Do you remember your first deer? How about your first buck? For most of us those events are etched deep into our fondest memories, and it’s a good bet it will be much the same for Ohio’s Avery Ferguson. It was quite a November for Ferguson and her father Jimmy, after securing permission on a new hunting property and setting a blind ambush with some welcome help from HuntStand.
“My name is Avery Ferguson, I am 10 years old and live in Union County, Ohio, where I do most of my deer hunting with my dad. He recently gained permission for a new spot to hunt, near his workplace. We set up a blind there while using the HuntSand app; we wanted to know what direction the wind was blowing most of the time, so we wouldn’t spook any deer.
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“We decided to hunt the blind on Nov. 19, Ohio’s Youth Season opener, after using HuntStand to check the wind direction and weather. My dad had been seeing a really nice buck in the area. He knew there was a good chance of that buck showing up. We saw several deer on Saturday’s hunt, but not the big one.
“I decided to sleep in on Sunday, Nov. 20, so my dad took my brother instead, and of course, the big one showed up at 9:45 a.m. My brother decided to pass on the deer, so I could have a chance at taking him.
“That evening, my dad and I got settled in after checking the HuntStand app to make sure we still had the right wind direction. We began seeing deer soon after we got settled in. We could see a nice buck running a few does around in the woods, about 50 yards away from the blind. My dad showed me on the HuntStand app where the deer were coming from, and where they like to come out of the woods to feed.
“Soon a fork-horn buck came out to feed, and walked away from us. And then a mature doe came out to feed, and ended up walking toward the river to our left. As it started to get close to quitting time, I didn’t think we were going to see the big one. With 10 minutes of shooting time left, my dad said, ‘Avery get ready! Here he comes!.’ I looked up and saw the big buck coming out of the woods, on the trail my dad showed me. He walked about 10 yards into the field and stopped.
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“My dad told me to shoot when I was ready; once I had the scope on the buck’s shoulder I pulled the trigger. At the shot the buck took off running, and I thought I missed. My dad said to shoot again, but then he yelled, ‘No don’t shoot! He’s going down! You got him good!’
“I watched the deer fall; I got really excited and couldn’t wait to go check it out! We waited about 5 minutes and went to see it. We took a bunch of photos and went to get the truck to load him up. It was a great hunt and HuntStand helped me bag my first-ever buck! Thank you HuntStand!”
