Pennsylvania Game News - January 2017 - 5

whispered. "
John thought she was joking at first,
then looked to see Big Daddy, his massive rack in plain view as he approached
the stand, nose to the ground.
John told Melanie to get ready, and
she settled in behind the scope.
The buck stopped 22 yards away, and
stood staring at the base of the tree that
held the stand.
While he was well within range,
he had come in at angle, and was not
presenting a good shot.
"John told me to relax and take my
time," Melanie recalled. "My back was
starting to cramp, and I kept thinking I
can't mess this up."
As her buck of a lifetime continued
to stand there like a statue, Melanie
slowly stood to stretch her back.
She put the scope back on the buck,
which moved to offer the shot she'd
been awaiting.
"John told me to shoot tight behind
the shoulder," Melanie said. "He didn't
even get that whole statement out
before I pulled the trigger."
John saw the hit and believed it was
a good one.
After waiting a few minutes to give
Melanie time to calm down, she and
John climbed down from the stand to
take up the buck's trail in the fading
daylight.
They found blood at the spot Big
Daddy had been standing, then walked
uphill to where they'd last seen the deer.
A puddle of frothy blood where the
deer appeared to have stood indicated
a lung hit.
The two waited about 15 minutes,
figuring the buck was close and not
wanting to push it too hard. Taking up
the trail again, downhill toward some
big woods, John went another 50 yards
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7

before spotting the buck - stone dead
- lying against a tree with its front legs
tucked under like it had just bedded
down.
"Big Daddy is done!" he told Melanie. "You have no idea what you've
just done!"
Melanie's buck, a 10-point with
25-inch main beams and a 17 1/4-inch
inside spread, would be measured officially at 162-5/8 inches - big enough
for entry into the Boone & Crockett
Club's Awards Program.
It was the highest-scoring typical
whitetail to be added to the Pennsylvania Big Game Records book in
2016.
Standing over Big Daddy, John
instantly recognized that if the buck
had gone just 45 yards farther, it would
have run past his late-father's favorite
stand - a place that always was very
special to him.
Melanie called back to the house,
and asked Brian to bring the kids up
to see the buck they had named, and
John called a friend to help get it out
of the woods.
Melanie said the day of the hunt
became one of the best of her life, and
she's glad she got to share it with her
family.
"Occasionally, while watching TV,
I look up at Big Daddy on the wall and
hear John clearing his throat, and then
he reminds me that he helped make me
famous."
While Melanie said she appreciates the chance she had to take such a
trophy, she's certainly no trophy hunter,
and in the 2015-16 season she'd happily
use her crossbow to take the first legal
buck that gave her a chance.
And she hoped she wouldn't have to
wait for the new year to do it.
5
Pennsylvania Game News - January 2017

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