On the morning of Dec. 2, 2003, Jason Crawford of Colbert, Georgia, woke up to the sound of his alarm clock telling him it was time to get up and go to work. It was a beautiful morning in Madison County, Georgia, and Jason had deer hunting on his mind. Whiling driving to work he started thinking about the Ruger .44 magnum pistol his stepfather had loaned him to hunt with. The gun had been dressed up with a new scope and Jason had some freshly reloaded bullets.

"All I could think about that day was being in the woods," Jason said. At lunch I decided to try to get the next day off. After lunch I approached my boss and he could tell that something was up. While I was asking him about getting off the next day, he interrupted me and said, 'You want to go hunting, right?'

"The word 'yes' rolled out of my mouth. I couldn't wait to get off work so I could hang my climber. I planned to try to shoot a mature doe with the pistol because I thought a doe would be an awesome trophy with a handgun. I had a spot in mind where I had seen does every afternoon. After work I got back to the house, grabbed my stand and took off for the woods.

"The terrain was hunting was mostly hardwoods. There were several small rubs and some deer droppings nearby, but nothing major that would get a deer hunter excited. While walking in to place my stand, I used a drag-rag soaked in doe-in-heat estrus lure to hide my scent. After the stand was on the tree, I headed home to get a good meal and wait for the morning to come.

"After arriving at my stand the next morning, I made sure I had everything I needed including my grunt tube. I climbed to a height of about 15 feet so that I could position myself for a good view. Around 6:45 a.m. I spotted the first deer movement. As I watched with chill bumps and a runny nose, I saw three does coming straight toward me about 45 yards away. I picked out the biggest doe in the group and waited.

"When the deer were within 10 yards of me, I pulled the pistol up and tried to take aim. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a buck came running out. He chased off one of the does. He was a nice 8-pointer. Before I could get the gun on him he and the doe were gone. By this time I was so nervous I had to catch my breath. The other two does were acting spooky, as if they would flee any moment.

"I sat still with my heart beating fast. I decided to use my grunt call twice and wait. Within seconds, off in the distance, I heard a twig break. Then a different buck, a nice 10-pointer, stepped out of some thick cover. He was 35 yards away broadside. I picked up the pistol and tried to find him in the scope. He took a few steps forward. I aimed and waited for him to move into the scope. When he finally did, I put the cross hairs on his right shoulder and squeezed. The deer dropped in his tracks.

"In 2004, I entered my pistol deer in the big buck contest at the Atlanta Buckarama deer show. My buck won biggest deer in the pistol category and scored 133!"

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