Some of us are really fortunate to be able to find time to hunt, either because we are retired or have flexible work schedules.

Then there are guys like Dave Richardson, who spends most of his days during hunting season earning a living. This isn’t a giant buck. But as we’ve talked about many times here on the Wild Life, the antlers aren’t what make the trophy.

I was thrilled to get this picture from Dave, and loved his story. Here it is:

“I work out of town every week through the year so I don’t have the time to hunt a lot during early & late muzzleloader.  I always take the week of Thanksgiving off each year to spend the week with the family and as much time as I can in the woods with my hunting buddies.

Over the last 5 years I have never had a nice buck with a large rack approach me while hunting. I have had plenty of small bucks and does, but all that changed on Monday  November 19, 2012 in Franklin County.

I was hunting with my nephew Austin Gray.  He had killed a really nice nine-point buck the week before during muzzleloader.  So the whole way down to this spot in Franklin County we had talked about his deer.  I was really happy for him, but really wanting my own story and nice buck.

As we got to our hunting grounds we pulled up to find three does and a grey fox entering the land.  Across the street coming up from the field were three other does.  The day was starting to look promising and I was hoping a buck would be not to far behind.

We got into the place we wanted to sit at around 5:50 a.m.  While it was still dark I heard a few noises and I assumed the does were moving around.  The land was unique because the wind storm of the summer had knocked down several large and small trees and made it an interesting area to hunt.

At 6:50 a.m. I heard a lot of noise coming down the hill.  At first I could not see anything, then all of a sudden a brown body with a big white tail appeared.  I could not see his head until he had to dip down to go under a fallen tree. As he went down I saw the nice rack he had and the adrenaline started flowing.  I was excited and nervous at the same time because Austin was only 60 yards away.  This buck started moving away from me and I thought I had missed the chance, knowing that Austin would get a shot eventually.

But at the last minute he encountered another fallen tree and had to make a move towards me.  He turned completely broadside and gave me a split second to get off the perfect shot.  I found him in the scope about 50 yards away and pulled the trigger of my Browning 270.

As I looked back through the scope I first thought I missed him because he disappeared.  I looked back through the scope and could see nothing but his tail moving.  I knew at that moment he was down and had dropped from the shot.  I called Austin and we talked for a few minutes.  I could hardly talk I was so excited.  I racked another bullet and put the rifle on safety as I approached him to make sure he would not get up and run.

As I got on top of him I could see it was a nice basket 8 pointer!  Finally after so many years of hunting I had a nice buck.  The next day Austin and I took our deer to the taxidermist and we both had our great memories of this season.  It was pretty neat to have him with me for my first big buck of my hunting career.  Now it is back to work, and hoping for more luck during my next break for late muzzleloader.”

Congrats, Dave and Austin! Dave, I’m sure bigger bucks are in your future if you stick with it!