It was 4:45 in the afternoon on December 20 and Evan Poole and his 9-year-old son, Bryce, were waiting patiently in a deer stand on their favorite hunting grounds in Winona.
All of a sudden a doe stepped out into the open field and then stopped. Bryce’s father gave his son the signal to wait. A few moments later, a large buck, chasing after the doe, trotted onto meadow. They both saw the horns.
The son looked at his father who nodded that it was OK to shoot.
Bryce peered back into his scope and steadily aimed his Youth Model Ruger 308 rifle and pulled the trigger. It was a perfect shot. The deer didn’t travel far.
When Bryce and his father made it to the deer, the two were astonished by how big it was. Young Bryce, a fourth grader at Washington School, had killed a deer before, but never one like this.
The deer had 21 points and will have a green antler score of more than 180.
The Pooles will have the deer processed to eat for later, and Bryce will enter his kill in a Big Buck Contest at Simmons Sporting Goods in Bastrop, Louisiana.
Whether he wins a contest or not, the father and son will have a memory they will share for ever.
“God was on our side and we give Him all the glory,” Evan Poole said.
The father added that he is proud of the young hunter his son has become.
“The biggest thing is he has learned to be patient and to let a deer walk away,” the father said. “I am very proud of him, and I am so happy that we had this once in a lifetime experience.”
