Paxton Shoenlein, who doesn’t like hunting the youth hunt, took a fantastic buck during the September hunt. The largest buck and the last buck to be taken from the family farm. Here’s his story written by his father, Jeremy…
I have hunted our family’s 160-acre farm since I was very young. Our grandmother passed away in May, and unfortunately, the family decided we needed to sell. The front 80 with the house and farm was the first to sell, and the youth hunt was the last weekend before the new owners took possession. My son Paxton is not a fan of the youth hunt because, as he says, “It’s too hot,” and he’d much rather hunt in November. But because of the sale, I asked if he would like to hunt our favorite blind on the property one last time and take a couple of does on the youth weekend.
He, of course, obliged, and we set out for a fun father-son sit on that hot September day. I had asked a buddy of mine who has often hunted that parcel to bring his 10-year-old son, who has yet to connect with a deer.
We were in the stand for no more than 45 minutes when the does started filling in the field in front of us. We agreed that my buddy’s son would get first opportunity at a doe that was 75 yards out. He put a great shot on the deer, and my son was next up. He decided to take a doe that was 230 yards out. We practiced shooting a lot, and I knew he could connect easily at that distance. Doe goes down.
An hour into the hunt we were two-for-two and knew the deer would flood back into the field. We had full intention to take just does and we knew that would be an easy task if the shots could be made.
Right around that wonderful prime time, sure enough, the deer started filling into the field. At that time, a nice main frame 6 came out, and we thought it might be a decent first buck for my buddy’s kid. However, it needed to come inside 100 yards for him to be successful.
While we waited, we were constantly glassing when we saw a decent deer about 350 yards out. We watched and knew he was probably a nice mainframe 8, and at that time, I put my son on him. The deer got to 280 yards and Paxton was ready to take a shot on a perfect broadside presentation. He missed low. But the buck spooked and came down inside 230 yards, and that’s when we saw the drop tines through the glass. My buddy and I were beside ourselves with what was in front of us. We excitedly were urging Paxton to rack and get ready for a follow-up. To his credit, he never saw the antlers through the scope as he was focused on putting a good shot on the animal(he hates missing). This time he dropped the buck where he stood.
We were all pretty excited but waited to get another doe for my buddy’s son. It wasn’t until after we recovered both the does did we go get the buck. And we had no idea until we got to him what exactly we were dealing with. Paxton was absolutely ecstatic at what he had harvested. His quote to follow all the fun was, “Well, I guess I’m a doe hunter for the rest of my life.” He knew it was a special moment on a special piece of land that we had to relinquish soon. In the 50 years of my family hunting, that parcel in Osceola County that was by far the largest, most unique buck we have ever harvested, a double droptine 15-point non-typical.
