12-Point Hillsdale County Has A 22 Inch Inside Spread
Amy Slade lives on a 66 acre farm just southwest of Hillsdale and starting hunting just last year. She, like many others who start hunting, just wanted to shoot a deer. Any deer, it didn’t matter what size or sex.
“I think being part of the Slade family, that hunting urge comes natural” commented her uncle Jerry Slade, owner of the Slade Group.
Amy’s first year hunting last year came and went and although she had fun, she didn’t get the shot opportunity she wanted.
During this fall, her dad Jim had bowhunted the property and saw numerous good bucks, but not this particular buck. He, as well as many throughout this area, practice QDM very seriously and only shoot mature bucks along with taking does.
The first sighting of this buck came on Nov. 15, 2009, opening day of the Michigan firearms season. The bruiser came in from the west side of the property and Amy was so taken by its size that she fumbled around trying to get her gun out the window of her blind, smacking the side of the blind a number of times and the huge buck ran off, Amy thought never to be seen again.
That proved to be wrong. On Nov. 21, just before dark, she saw the brute buck on the property and was excited to know that it was still around.
On Sunday afternoon, Nov. 29, while the rain was pouring down, Amy decided to once again go sit in her favorite spot in hopes of shooting a doe to put some meat in the freezer. She saw a few does and one little buck in the distance and then at about 5 p.m., the buck came from the east side of the property and headed right towards her stand. This time she composed herself and got ready to shoot. If the buck continued on its path it would pass her in a lane cut through the CRP grass at 50 yards and she would have a broadside shot.
Then the unthinkable happened…right as the buck got to the lane, a shot rang out and the buck started to run. Amy’s younger brother, Greg, had seen the buck and took a shot from quite a distance, not thinking that Amy had seen the buck. Luckily he had missed.
The buck ran hard to the northwest and was headed for the cover of some mature pines when Amy drew down and let a shot off. Excited, she grabbed her cell phone and called her father, and told him what had just happened. At first she couldn’t find the buck and couldn’t find any blood in the rain. But just 80 yards away they could see a giant rack sticking out above the grass.
The main frame 8-point had four other stickers that made twelve scoreable points. Its bases combined totaling 12 7/8″. Its right side main beam measured 27 7/8″ and it had an inside spread of 22″. Gross score of the rack was at 164 7/8″. Another huge southern Michigan Hillsdale County whitetail buck.
Not bad for her first deer!
