Colton Boucher

Harvest Story: After a long week of hunting and having a few close calls, the temps changed for the worst. The day prior temps got into the low 70s and the day I harvested the buck 10/31 was going to be mid 70s by noon. With warmer temps and not a ton of daylight movement my father in-law brought my oldest son up to camp so I could take him out with me in the morning. Accidentally forgetting his camo clothes at the house, we had to settle for sweat pants with his plaid green pj pants overtop a brown plaid jacket, hunting Fred bear style I guess. Still playing the wind the best we can, we climbed the stand at the top of “the glen”( big ravine). It’s a great vantage point to see what could be cruising on either sides if there was any movement at all in these temps. The morning was a little slow with only a small spike to keep us entertained walking all around and ending up bedding 30 yards from the tree. It’s was a great teaching moment for my son, seeing how even the small buck laid on just a tiny knob in front of a downed log, facing downhill with the wind to his back. We waited for a few hours and the temps reached 70 by 10:30. By this point the attention span of my 6 yr old son watching the spike drew restless and was focusing more on “what’s for lunch”? I started to pack up the rattling antlers, threw the arrow back into the quiver, and pull up the bow rope. Then I heard what sounded like a grunt 150–200 yards down the glen. I immediately looked at the spike. He was looking down hill both ears forward, got up and started walking down the south side of the glen ridge and stopped about 120 yards, still looking into the glen. I heard heard a grunt again, this time clear as day, and quickly knocked an arrow, let out a doe bleat, a few quick short grunts. And out of nowhere a tall framed buck came right up out of the bottom. I knew who it was right away… the big 8, I know how original for a name! Our other target bucks have cool names but he just got the good ol’ big 8. Having history with this deer we knew him to be a 4 year old. He really caught our attention last year and figured he could potentially blow into something great at 4, and he did! I know some guys are gonna say “should’ve gave him another year or two”, but this is PA not Iowa, my goals I set for myself is 4 and older. Back to the big 8, as soon as he popped on top of the ridge he made a quit jump at the spike who ran out of fear. I hit him again with another grunt to get his attention again… he’s coming. Now the whole time I’m trying to guess what open shooting lanes he might walk through and getting ranges while also constantly telling my son… Don’t move… please don’t move! 😂 I drew on him when he stepped in an opening at 30 yards, tried to give him the meh but he kept on walking. Fearing I just missed my opportunity, he decides to make the fatal decision to turn right when he stepped onto the logging road the tree stand is on, crossed over the “point of the glen” heading uphill right towards us. I came to full draw when he went behind a hemlock. As he’s coming up hill, he immediately stops looks right up at us at 17 yards but he stopped perfectly in a small window, I buried the pin and sent it! Watching him run 100 yards and tip over! At this point both my son and I are shaking, slapping high fives and crying tears of joy. It’s a memory that will last a lifetime!