4 Photos
Since walking in the Grayson County mountains as a kid squirrel hunting, Jackie Boyer has truly loved the outdoors and hunting has been a big part of his entire life. Jackie reminded me of how fortunate we have it these days in the Virginia deer woods, he recalls that if you actually saw a deer in the woods back in the 60's it was a special event. Jackie recalls the first time his father shot a deer, and it was a doe mind you, that folks came from all around just to see it which is similar to the commotion that the great buck that Jackie recently harvested is causing.
It was a pleasure to talk to Jackie about his hunting passion and the many deer he has harvested over the years, but over the last several years there has been one particular buck that has had his focus. He began getting trail camera pictures of a genetically gifted buck a few years ago very close to his house. Jackie resides on 5 acres and this deer consistently moved through his property during the summer months, but come September the buck would change his pattern and not be seen again till the following summer.
Jackie lives in a small community and of course he wasn't the only one that was aware of this bucks presence, but no one could figure him out.
Tuesday afternoon 10/17/17 one of Jackie's good friends called and ask if he wanted to join him on an evening hunt, but Jackie passed and decided just to take it easy and watch some television. As the afternoon progressed he noticed what a great evening it had turned out to be and that it was perfectly calm and cool, so he decided to jump in the shower, grab his crossbow and head out for a late evening hunt out behind his house.
Jackie walked back into the woods about 200 yards and found a big oak tree, brushed away some leaves and took a seat. He wasn't filled with optimism because there was very little sign in the area and it was his first ever bow hunt from the ground and it was already 5:30 pm.
After sitting there for a while he said what the heck and grabbed his grunt call and rattling bag and used them in that order. Not too long after that sequence he heard a couple grunts coming from a very thick area, but it was far enough away he didn't know if it had anything to do with his calls.
A short time later he could hear some movement in the leaves, but passed it off as a squirrel. As the sound came closer he could now identify a walking pattern and adjusted his Parker enforcer crossbow on one knee and got a bit excited. Before long he could see the body of a deer but due to the thickness of the ground cover he couldn't see it's head. Jackie assumed it was a real big doe intially, and as it continued to walk it eventually came to a small opening in the cover and all of the sudden the buck he had been after was standing before him.
The huge buck was quartering toward him at about 25 yards and he said to himself "It's either now or never" so he let his arrow fly. Jackie uses lumenok's and he could see that the arrow struck the buck exactly where he had aimed. The buck took off and ran for about 5 seconds then all was quite, no crashing or thrashing just silence.
Jackie sat for a moment in amazement with what had just happened, then he slowly walked over to where he could see his arrow glowing. The arrow was buried about 10" in the gound and had made a complete pass through, but there was absolutely no blood. He began making circles without seeing a trace of blood and his heart began to sink thinking he had wounded this giant Grayson County monarch.
After an unsuccessful search he returned to his house and discussed the events with his wife and decided to get on the phone and recruit a small search party which included his daughter Whitney and her husband Wes as well as another friend and his girlfriend.
So now about an hour after dark this 5 person team sat out in hopes of finding this buck that they all were familiar with and had followed over the past 3 years. All were armed with flashlights, but nothing was turning up. A team of coyotes began to sound off near by which didn't help the situation. Jackie noticed that his daughter was following in his foot steps, so he turned to gently scold her because she wasn't helping the cause following him so closely, and she said the howling of the coyotes scraed her a bit. He asked that she go about 20 yards away and parallel his walking. It wasn't long after that when Whitney let out a scream "Here he is"....
Jackie quickly moved in his daughters direction and when he came upon the spot complete joy took over and the remaining members of the search party gathered to share in the moment.
Jackie has been surprised at all of the attention this buck has gathered even with him not being on Facebook or using a computer his phone has been ringing non stop. At age 64 this Virginia hunter thought his best hunting days may have passed him by, but now he has harvested the buck of a lifetime, which goes to show it can happen any time, any place regardless of the situation.
This humble country gentleman wanted to make sure that he "thanked" some special people that he feels were directly related to the harvest of this great Va buck....
Whitney Boyer, Wes Nichols, Allen Jones, Belinda Mayberry, Earl Johnson, Chad Shaffner, Brett Bowes and his taxidermist Bobby Phillips!
It has been determined that the buck age is 7.5 years old and it's B&C score is 159.
Congratulations Jackie, the Virginia hunting community is very happy for you and your family!
