Alan Hilliard of Durham, N.C., killed this nice spike Thanksgiving morning while hunting with his grandfather, Carson Quarles of Roanoke.
Alan's smile pretty much says it all in this picture. He is clearly proud of his first deer, which he should be.
The two were hunting together from an elevated stand in the woods on Quarles' place near Buchanan that morning when they spotted this buck in the distance. It took a while for it to get close enough for a shot, giving Alan plenty of time to get a feel for the nerve-wracking excitement that draws so many of us to the sport of deer hunting.
As we head into the second week of the general firearms season I can tell that things are slowing down.
There are still enough big bucks running around out there to keep things interesting. But, like those bucks, a lot of hunters have been pushing it for several weeks and I think folks are starting to get tired. Not to mention they're having to go back to work.
I hunted Saturday in Botetourt County. About 8:30 a.m. I blew a chance when I let a doe sneak in from behind me. I couldn't hear her because the woods were so damp from dew.
About two hours later I had a decent 2 1/2-year-old 8-pointer walk by at about 50 yards but I passed on him. That was it for a while so I took a midday break for lunch before getting back out there.
The afternoon was quiet, too, but the weather was so nice it was hard to complain. Deer finally started moving about 4 p.m. I had a spike and a fawn past right by my stand, and about a half-dozen does about 80 yards away in an area too thick for a shot.
Finally, about 5 p.m., I had two does come in and I anchored the larger of the two with a neck shot from my .280 at a range of just 20 yards. I know neck shots can be risky but at that range I'll make an exception.
With the warm weather we're expecting early this week I think things will probably be really quiet, but I expect there will be a final peak in hunting pressure Saturday.
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