Hunter hunting along a marsh

Reeanna Etts

Information

  • Date Taken: 10/27/2021
  • Time Of Day: Evening
  • Method: Crossbow
  • Official Score: To be determined
  • County: St. Joseph County
  • Property: Private
  • Dressed Weight: 227

I headed out to my tree-stand mid-afternoon, a stand I haven’t sat in yet this season but I had a gut feeling and the wind was perfect for it. An hour went by and here came some doe(s) and fawns in the bean field to the right of me. Not long after I had a shooter 8-point come sneaking up on me in the woods to the left of me by the time I saw him he was already out of my shoot lanes, and off he went. Back to the bean field a little spike came out pushing doe(s) and actually pushed one into the woods directly behind my stand. I thought forsure she would wind me up but she didn’t. She came right under my stand and was actually sniffing my bag I had at the base of my tree. A few seconds later she hopped the fence and was back picking around in the bean field. At this time several more doe(s) and fawns joined them in the field and out came a 6-point 90 yards away. Then all of a sudden the deer were gone. By this time I notice in the woods directly in front of me a dandy of a buck just strolling through! (This buck is one we have not seen on any of our cameras)I had time to prepare this time. I turned to the left and had my feet dangling off my stand. My bow pulled up and ready to go the moment he stepped into my shooting lane. I gave a grunt. He stopped, picked his head up and looked in my direction. I let an arrow fly at 23 yards. He took off and as he ran off I saw my arrow stuck right behind his front shoulder. I called my dad soon after shaking and finding it hard to breathe. I told him “DAD I JUST SHOT A GIANT!” I got out of my stand and headed back to the house to back out and give him time to go die, we headed back an hour later. I walked out to the place I shot him and no blood…no blood for 35 yards and then all the sudden two, three drops. My dad took off in one direction and my brother in the other he wasnt 5 yards from the last blood piled up in the thickest brush possible! It was a perfect 1 lung shot and cut the top of the valves on the heart!