The Rewards of Persistence

© By Othmar Vohringer

Usually I write a small comment to the Big deer Contest entries but this time I feel that Jonah Horst’s story is so compelling that I let it speak for itself. Enjoy.

Congratulations Jonah on a great buck and good luck in the contest.

Big Deer Contest Entry #9

Hey, my name is Jonah Horst, I am 13 years old and here’s my story. (This buck was taken with a Weatherby .257 Roberts) (B+C score totaled 131.75")

During the last week of archery season, I made what I thought to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life, but this mistake actually happened to make this years hunting experience even more memorable. During the last week of archery season I decided to go out on a fairly ugly day. When I got in my stand the weather wasn’t terrible, but all of the sudden it started pouring. I was contemplating calling it quits when the rain turned into sleet. I decided to stay out and fight the weather after a nice 6 pointer came trotting past me; I came to full draw, and just couldn’t get a clear shot.

Then I hung around for a while and from that point on I saw nothing. The sun was going down, I was completely soaked, and I was ready to quit. I climbed down my tree stand, and walked out into the alfalfa field below my tree stand. I reached down to pick up my grunt call, and when I lifted my head my body suddenly felt hot when I saw a beautiful eight point buck walking towards me. I quickly scurried behind a bush when it stopped and looked behind himself. I was just shocked, I kept thinking to myself, “all of the times I have been hunting, the one time I get down early, a great buck comes walking towards me, now what are the odds of that”.

When I first caught sight of the rack I noticed its towering tines, it wasn’t very wide, but it sure was tall and heavy, I still remember the picture of the perfectly symmetrical buck walking towards me during the sleet storm. The Buck kept walking towards me until it got about 20 yards away; the buck knew I was there when it got closer. The buck quickly ran away, it was the fastest I have ever seen a whitetail run. I felt terrible after I got home. I kept picturing the deer in my head, and reliving the hunt. I hunted that buck every day that week, and hadn’t seen the slightest trace of the amazing buck.

Now around comes rifle season. Every year I go down to my grandfather’s farm in Fulton County for the first day of rifle season. This year I wasn’t sure if I really had my heart set on hunting in Fulton the first day, I just couldn’t stop thinking about the buck I had seen during archery season. But finally I convinced myself that the eight-point buck had been killed, or I scared it away for good, so I went to my grandfather’s farm for the first day. I had no opportunities at shooter bucks the first or second day down in Fulton County, PA but I wasn’t really upset that I hadn’t killed one yet because I knew it was possible for the big eight point to be alive.

The second week I decided to hunt at my house, where I had first had an encounter with the big buck. The first morning after it got light out, I heard footsteps back in the thicket in front of me; I was hunting with my dad so he told me to get ready. After that the footsteps got close and closer, stopping every one and a while, but eventually I saw a tall rack come over the hill in front of me, it was about 30 yards away, I kept walking, then he saw us, and suddenly stopped. This left me with a shot where the deer was quartering towards me hard. I decided to put the crosshairs right on his shoulder and squeeze, right after my shot I knew I hit the deer, we heard the deer crash, and when we found my deer the first thing I said was, “dad he’s the one.”

If you would like to enter our 2008 Big Deer Contest and become eligible to win a fantastic prize, provided by the good folks at Versus Country, read the contest entry rules here.

Tags: Big Deer Contest, Bowhunting, big Bucks, Pennsylvania, Rifle Hunting Season