10/21/17
Since walking in the Grayson County mountains as a kid squirrel hunting, Jackie Boyer has truly loved the outdoors and hunting has been a big part of his entire life. Jackie reminded me of how fortunate we have it these days in the Virginia deer woods, he recalls that if you actually saw a deer in the woods back in the 60's it was a special event. Jackie recalls the first time his father shot a deer, and it was a doe mind you, that folks came from all around just to see it which is similar to the commotion that the great buck that Jackie recently harvested is causing.
It was a pleasure to talk to Jackie about his hunting passion and the many deer he has harvested over the years, but over the last several years there has been one particular buck that has had his focus. He began getting trail camera pictures of a genetically gifted buck a few years ago very close to his house. Jackie resides on 5 acres and this deer consistently moved through his property during the summer months, but come September the buck would change his pattern and not be seen again till the following summer.
Jackie lives in a small community and of course he wasn't the only one that was aware of this bucks presence, but no one could figure him out.
Tuesday afternoon 10/17/17 one of Jackie's good friends called and ask if he wanted to join him on an evening hunt, but Jackie passed and decided just to take it easy and watch some television. As the afternoon progressed he noticed what a great evening it had turned out to be and that it was perfectly calm and cool, so he decided to jump in the shower, grab his crossbow and head out for a late evening hunt out behind his house.
Jackie walked back into the woods about 200 yards and found a big oak tree, brushed away some leaves and took a seat. He wasn't filled with optimism because there was very little sign in the area and it was his first ever bow hunt from the ground and it was already 5:30 pm.
After sitting there for a while he said what the heck and grabbed his grunt call and rattling bag and used them in that order. Not too long after that sequence he heard a couple grunts coming from a very thick area, but it was far enough away he didn't know if it had anything to do with his calls.
A short time later he could hear some movement in the leaves, but passed it off as a squirrel. As the sound came closer he could now identify a walking pattern and adjusted his Parker enforcer crossbow on one knee and got a bit excited. Before long he could see the body of a deer but due to the thickness of the ground cover he couldn't see it's head. Jackie assumed it was a real big doe intially, and as it continued to walk it eventually came to a small opening in the cover and all of the sudden the buck he had been after was standing before him.
The huge buck was quartering toward him at about 25 yards and he said to himself "It's either now or never" so he let his arrow fly. Jackie uses lumenok's and he could see that the arrow struck the buck exactly where he had aimed. The buck took off and ran for about 5 seconds then all was quite, no crashing or thrashing just silence.
Jackie sat for a moment in amazement with what had just happened, then he slowly walked over to where he could see his arrow glowing. The arrow was buried about 10" in the gound and had made a complete pass through, but there was absolutely no blood. He began making circles without seeing a trace of blood and his heart began to sink thinking he had wounded this giant Grayson County monarch.
After an unsuccessful search he returned to his house and discussed the events with his wife and decided to get on the phone and recruit a small search party which included his daughter Whitney and her husband Wes as well as another friend and his girlfriend.
So now about an hour after dark this 5 person team sat out in hopes of finding this buck that they all were familiar with and had followed over the past 3 years. All were armed with flashlights, but nothing was turning up. A team of coyotes began to sound off near by which didn't help the situation. Jackie noticed that his daughter was following in his foot steps, so he turned to gently scold her because she wasn't helping the cause following him so closely, and she said the howling of the coyotes scraed her a bit. He asked that she go about 20 yards away and parallel his walking. It wasn't long after that when Whitney let out a scream "Here he is"....
Jackie quickly moved in his daughters direction and when he came upon the spot complete joy took over and the remaining members of the search party gathered to share in the moment.
Jackie has been surprised at all of the attention this buck has gathered even with him not being on Facebook or using a computer his phone has been ringing non stop. At age 64 this Virginia hunter thought his best hunting days may have passed him by, but now he has harvested the buck of a lifetime, which goes to show it can happen any time, any place regardless of the situation.
This humble country gentleman wanted to make sure that he "thanked" some special people that he feels were directly related to the harvest of this great Va buck....
Whitney Boyer, Wes Nichols, Allen Jones, Belinda Mayberry, Earl Johnson, Chad Shaffner, Brett Bowes and his taxidermist Bobby Phillips!
It has been determined that the buck age is 7.5 years old and it's B&C score is 159.
Congratulations Jackie, the Virginia hunting community is very happy for you and your family!
