Hunting Muskegon County Nov. 4 with his father, Sawyer Charney, 8, took this monster record buck 14 point buck with a 20-yard shot.
Usually, when you hear of a young hunter harvesting a giant buck, it happens during the youth hunt. That is not the case with this brute of a whitetail.
Sawyer Charney was 8 years old last fall during Michigan’s whitetail rifle season. He was hunting with his father, Josh Charney, on what now might be the most famous day of this young man’s hunting career.
This was not Sawyer’s first success hunting whitetail deer. Previously he had harvested a 7-point buck and a couple of does. Sawyer and Josh are normally meat hunters but are always willing to harvest a buck if the opportunity presents itself.
On November 4, both father and son were hunting in the morning in Muskegon County. They were in the tree stand on a very foggy morning when 3 does came by. About 5 minutes later, Josh saw a buck, but they figured the buck had picked up their scent and moved off. They watched the direction the buck headed and thought that it might travel through an area where they might be able to get ahead of the buck and ambush it.
They had never seen this buck before, even though Josh had hunted this area for many years. Still, with the fog, they did not get a really good look at the buck but thought it was a good one.
They got to the woods that had a narrow area, hoping it would give them a shot at the buck if it did indeed head their way. Sawyer was hunting with a crossbow. They got in position for a 20-yard shot, and after getting set and waiting for about 20 minutes, much to their surprise, they saw the buck moving in their direction. The buck stopped at 20 yards and gave Sawyer a perfect opportunity to get ready and take a good shot.
Josh could tell that Sawyer’s arrow was true. He felt it was a heartshot. The buck ran off into the woods. Father and son waited about 30 minutes before they headed back to their truck and prepared to track it, although Josh had already seen the buck and knew it was down. But he still had Sawyer track it. It wasn’t a hard track, but he wanted to teach his son how to track and find his own buck. A teaching moment.
When they walked up to their trophy, they were shocked to see just how big it was.
They realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime buck young Sawyer had just harvested. The buck had 14 points. One which was a 4 5/8-inch drop tine. There was also another tine that had been broken off at its base.
The gross score was 167 inches and netted 157 3/8 inches. Once the buck was dressed and the head removed along with the antlers the buck still weighed 175 pounds.
Josh said it took them over an hour to drag the trophy back to the truck, being careful not to damage the hide.
Even though neither hunter had ever seen this buck before, several other hunters were fully aware of this trophy and had been hunting it for several years. They even named the buck “Kickstand.” After talking to one hunter, who had this buck on camera and had been hunting it for years, he figured the buck was 7 ½ years old, just about the same age as the young hunter who harvested him.
Josh Charney told me it was just dumb luck that they harvested this giant buck. Everything just had to fall into place, and it did, especially with so many trophy hunters after this same deer.
While talking to both Sawyer and Josh, you could tell that they have spent a lot of time hunting together. This was a very special moment for a young hunter and his father. Anytime that they are able to enjoy hunting with one another, and to be able to harvest a buck of a lifetime with one another, it just can’t get any better than that. I am sure father and son will spend many more days in a field, hunting together. But they will never forget November 4, 2023.
The author is Jeff Pendergraff, a retired Captain from the MDNR Law Enforcement Division.
