Photo: Billy Sawyer of Crossett, Arkansas, won the 2016 Buckmasters Ohio Hunt Sweepstakes. Billy passed away on April 20, 2017.
People often ask if anybody really wins the Buckmasters sweepstakes hunts they see on our TV commercials and on the internet. The answer is a resounding yes! Those hunts are an important part of our television filming schedule every year, and we count on the footage for both “Buckmasters” and “The Jackie Bushman Show.”
Buckmasters members and fans are the best, and it’s been a pleasure to hunt with the winners. We’ve gotten as much out of these hunts as the amazing folks who’ve won the contests.
Something I learned through the sweepstakes hunts is that every deer hunter has a story. Although the winners are chosen completely at random, there have been several disabled hunters and a few wounded veterans. It was not our intention to expand the work of Disabled Hunter Services through the sweepstakes hunts, but it’s a bonus when the different projects just happen to come together.
Two things that always amaze me are the will of a deer to live, and the will of deer hunters to be in the woods no matter what challenges they face.
That’s why we were so excited to host sweepstakes winner Billy Sawyer last year. Billy was fighting an aggressive cancer, but he was still able to attend his hunt and take a handsome buck with a CVA muzzleloader.
Billy brought a ton of joy and enthusiasm to the camp, and his uplifting spirit brought constant smiles to the faces of the entire crew. We wanted him to get that buck as much as he did.
Unfortunately, Billy lost his battle with cancer this spring and passed away on April 20. He was just 57.
I can’t imagine the grief being felt by Billy’s wife, Vickie, nor that of his children, Lacey and Josh. Josh attended the hunt with Billy, and we got to know him, too.
To the Sawyer family, please accept our condolences, and also our thanks for sharing Billy with us when he had so little time left. That was one sweepstakes where we were the winners.
View Recent Contest Winners!
Read Recent Articles:
• Heartbreak to Redemption: A bad day at the office takes an unlikely turn for the better for this Buckmasters cameraman.
• The Boys of Summer: Why the first week of the season is your best chance to take a book buck with a bow.
• Small Group Deer Drives: Less can be more when it comes to pushing deer.
This article was published in the July 2017 edition of Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine. Subscribe today to have Buckmasters delivered to your home.