For The Record-Ohio

Home

Lynx

For The Record

By Ray Ward

Ohio

Debra Hartzell

Columbiana County, OH

Archery 2003

Typical Green Score 145

As Debbie’s husband, Kirk, prepared for archery season by shooting targets in their backyard last summer, Debbie tried shooting her husband’s bow. The poundage and draw length weren’t right for her but she thought it might be a sport she would enjoy. Leetonia Sportsman’s Club then offered a "Woman in the Outdoors" day. Debbie signed up for several classes and archery happened to be one of them. After that she was hooked! She hinted to her husband that a bow and arrows would make a great gift for her upcoming birthday. Her birthday wish was granted and she received a PSE Nova bow and some arrows. The couple practiced together shooting 50 to 60 arrows every evening.

When archery season began, she donned some of her husband’s extra camouflage and joined him on his hunts. On this particular evening Kirk put his wife in a hastily constructed ground blind near a good trail. As he continued on to his stand he instructed her to watch for deer coming up the trail out of the hollow. A short time later she heard something coming from behind her and stood up to see what it was. A huge buck stepped from behind a knoll at a distance of only 15 yards. Instinctively she drew, aimed, and fired all in one motion. The buck stopped then took off running over the hill.

Not knowing exactly what to do now, she started screaming at the top of her lungs for Kirk. He came running, not knowing what to expect. Approaching his wife, she screamed over and over "I think I shot a deer". His next question was how big was it. Her answer was "I don’t know". Everything happened so fast it was like a blur. All she could tell him was that it had antlers. She reconstructed the shot and they began to search for signs of a hit. Other than the tracks, they found nothing, no blood, no hair, and no arrow. Darkness was beginning to fall and they decided to resume the search the next day.

The following morning the search again produced no signs of a hit. They walked in the direction the buck had taken and there in a small ditch lay a huge buck. When her husband got a look at the rack he had to sit down and just smile and admire his wife’s beautiful trophy.

Editor’s Note: The buck is a mainframe 8-point with 4 abnormal points including a 6-inch drop tine. Even with the deductions for abnormal points the buck green scores a typical 145 and has a 24 1/8-inch inside spread.

Kirk is a member of Leetonia Sportsman’s Club and has taken a lot of rubbing from his friends and club members. He has been hunting many years and never even came close to a deer like this. Debbie’s buck was also very large bodied, weighing in at 252 pounds field dressed. Kirk is very proud of his wife and what she has accomplished. Later in the season Kirk redeemed his pride a little by harvesting a nice 11-point.