A True Hunter and Nothing More

By Sean C. Simmons

This is how it began: I was looking around my hunting land in the spring and I found a nice sized six-point shed. So, I began to wonder where this deer could be. I put my game tracker up and got some pictures of him around my corn. The man across the street told me he had seen four big bucks around this same area. So after that all I could do was keep putting corn out for them to eat.

Opening day in Maryland for rifle season started. I went out there like any other hunting season and got in my stand. It was windy like nothing I had seen in a while. My hunting area is swamp land here near the shore. I waited all day and not a single doe or buck came within view of my stand. I was thinking that it must be the wind keeping them away.

All of the corn I had been putting out for the deer was now gone; they had eaten up 500lbs of the stuff. I decided that between the bad weather and not seeing any deer, they must be moving and feeding at night. The weekend came and went and I saw nothing at all; not a single deer.

So Monday arrived and I went out again. I waited again all day and as the sun was going down, I heard a grunt of some sort that startled me. From out of nowhere a deer came right by me running full tilt. I couldn’t get a good shot of at him. Frustrated, I went back too camp, ate dinner and went too bed.

I woke up the next morning and got all set up and stayed at my stand until 5:45 pm hit. I was cleaning up my stand and it was pretty much dark out there. In my head I thought maybe I should look at the corn pile one more time. As I neared the corn pile, I looked and there he was coming over the wood row. I looked in my scope and my heart was pounding. To me he looked like a ghost His rack was shining white along with his body. I went to shoot and my safety was half way on. By now I had calmed down a little so at about what I thought was 100yards away, I took a shot with my .300 Winchester magnum.

Right after I fired, everyone began calling me on my 2-way radio. My dad was yelling at me, “Did you get it?” I told him it was very dark and I had aimed at his chest. I wasn’t sure if I had hit him or not but I knew those Leopold scopes are very good.

I got down out of my stand and walked over toward where the deer had been and plainer than day, there he was not even 15ft from were I shot at him. I had taken him right in the lungs.

I got back too camp and began comparing its’ antlers with all the others there. They sure looked bigger than any others that were there. You would have too have seen them to believe it.

I took the deer to the weigh in station. It weighed 185lbs. with an 8 pt rack. After that I had to get home to my wife. I had only got to see my deer for an hour but I thank God for giving me my life and this beautiful deer. Without Him this could have never happened. I am truly blessed with a wife and a little boy that I will share these moments with. I will teach my son to hunt just like my dad showed me.

I am 23 years old and I have been hunting beautiful whitetail deer for 10yrs and every year I love it.

Sean C. Simmons
Maryland