Joe LeBlanc

Not a monster buck, but it was my first eight point buck. I stopped hunting when I was in high school. Fast forward 20 years, the woman I was dating got me back into hunting, and went with me to buy a crossbow. Got my first buck ever last year, a small five point and a doe. First deer in over 20 years, I was excited to be back in it.

This year, I got a doe a couple weeks ago, and last night, with the weather changing, and snow in the forecast, I headed out earlier than usual. A tiny spike horn came in, he left, half an hour later a taller spike horn came in, he left for about five minutes. A doe came in, and the eight point I’ve seen on camera for the past few weeks popped out from behind the tree.

The taller spike showed back up, and they butted heads for about thirty seconds before the eight turned broadside, and I pulled the trigger.

My dad came out and helped me track it for nearly two miles over three hours. We called it quits and I told him I’d come back out the following morning. At 7am, I loaded up and headed back out, to my last blood spot. I wandered around for an hour, with no luck. I was about to give up, and I went back to the last spotted blood. I knelt down, and looked the only direction I hadn’t yet walked, and saw a blood spot headed into light tree covering. I found the blood path, and continued following it… I marked every 20 or so feet, and then he crossed a trail and headed into thick woods.

I was expecting defeat. But I made it 20 feet into the thick trees and spotted him perched up against a tree. Easily dragged him out onto the trail, and my dad came to help me load him up.

I was overwhelmed with emotion, as I had truly expected it to be a lost buck, and when I found it, the first person I contacted was the woman who got me back into this. I was met with a “I’m proud of you” response.

It was worth being freezing cold and soaking wet to see that message show up.