Reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic are followed by rut in this corner of Ohio.
Most teenagers who want a day off from school must feign an upset stomach, a sore throat, or devise a way to make a thermometer show a fever. Sixteen-year-old Austin Etherington of Piqua, Ohio, had merely to ask his mother.
His reason – and she wanted one – was because the whitetail rut was due to peak. And it helped that his Uncle Shane Carver was hopping to go, too.
“She was leery, but she let me,” the 11th-grader smiled.
Austin is now studying diesel mechanics, but he’s been a student of deer hunting since his grandfather, Chuck Carver, took him under his wing a decade ago. Leading up to the 2015 season, he’d taken six deer, one of those with a bow.
Peer pressure was intense last season.
“I really wanted to get one because all my buddies had shot deer,” he said. “I was so anxious, I skipped school that Monday morning, Nov. 9. Boy, did it pay off!
“I woke up late, which meant I got to the stand later than I wanted,” he said. “Me and my Uncle Shane went to a farm owned by a friend’s father – 125 acres of woods in Miami County.”
His uncle and grandfather have hunted the place for a couple of decades.
Austin says he used half a bottle of Tink’s #69 en route to the 15-foot-tall ladder stand he and his uncle had erected a week earlier. He squirted it on the ground, on his boots and even on the tree to which the ladder was attached.
It was 6:30 by the time the teen was atop the ladder, which overlooked a fencerow between a cornfield and bedding area. His uncle was in a stand about 250 yards distant.
Austin spent the first hour and a half glassing the terrain 360 degrees. He also tried rattling and grunting.
“Just before 8:00, I texted my girlfriend and told her to have a good day and that I love her,” he said. “My buddies were also sending me texts, asking where I was.
“About 10 minutes later, I was just playing on my phone when I heard a loud crunching in the leaves,” he continued.
“I turned around and couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw this big white rack, and I was in shock,” Austin said. “I believe the buck, which was downwind of me, was cruising for does. It was coming steadily toward me, not slowly, but also not running. It had to smell the Tink’s.
“I stood really slowly, not nervous yet. I was steady. I grabbed my bow, nocked an arrow, and drew. When I shot, it felt like the world stopped,” he said.
The buck was just 15 yards away when he launched the arrow.
“After the deer disappeared, I texted my grandpa and said, ‘I shot the big one ... the one they talk about. I got the monster!’”
His grandfather was both surprised and elated. He’d heard rumors that an enormous buck was in the vicinity. Hearing his grandson deliver the news, however, didn’t quite prepare him for seeing the real thing.
“We have hunted that property for decades and never seen a buck of that caliber,” he said.
Austin found his bloodied arrow and the beginnings of a trail during the 30- to 45-minute wait for his uncle and grandfather. When the adults arrived, the three began following the trail.
They’d been at it for 20 minutes when Austin’s grandfather asked why he wasn’t carrying his bow.
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Austin admitted. “But I went back to get it, just in case.”
They found the double-lunged buck shortly after Austin rejoined the search. It had traveled maybe 150 yards from where the arrow struck.
The animal dressed out at 190 pounds, and they believe it was 5 years old.
Hunter: Austin Etherington
Score: 200 5/8
View Scoresheet
This article was published in the August 2016 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.
Read Recent RACK Articles: • Mother Lode: This West Virginia coal miner found the mother lode of antler last December.
• Missouri Mood Changer: Self-proclaimed grumpy old man forgets how to frown, if only for a day.
• Field Goal: Sometimes the best nickname for a buck is staring you in the face.