Amy's Buck
It was a Saturday around 12;30, and I had just come home from work. As I stepped out of my truck, I heard some shooting up the river and some hounds running pretty hot. Now I am not a fan of hound hunting for deer, but my daughter Amy likes hunting over dogs. I came in the house and Amy was at the table eating lunch and I mentioned to her what I had heard. She jumped up from the table, grabbed her Marlin 336 30-30, slammed on her Orange coat, put on her cap, and ran out the back door. She had been gone all of 5 minutes, when I heard her little 30/30 fire twice then once more. I stepped out on the back porch and I heard Amy screaming, "DAD, DAD, I got a buck. I ran down toward her and met her running toward me about 200 yards from the house. She was breathing hard and wrapped her arms around my neck and said, "Daddy I got a buck!!! "Where is he I asked?" "Well he made it to the other side and then he dropped" she said. "The other side I asked? Of the river?" Yea she gasped! OH boy I said. How big is he I asked? She said I'm not real sure, he was running and the scope was glaring so bad that I couldnt really tell, I just know he is a buck.
Well I went down to the river and finally spotted him in the thick brush on the other side. All I could see was his white rump.
The river was up and very cold. I knew the shallowest spot to cross, and what is normally up to my knees was now up to my chest, and bitter cold. By the time I reached the other side my brain was not communicating to my legs. I had to drag my legs up the bank and start shaking them and bending them to get the feeling back. I looked over my shoulder and there was Amy, in the middle of the river holding her rifle over her head, and I was very concerned that she would make it based on the way I felt. She took a shorter route that was up to her neck most of the way. I finally had my legs back under me and ran up the river to meet Amy. As she got out of the water she said she couldnt feel her legs. I was about five feet higher than she was on a steep bank. I lowered My pull strap down to her and pulled her up. We worked her legs until the feeling came back, then finally we went over to her buck. As I approached I could not believe what I was seeing. Amy, you shot the wrong buck I said! I cant believe what Im looking at.
The trip back across the river was not any easier, but the whole story of Amys buck is one that we will never forget. She still did not understand the quality of this fine buck until she started receiving phone calls, some days later from all over the state, asking about the girl that got the monster buck. She has also been in two magazines, which I bought every copy I could find.
RV Stallard
