I Needed This One

[clrj3514]

On Thursday evening, I killed my biggest buck to date. Not only was I excited about how big the deer was, I was ecstatic just to be able to kill one. As most of you probably know, I am a quadriplegic so I rely on a power wheelchair to get around. Well last September, a pinhole somehow developed in & deflated my wheelchair cushion. Not having feeling there, I had no idea that this had happened until a place appeared on my backside. After going to my primary doctor, a general surgeon, and finally a wound clinic, we found out that I had a pretty serious pressure sore that we've been treating ever since. It turns out it was infected & that had gone into the bone so I've been on antibiotics for over a year now, orally at first then a PICC line for 11 weeks & back to oral. My wound made progress as we tried different things, including a wound vacuum & 60 visits to a hyperbaric oxygen chamber which is five days a week. All of this was going on during last hunting season and my last two semesters of college. Once my wound’s progress came to a standstill, the wound clinic referred me to a plastic surgeon in Chapel Hill. We discussed a few options and I had a bone biopsy in August and had another PICC line placed for IV antibiotics that were supposed to last for six weeks. However, I became very sick due to the antibiotics destroying my white blood count and was hospitalized twice in two weeks. My counts got so low that my doctor informed us that a common cold or virus could have killed me. I really didn’t realize it was quite that bad until that point. We figured out that the meds were killing my WBC and switched me to some others. Over a year, and mostly during a two month span, I lost about 70 pounds (not that I didn’t need to haha). I’ve since gone back on oral antibiotics and I’m doing a lot better. I’m having some issues but I’m staying in bed a lot to keep pressure off of my wound, which has limited my hunting time.

 

In the four or five times I’ve been able to hunt our stand I have seen deer every time, but just does, yearlings, and one small buck right at dark. We’ve had a good amount of pictures of what I consider a big 8 point. They had all been at night until Sunday morning. I had an appointment with a doctor and voted Tuesday so I wasn’t feeling up to hunting that evening. After spending Wednesday in bed and getting up about lunch time Thursday, Daddy and I headed to the hunting club. There’s a view from the stand added.

 

That lane runs perpendicular to an old logging road that we use to get to the ground blind. About 30-40 yards behind the blind is the boundary road between our club and the State Park. We settled in about 3:45pm and enjoyed the squirrels & birds for a way. A good while later, we thought we heard something to our right but didn’t see anything. Right around 5:00pm, my back was a little tight so I leaned forward a little to stretch it out. Daddy was looking down for some reason and I stretched, the buck stepped into the right side of the lane, about even with the corn pile. He stopped and so did we. When he made his move across the lane, I sat back & got on him. I thought he might go straight across, but he circled in the lane and put his head down to eat. Daddy helped move my chair a little so I could adjust the crosshairs on the buck. I got settled in on his shoulder & dropped the hammer. I hit just a little low and he whirled, leaving the left side of the lane. We thought we heard him crash just a few seconds later. We were both crazy with emotion and praising the Lord. I was almost to the point of shedding tears because of the circumstances. A couple of guys we hunt with texted Daddy to see if we shot & if we got it. After a few minutes, Daddy went to look for him. As soon as he got to the corn pile, he could see him piled up in the woods about 30 yards. He drug him out for some pictures and celebration. One of the guys came in and he & Daddy loaded the buck on his truck to take to the skinning rack. It was a great evening & this one’s going on the wall! This makes the first time we’ve killed the best buck we had on trail cam. He was 14 & ½” inside, 16” outside, 7” G2s, & 5” G3s.

[fly]

Fantastic buck! Congratulations - your dad seems like a great guy. Glad you all had a great hunt.

[Rhino]

Awesome!!!  Congratulations...fine buck!  Thanks to your dad too for helping to make it happen for you.

[wtnhunt]

That is awesome Chris.  Best story I have read this year!  Very nice deer.  Congratulations.  Good to see you back around here too.  Hope that things progress better for your health issues and will say some prayers for you.

[Strut10]

Great story !!!

CONGRATS on a good deer !!!!!!!!

[dbHunterNY]

Awesome deer and story. Good to see you're getting out there. I haven't shot a buck this year. Way to put some pressure on the rest of us! Lol

[TheHawkeyeState]

Nice deer! Congrats

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[MUDRUNNER]

Congrats! That is a great buck and an awesome story! Well done.