November 03, 2011
By David Simmons
16-year-old Evan Pugh was excited to be taking part in the 2011 Tennessee Juvenile Hunt in Henry County on October 29th. He was sitting in a stand with David Simmons and hunting an overgrown field with freshly mowed shooting lanes courtesy of his father, Billy Pugh. The first doe appeared a little after 7 a.m. and the action was non-stop after that. Over 20 does and a bobcat strolled through our area, and then at 9:12 a.m. this 12-point bruiser made a very short appearance.
Evan quickly shouldered his T/C Pro Hunter .30-06 topped with a Leupold Rifleman 4-12x40 as the buck steadily walked across a clearing. He only had about six seconds to make the shot as neither of us could stop the buck. The youth showed nerves of steel that any veteran hunter would aspire to have. One step before slipping off into the woods, the Winchester Ballistic Silvertip was sent perfectly through both lungs. At the time, neither of us were certain of the hit.
After waiting an hour and a half, which seemed like forever, our hunting party gathered to look for blood. It didn't take long to find good pink blood and then the buck 80 yards away. There was joy and relief all the way around and It was hard to tell who was most excited.
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Editor's note: Congrats Evan on a fantastic deer!
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