A native of Fincastle, Jason Spradlin has lived in North Carolina since 2000.

He makes a point to return to Virginia to hunt each November with his brother, but he also hunts in North Carolina. He killed this great buck with this bow on Monday, Oct. 1. Spradlin said he saw the buck the prior Friday but it never came close enough for a shot.

Three days later  it got to 20 yards before Spradlin put a broadhead into its boiler room.

He had this to say about his hunt, and hunting spot: “A co worker last year gave me permission to hunt her farm in Madison, N.C. It’s a 5-year-old cut-over of 40 acres. Anyway, Monday a week ago I arrowed this nice 8-point. It’s my first NC Buck. What makes it such an awesome trophy is the fact my coworker allows me to hunt it….FREE. No lease. Just pure kindness.”

It’s great to see that Spradlin is so appreciative of his co-worker’s generosity. I’m sure she probably also appreciates having him around to make sure folks who aren’t supposed to be on the property don’t trespass.

Spradlin and I have corresponded previously, mainly about bowfishing, so I felt comfortable giving him a hard time about his hero shots. He sent four and this was the best. Arghhh!

First, the good. I like shots of deer in the woods where they fell. If you don’t have a camera with a self-timer, you can do only so much. But if you must shoot it with your phone (and, sorry, but cameras on many phones are terrible. I know mine is, and it’s  good phone), shoot until you get something sharp. When you get out of the woods have someone take your picture with a decent camera. We put a lot of time into this hunting thing. So put a little time into getting some decent shots after the hunt.

In fact, I guess it’s time for my annual hero shot primer. I’ll write a separate post on that. Or maybe a column.