. I kept looking to our right because it was thin with only a few trees but still woodsy looking. Every now and then I’d look behind us toward the truck thinking the deer could see the white thing at the end of the road and spook. I got my phone back from Camden one more time around 8:15 to see when the last time we had a buck on camera was in the last couple days and it was 8:56. 

Around 8:30 I heard a step to my right on some leaves so I eased my head and eyes to see a buck big enough to shoot (wasn’t letting him shoot a spike). I tapped him on the shoulder motioning for my phone and to be quiet. Then motioned to slowly get up. He got a little stuck and the leaves under us were not quiet, so I picked him up by the armpit, all while the deer is staring at the ground blind and walking toward the corn but still in the woods. He stopped behind the last tree before the road which was when we got in position, gun up, sight on, safety off. I whispered to Camden that as soon as he walks out, put the dot on his shoulder and pull the trigger (he knows not to touch the trigger unless shooting). The deer took two steps and stared at us again. Camden asked if he could shoot and I looked at the gun and the deer trying to see if I could tell it was lined up, then I had to trust him. He pulled the trigger, BOOM, little kick from the recoil and we both looked at the buck on the ground. I laid the gun against the blind and hugged him so tight repeating, “you did it buddy, you got him!” He was so excited and it was so emotional to see how excited he was. We hugged for another minute or so then I told him we need to go make sure he is dead. He walked behind me and I had my pistol out. He grabbed a stick to poke him but I didn’t want him to get close. Then we drug him into the road to get a picture. He was pretty heavy, probably 140 pounds. So we got a few pics and headed to the truck. 

I had Camden on the tailgate and I picked the deer up by the antlers. Camden held them while I lifted and we got the deer in. One of the hoofs flew back and hit me in the cheek and Camden laughed pretty hard. We went to get some more corn and of course little buddy needed a Sprite and gummy worms. Then he helped me put the corn out and we headed to the processor.

That was a 40-minute drive to the processor, and Camden got to meet Mr. Bobby who I used when we first moved to Columbia in 2015. Mr. Bobby got a couple pictures of us, talked to Camden and congratulated him and made him put the tag on the antler for the mounting (European skull mount). We left and got some biscuits ‘n’ gravy, then went home and enjoyed.