10/21/17
Since walking in the Grayson County mountains as a kid squirrel hunting, Jackie Boyer has truly loved the outdoors and hunting has been a big part of his entire life. Jackie reminded me of how fortunate we have it these days in the Virginia deer woods, he recalls that if you actually saw a deer in the woods back in the 60's it was a special event. Jackie recalls the first time his father shot a deer, and it was a doe mind you, that folks came from all around just to see it which is similar to the commotion that the great buck that Jackie recently harvested is causing.
It was a pleasure to talk to Jackie about his hunting passion and the many deer he has harvested over the years, but over the last several years there has been one particular buck that has had his focus. He began getting trail camera pictures of a genetically gifted buck a few years ago very close to his house. Jackie resides on 5 acres and this deer consistently moved through his property during the summer months, but come September the buck would change his pattern and not be seen again till the following summer.
Jackie lives in a small community and of course he wasn't the only one that was aware of this bucks presence, but no one could figure him out.
Tuesday afternoon 10/17/17 one of Jackie's good friends called and ask if he wanted to join him on an evening hunt, but Jackie passed and decided just to take it easy and watch some television. As the afternoon progressed he noticed what a great evening it had turned out to be and that it was perfectly calm and cool, so he decided to jump in the shower, grab his crossbow and head out for a late evening hunt out behind his house.
Jackie walked back into the woods about 200 yards and found a big oak tree, brushed away some leaves and took a seat. He wasn't filled with optimism because there was very little sign in the area and it was his first ever bow hunt from the ground and it was already 5:30 pm.
After sitting there for a while he said what the heck and grabbed his grunt call and rattling bag and used them in that order. Not too long after that sequence he heard a couple grunts coming from a very thick area, but it was far enough away he didn't know if it had anything to do with his calls.
A short time later he could hear some movement in the leaves, but passed it off as a squirrel. As the sound came closer he could now identify a walking pattern and adjusted his Parker enforcer crossbow on one knee and got a bit excited. Before long he could see the body of a deer but due to the thickness of the ground cover he couldn't see it's head. Jackie assumed it was a real big doe intially, and as it continued to walk it eventually came to a small opening in the cover and all of the sudden the buck he had been after was standing before him.
The huge buck was quartering toward him at about 25 yards and he said to himself "It's either now or never" so he let his arrow fly. Jackie uses lumenok's and he could see that the arrow struck the buck exactly where he had aimed. The buck took off and ran for about 5 seconds then all was quite, no crashing or thrashing just silence.
Jackie sat for a moment in amazement with what had just happened, then he slowly walked over to where he could see his arrow glowing. The arrow was buried about 10" in the gound and had made a complete pass through, but there was absolutely no blood. He began making circles without seeing a trace of blood and his heart began to sink thinking he had wounded this giant Grayson County monarch.
After an unsuccessful search he returned to his house and discussed the events with his wife and decided to get on the phone and recruit a small search party which included his daughter Whitney and her husband Wes as well as another friend and his girlfriend.
So now about an hour after dark this 5 person team sat out in hopes of finding this buck that they all were familiar with and had followed over the past 3 years. All were armed with flashlights, but nothing was turning up. A team of coyotes began to sound off near by which didn't help the situation. Jackie noticed that his daughter was following in his foot steps, so he turned to gently scold her because she wasn't helping the cause following him so closely, and she said the howling of the coyotes scraed her a bit. He asked that she go about 20 yards away and parallel his walking. It wasn't long after that when Whitney let out a scream "Here he is"....
Jackie quickly moved in his daughters direction and when he came upon the spot complete joy took over and the remaining members of the search party gathered to share in the moment.
Jackie has been surprised at all of the attention this buck has gathered even with him not being on Facebook or using a computer his phone has been ringing non stop. At age 64 this Virginia hunter thought his best hunting days may have passed him by, but now he has harvested the buck of a lifetime, which goes to show it can happen any time, any place regardless of the situation.
This humble country gentleman wanted to make sure that he "thanked" some special people that he feels were directly related to the harvest of this great Va buck....
Whitney Boyer, Wes Nichols, Allen Jones, Belinda Mayberry, Earl Johnson, Chad Shaffner, Brett Bowes and his taxidermist Bobby Phillips!
It has been determined that the buck age is 7.5 years old and it's B&C score is 159.
Congratulations Jackie, the Virginia hunting community is very happy for you and your family!
