Rack Magazine

Ask not for whom the buck swims. It swims for thee.

Makayla Hay was shaking.

She’d like to think — or for others to think — that she was merely cold; that it was more shiver than shake. But it was Nov. 2 in central Texas, about 44 degrees, and on its way up to 72.

The real reason her synapses were sparking was lying out in the tall grass about 150 yards from where she was waiting for her father, Jim. The 15-year-old might’ve been rock-steady when she caressed her 7mm Mag’s trigger — twice — but now that the buck was on the ground, her fingers were twitching.

“It was cold,” she said, at first.

She’s told this story, which she says never gets old, a bazillion times. This time, though, an uncomfortable silence followed that remark. And then she thought better of it.

“Not really. It wasn’t cold,” she amended. “I was just excited. I wanted to go see if it was the deer from the river.”

Everyone near the town of Willis, maybe throughout Madison County, knew about the deer in the river. Two guys, Chuck and Cole Kelly, had photographed a pair of bucks swimming the Trinity River, one wearing a rack so big that it almost looked like a cartoon rack, a caricature of a monster buck, or a Photoshopped masterpiece.

The image not only hit the Internet and every cell phone, but it also appeared in the local newspaper.

Jim showed the photo to Makayla and told her the buck could be roaming the property they hunt. The photographer was friends of the man who owns the 1,600 acres they lease about a half-hour from home.

Makayla wasn’t entirely convinced. And her mother, Mary Ann, even laughed at the notion.

“I thought he was joking,” the girl admits. “I didn’t even think it was a real deer.”

Only when the thing stepped out of the woods and entered the field in front of her ground blind did the high school sophomore accept her daddy’s claim as gospel. Even from 150 yards, in the weak half-light before dawn, there was no mistaking the antlers’ grandeur.

Nov. 2 was opening day of Texas’ 2013 rifle season, Makayla’s 11th, if you count the times she accompanied Jim when she was barely knee-high. She used to look at deer through plastic binoculars, until she traded the toy for the real thing.

Jim and Makayla drove in before daylight that morning on a UTV. He dropped her off at the ground blind, then went on to hunt from an elevated stand about 125 away from hers.

“I told Dad I was going to sit out here all season until I see that (river) deer,” she said, adding that she won’t shoot a buck unless it’s bigger than any other she’s shot. “He told me, ‘You're not that patient.’”

She didn't have to be.

Just before sunup, several deer walked onto the field. Along with some does were a young 6-pointer and a decent 4x4 that Makayla might have considered had she not wanted a crack at the local legend.

She was tempted, of course. And the temptation grew.

She even sent her father a text message, saying the 8-pointer was her “backup buck,” in case THE big one — or another big one — didn’t show.

She was watching the deer troupe when a third buck stepped out of the woods.

“All I could see were points poking out everywhere!” she said. “There was no question I was going to shoot.”

That meant she had to first stoke the bolt-action rifle.

“I don’t load my gun until I’m ready to shoot,” she explained.

Once that was done, she calmly found a steady rest, aimed and fired. The buck collapsed instantly, but then tried to stand back up, which is why Makayla put another round into it.

“I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t run off,” she said.

Afterward, she sent a text message to her father: “Dad, come here!”

He’d heard the shots.

“I didn’t get nervous or excited until after I texted Dad,” Makayla said. “But while I was waiting for him — five minutes that seemed much more like 30 — the whole stand was shaking.”

The two of them went up to the downed deer together, and there was no doubt it was the deer from the river.

“It was way bigger than I thought,” she said. “I was in shock. I couldn’t even count the points.”

They took the buck to Jarrett’s Meat Service in nearby Madisonville, where gawkers had gathered to see the buck in person. Jim had called ahead with the news.

“There were guys climbing in the bed of our truck before we even stopped,” Makayla laughed.

A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist aged the 23-pointer at 5 1/2 years old. By Texas standards, it’s the largest ever taken by a hunter so young.

Makayla has always been smitten with deer. She plans on becoming a wildlife biologist, and she doesn’t miss an opportunity to hunt them.

“Makayla can age deer on the hoof better than most men can,” her dad says. “She knows what she’s doing.”

She says she has several friends who also hunt, but none of them care as much about it as she does.

“I really don’t know why I like it so much. I guess I just like watching deer,” she said.

Hunter: Makayla Hay
BTR Score: 215 4/8
Centerfire Rifle
Irregular

– Photos by Jim May

This article was published in the September 2014 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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