The buck of a lifetime comes early

Swayze Bozeman was in a stand where we had seen two really nice bucks about a week before. One was an 8-point, the other a 9.

He did not get a chance to shoot that day. The two deer spooked as Sawyze’s dad moved a video camera for a better angle.

“We went back to the stand on Oct. 29, 2011, hoping the 8 and 9 would be back,” the young hunter said. “We had no idea we’d see something better.”

Swayze saw the biggest deer about 200 yards away. At first, he thought it was the big, shooter 9 he had seen before, but looking through the binoculars he saw a drop tine.

“I texted Dad, and then looked at him again and saw how big he really was,” Swazye said. “Then I started praying he would come to me.”

Harvey Bozeman knew things were about to get interesting.

“I had just gotten in my tree when he texted me to tell me about the deer, and I knew it had to be a different deer because the 9 we saw earlier didn’t have a drop tine,” the elder Bozeman said.

“So I started texting back, but he wasn’t answering. I kept texting, and he wasn’t answering so I knew something was about to happen.

“I was about 150 yards away from him, and I could see deer through the trees but I had no idea he was looking at 160-class non-typical.”

Young Swayze was covered up with deer.

“The big buck was with four other bucks and a doe — and the doe was about on top of me — when I looked up and a 10-point I hadn’t seen appeared about 20 yards away,” he said. “I was thinking about shooting him, but I kept thinking about that big buck with the drop tine and decided to wait, and pray.”

The big buck got to about 25 yards and turned broadside, and Swayze shot.

“I saw a bunch of deer running and I knew something was up,” the senior Bozeman said. “My phone buzzed, and it wasn’t a text. It was Swayze calling and he said, ‘Dad, I just shot a monster.’”

Swayze told his dad that the shot was a little back, so they waited about four hours before looking for it. When they found it about 150 yards from where he shot, Swayze couldn’t believe it.

“He’s a lot bigger than I thought he was,” he said.

The deer had 17 scoreable points and grossed 164 inches and netted 157 2/8 non-typical Pope & Young.

Bozeman’s tipSpend as much time in the stand as you can.

Bozeman’s equipment• Bow — Mission Craze with a 24-inch draw set at 50 pounds• Arrows — Gold Tip Velocity XT Hunter 500 spine arrow• Broadheads — 100-grain Muzzy MX3