My & Grampa's Buck
by Brian Tomassacci

3/05 Shickshinny PA

My name is Brian Tomassacci. I live in Shickshinny PA. I am 15 years old, and I started hunting last year. Both Archery and Rifle. I got two Doe last year with my rifle. I love hunting Whitetails. I also hunt small game but my favorite is Whitetail hunting. I was introduced to hunting by my Grandfather, Ted Gensel (left in the photo). I hunt at his house in Shickshinny Valley PA. When I go hunting he tells me where to go and almost always I see something.

The day was Saturday November 6th 2004. It is Archery Season and it is also the rut season, and the bucks were moving. I got up early and my Grandfather told me where to go. I got my treestand, my bow (Golden Eagle), and started for the spot my Grandfather told me to go. I got there just after daylight and kicked two Doe out. I started to set up my treestand to a good tree and I heard a noise off to my right. I looked and saw a spike with a couple extra kickers. He ran down the mountain. I saw a Doe too far to shoot after that hoping to see a buck trailing her, but I didn't. I got cold so I packed up and went to my Grandfathers house. I helped him for a little while.

Then headed for the mountain again. As I walked up I saw a Doe. 20 Minutes later I was a tree. I sat and waited for about 1 hour and looked behind me and saw a heard of deer (about 10 deer) coming my way. The deer that was in front was that little buck I saw in the morning. I looked towards the end of all the deer and saw a nice rack coming my way. All I could see was the rack coming (because that was all I was looking at). I was so nervous. He walked around to my left and stood broadside 30 yards out. I didn't even stand up because he came in to fast looking my way. I drew back and let the arrow go. I missed. He looked around and thought nothing of it. He had his Doe on his mind. I knocked another arrow as he walked behind me. He was rubbing his antlers on some brush and feeding. He went after a doe and grunted twice. He stopped just before my clear shooting lane. He was 25 yards away this time. I waited for about 30 seconds (which seemed like an hour). He started to walk again. I drew back and as he walked in my shooting lane I let the arrow go. He ran through the woods and I saw I hit him just behind the front shoulder a little low. He ran to the ridge and stopped. I called my Grandfather on the walkie talkie and told him "I just shot that big buck you saw the other day." I told him to come up. The buck walked over the ridge. I climbed out of the tree and saw My Grandfather. I walked over to where I shot the buck. At first I smelled the blood and it smelled good. I looked for a blood trail and saw a good one. I got my treestand and waited for a while. Then I started tracking after waiting and found the arrow. The arrow broke off about 8 inches inside him. We kept tracking and about 200 yards down the mountain and saw him laying there. We field dressed him and drug him out of the woods. He was a nice 10 pointer with a double browtine on the right antler. The left g3 was 9 inches tall. He had an inside spread of 18 inches. I am getting a European mount of him. That was the biggest deer I ever was in the woods hunting before. I will hunt for another one like that next year.