Syracuse.com - Parish woman gets her first buck -- a massive, 8-pointer

[HuntingNY-News]

"I expect I'll never get another deer this size, but the memory of Saturday's hunt is part of me now and I will always treasure it," she said.

Jen Baker Reeher, of Parish, was hunting recently on her land and shot this impressive, 8-point buck. She wrote:

"I've got a nice deer story and pictures that my friends said I should share with you.

"This is my fifth year hunting, but I had never gotten a buck before. Saturday morning I was hunting on my land up in Parish (Oswego County). I dragged myself out of bed late, and wound up spooking a doe when I came into my stand a half hour before sunrise. So I was kind of mad at myself for that.

"At around 7:30 , I heard something squishing around in the swamp behind me. I was peering through the hemlock branches trying to see, and I caught a glimpse of big antlers. But I had to get him to come into the open! I did a loud grunt on the grunt call, and he stopped and came to the edge of the trees, but it wasn't far enough. So I grunted again, and I heard him start walking back into the swamp...but then he turned and came back, looking all around, and stepped into the clearing where I could see him for the first time. He was the most enormous deer I had ever seen.

"He took a step, quartering away at 45 yards, and I took a single shot with my Marlin lever action 30-30. He fell down but then got up and ran away in slow motion. I felt that it was a good shot, but now I couldn't see him anymore and regretted not taking a second shot at the back of his shoulders or neck as he ran away.

"I waited in my stand for twenty minutes and called my husband. When he arrived we started looking. There was no blood trail, even in the spot where I was sure the buck has first fallen. I started slowly up the trail where the buck had run, and 50 yards further on I saw the big antlers sticking up. Other than that he was hard to see, because he was laying on his belly and no white was showing. The only blood trail was within 10 feet of where he finally fell.

"We discovered that my shot had taken out the top half of his heart, and broken the shoulder on the other side. There wasn't an exit wound. He was a tough old deer to get up and keep running after that!

"He's an eight point with very thick antlers, and weighed in at 226 field dressed (including tenderloins and what was left of the heart). (I have funny video of me trying to drag him -- thank goodness for my wonderful husband!).

"I feel very fortunate and blessed to have had the chance to take a deer like this, especially as my first buck. I expect I'll never get another deer this size, but the memory of Saturday's hunt is part of me now and I will always treasure it."

Editor's note: Baker Reeher's property in Parish is in the Northern Zone, where the regular deer hunting season for firearms began Oct. 26. The Southern Zone opener is this Saturday.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog