Hi, my name is Lloyd and I am 15 years old (I am the one on that is next to the deer on the right.) My dad shot this deer on Nov. 22nd, 1998 during rifle season. He is the guy right next to the deer on the left holding the antler.
My dad and I hunt at a hunting camp with the guys and the picture and about 5 or 6 more that were not there when my dad got the deer. Every morning after we get done sitting in our hunting spots we drive at least 2 sections of woods. We didn't see any bucks so far on our drives this season. We went to this section of woods which we call "the swamp" because...well....it's a swamp! This was going to be the first time we have pushed these woods and we know that no one else has, because we own all the woods around our camp, so
we figured there had to be some deer in there.

There were only 5 people at our camp that day because everyone else had to work. We were going to have 3 people sit and 2 people walk during this deer drive. I was one of the walkers and my dad was the sitter who was sitting on the corner of a field. Before we even started the drive my dad came over the radio and said a little doe just came through the field. We were hoping
there would be a buck following her!

We started the drive and I was having a hard time getting through because it was thick and very wet!! I was trying to look up so I could stop if I saw a deer, but I was also trying to look down so I didn't get stuck in the mud and make a lot of noise. We weren't even about halfway through the drive yet and I heard a shot!!!! Right after the shot my dad came over the radio and he
said a he just shot at a buck. He said it was a spike horn and the antler on the right was about 6 inches tall and the one on the left was about 2 inches long. We finished the drive and went to the field my dad was sitting in. My dad said "right before it entered the woods it looked like it stumbled." So we were all hoping it was just inside the woods. My dad also said "he was on a dead run."

We entered the woods looking and we found the blood trail. It took a while to find it because we are in Vermont and we are used to hunting in snow. This year there was no snow!!! We were looking around trying to find the blood trail because we lost it.

We decided to form a line about 20 yards apart and comb through the woods. The guy who was next to me kept telling me to go down further so I did. I was on the end and everyone else was on my left. I stopped and looked around. I looked to my left and I wasn't sure if it was a deer's back or a tree on the ground. I looked back at the guys to my left to see what they were doing. When I looked back to my left I saw the buck my dad shot at was trying to get up. The so called "tree" was not a tree....it was my dad's deer! It seemed as though it was having problems getting up but when I raised my .243 it was on its feet. I blasted it and down it went!! My dad tagged it because the rule is at our camp that whoever draws first blood, tags the deer. I didn't want to tag it anyways....it was only a spike!! hahaha

The reason why it was still alive when I shot it was because my dad had gut-shot it. It was on a dead run through the field and my dad had to take a quick shot. He aimed at the shoulder but by the time he pulled the trigger the cross hairs were on the mid section of the buck.

The buck my dad got was a spike horn and it weighed 116 pounds. I was happy for my dad because that is the first deer he had gotten since 1994 and it's the 6th deer he has gotten in his life. GOOD JOB DAD!!!!!!