10/21/17
Since walking in the Grayson County mountains as a kid squirrel hunting, Jackie Boyer has truly loved the outdoors and hunting has been a big part of his entire life. Jackie reminded me of how fortunate we have it these days in the Virginia deer woods, he recalls that if you actually saw a deer in the woods back in the 60's it was a special event. Jackie recalls the first time his father shot a deer, and it was a doe mind you, that folks came from all around just to see it which is similar to the commotion that the great buck that Jackie recently harvested is causing.
It was a pleasure to talk to Jackie about his hunting passion and the many deer he has harvested over the years, but over the last several years there has been one particular buck that has had his focus. He began getting trail camera pictures of a genetically gifted buck a few years ago very close to his house. Jackie resides on 5 acres and this deer consistently moved through his property during the summer months, but come September the buck would change his pattern and not be seen again till the following summer.
Jackie lives in a small community and of course he wasn't the only one that was aware of this bucks presence, but no one could figure him out.
Tuesday afternoon 10/17/17 one of Jackie's good friends called and ask if he wanted to join him on an evening hunt, but Jackie passed and decided just to take it easy and watch some television. As the afternoon progressed he noticed what a great evening it had turned out to be and that it was perfectly calm and cool, so he decided to jump in the shower, grab his crossbow and head out for a late evening hunt out behind his house.
Jackie walked back into the woods about 200 yards and found a big oak tree, brushed away some leaves and took a seat. He wasn't filled with optimism because there was very little sign in the area and it was his first ever bow hunt from the ground and it was already 5:30 pm.
After sitting there for a while he said what the heck and grabbed his grunt call and rattling bag and used them in that order. Not too long after that sequence he heard a couple grunts coming from a very thick area, but it was far enough away he didn't know if it had anything to do with his calls.
A short time later he could hear some movement in the leaves, but passed it off as a squirrel. As the sound came closer he could now identify a walking pattern and adjusted his Parker enforcer crossbow on one knee and got a bit excited. Before long he could see the body of a deer but due to the thickness of the ground cover he couldn't see it's head. Jackie assumed it was a real big doe intially, and as it continued to walk it eventually came to a small opening in the cover and all of the sudden the buck he had been after was standing before him.
The huge buck was quartering toward him at about 25 yards and he said to himself "It's either now or never" so he let his arrow fly. Jackie uses lumenok's and he could see that the arrow struck the buck exactly where he had aimed. The buck took off and ran for about 5 seconds then all was quite, no crashing or thrashing just silence.
Jackie sat for a moment in amazement with what had just happened, then he slowly walked over to where he could see his arrow glowing. The arrow was buried about 10" in the gound and had made a complete pass through, but there was absolutely no blood. He began making circles without seeing a trace of blood and his heart began to sink thinking he had wounded this giant Grayson County monarch.
After an unsuccessful search he returned to his house and discussed the events with his wife and decided to get on the phone and recruit a small search party which included his daughter Whitney and her husband Wes as well as another friend and his girlfriend.
So now about an hour after dark this 5 person team sat out in hopes of finding this buck that they all were familiar with and had followed over the past 3 years. All were armed with flashlights, but nothing was turning up. A team of coyotes began to sound off near by which didn't help the situation. Jackie noticed that his daughter was following in his foot steps, so he turned to gently scold her because she wasn't helping the cause following him so closely, and she said the howling of the coyotes scraed her a bit. He asked that she go about 20 yards away and parallel his walking. It wasn't long after that when Whitney let out a scream "Here he is"....
Jackie quickly moved in his daughters direction and when he came upon the spot complete joy took over and the remaining members of the search party gathered to share in the moment.
Jackie has been surprised at all of the attention this buck has gathered even with him not being on Facebook or using a computer his phone has been ringing non stop. At age 64 this Virginia hunter thought his best hunting days may have passed him by, but now he has harvested the buck of a lifetime, which goes to show it can happen any time, any place regardless of the situation.
This humble country gentleman wanted to make sure that he "thanked" some special people that he feels were directly related to the harvest of this great Va buck....
Whitney Boyer, Wes Nichols, Allen Jones, Belinda Mayberry, Earl Johnson, Chad Shaffner, Brett Bowes and his taxidermist Bobby Phillips!
It has been determined that the buck age is 7.5 years old and it's B&C score is 159.
Congratulations Jackie, the Virginia hunting community is very happy for you and your family!
