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Austin Shepherd nonetheless remembers the enormous 10-point his dad killed when he was only a child rising up in Carrollton, Ohio. They entered the 175-inch buck into an area contest, and Shepherd bragged concerning the deer to any schoolmates who would pay attention.
“I believed it was an enormous deal again within the day, and I keep in mind going to highschool and telling all the children, ‘My dad killed a monster!’” he tells Out of doors Life. “However I by no means imagined that I’d truly kill one thing greater than his buck.”
On Oct. 21, the 26-year-old bowhunter lastly did simply that. After chasing his goal buck for greater than a yr, he killed the tall 10-pointer in the identical Ohio county the place his dad took his 175-inch buck so a few years prior. The next day, Shepherd took his buck to a taxidermist, who gave it a inexperienced rating of 185 inches.
Shepherd says he first caught the buck on digital camera final July. It was simply the largest deer he’d seen on the piece of personal land he hunts in Carroll County. The buck disappeared simply as rapidly, nevertheless, and Shepherd wouldn’t see it once more till close to the top of the season in early January.
“The final time I received him on digital camera was on Jan. 3, and I hunted the final day of muzzleloader season,” he says. “I sat all afternoon and once I heard a shot proper earlier than sunset, my coronary heart sank. I believed he was useless.”
By the point spring rolled round, Shepherd nonetheless hadn’t seen the buck once more. However he stored at it via the summer time, resetting his path cameras at completely different areas across the property. He lastly had an opportunity to hunt there on Oct. 21, and when he pulled playing cards early that morning, he noticed an image of the elusive 10 level. It had been taken 5 days earlier. So, Shepherd repositioned his treestand and climbed into it. He’d already made up his thoughts that he’d sit there all day if he needed to.
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Round 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, Shepherd watched a smaller five-point come into vary and let it stroll. Roughly 20 minutes later, the massive 10 confirmed itself on the sting of a close-by cornfield. The buck slowly labored alongside the sector edge, stopping each every now and then to feed. It made a scrape at 40 yards after which labored even nearer to Shepherd’s stand.
The buck was nonetheless feeding when it received to twenty yards. Shepherd let an arrow fly, hitting it somewhat excessive and behind the shoulder. The buck fell in its tracks.
“I would’ve gotten him within the backbone as a result of he died proper there within the grass,” Shepherd says. “I climbed out of that tree and took off working again to the home. I knew he wasn’t going anyplace.”
Shepherd got here again to get better the buck alongside along with his brother, mother, and fiancé, who introduced alongside their two-year-old son. And whereas the boy may be too younger to ever keep in mind seeing his dad’s buck that night time, he’ll certainly acknowledge its antlers on the wall as he grows up. If nothing else, it’ll give the younger hunter one thing to try for.
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