10/21/17
Since walking in the Grayson County mountains as a kid squirrel hunting, Jackie Boyer has truly loved the outdoors and hunting has been a big part of his entire life. Jackie reminded me of how fortunate we have it these days in the Virginia deer woods, he recalls that if you actually saw a deer in the woods back in the 60's it was a special event. Jackie recalls the first time his father shot a deer, and it was a doe mind you, that folks came from all around just to see it which is similar to the commotion that the great buck that Jackie recently harvested is causing.
It was a pleasure to talk to Jackie about his hunting passion and the many deer he has harvested over the years, but over the last several years there has been one particular buck that has had his focus. He began getting trail camera pictures of a genetically gifted buck a few years ago very close to his house. Jackie resides on 5 acres and this deer consistently moved through his property during the summer months, but come September the buck would change his pattern and not be seen again till the following summer.
Jackie lives in a small community and of course he wasn't the only one that was aware of this bucks presence, but no one could figure him out.
Tuesday afternoon 10/17/17 one of Jackie's good friends called and ask if he wanted to join him on an evening hunt, but Jackie passed and decided just to take it easy and watch some television. As the afternoon progressed he noticed what a great evening it had turned out to be and that it was perfectly calm and cool, so he decided to jump in the shower, grab his crossbow and head out for a late evening hunt out behind his house.
Jackie walked back into the woods about 200 yards and found a big oak tree, brushed away some leaves and took a seat. He wasn't filled with optimism because there was very little sign in the area and it was his first ever bow hunt from the ground and it was already 5:30 pm.
After sitting there for a while he said what the heck and grabbed his grunt call and rattling bag and used them in that order. Not too long after that sequence he heard a couple grunts coming from a very thick area, but it was far enough away he didn't know if it had anything to do with his calls.
A short time later he could hear some movement in the leaves, but passed it off as a squirrel. As the sound came closer he could now identify a walking pattern and adjusted his Parker enforcer crossbow on one knee and got a bit excited. Before long he could see the body of a deer but due to the thickness of the ground cover he couldn't see it's head. Jackie assumed it was a real big doe intially, and as it continued to walk it eventually came to a small opening in the cover and all of the sudden the buck he had been after was standing before him.
The huge buck was quartering toward him at about 25 yards and he said to himself "It's either now or never" so he let his arrow fly. Jackie uses lumenok's and he could see that the arrow struck the buck exactly where he had aimed. The buck took off and ran for about 5 seconds then all was quite, no crashing or thrashing just silence.
Jackie sat for a moment in amazement with what had just happened, then he slowly walked over to where he could see his arrow glowing. The arrow was buried about 10" in the gound and had made a complete pass through, but there was absolutely no blood. He began making circles without seeing a trace of blood and his heart began to sink thinking he had wounded this giant Grayson County monarch.
After an unsuccessful search he returned to his house and discussed the events with his wife and decided to get on the phone and recruit a small search party which included his daughter Whitney and her husband Wes as well as another friend and his girlfriend.
So now about an hour after dark this 5 person team sat out in hopes of finding this buck that they all were familiar with and had followed over the past 3 years. All were armed with flashlights, but nothing was turning up. A team of coyotes began to sound off near by which didn't help the situation. Jackie noticed that his daughter was following in his foot steps, so he turned to gently scold her because she wasn't helping the cause following him so closely, and she said the howling of the coyotes scraed her a bit. He asked that she go about 20 yards away and parallel his walking. It wasn't long after that when Whitney let out a scream "Here he is"....
Jackie quickly moved in his daughters direction and when he came upon the spot complete joy took over and the remaining members of the search party gathered to share in the moment.
Jackie has been surprised at all of the attention this buck has gathered even with him not being on Facebook or using a computer his phone has been ringing non stop. At age 64 this Virginia hunter thought his best hunting days may have passed him by, but now he has harvested the buck of a lifetime, which goes to show it can happen any time, any place regardless of the situation.
This humble country gentleman wanted to make sure that he "thanked" some special people that he feels were directly related to the harvest of this great Va buck....
Whitney Boyer, Wes Nichols, Allen Jones, Belinda Mayberry, Earl Johnson, Chad Shaffner, Brett Bowes and his taxidermist Bobby Phillips!
It has been determined that the buck age is 7.5 years old and it's B&C score is 159.
Congratulations Jackie, the Virginia hunting community is very happy for you and your family!
10/21/17
