South Carolina Girl's First Deer Is a Full-Velvet Monster

Madison Shealy took this buck of a lifetime, which is her first deer ever, while hunting with her brother, Hunter, on the second day of the South Carolina season. Photo courtesy of Madison Shealy.

If you’ve read the South Carolina profile in Realtree’s Antler Nation, you’re probably aware that the state ranks low in terms of big deer production. Currently, it has only 14 entries in the Boone and Crockett records book. Palmetto State hunters tend to shoot lots of deer, but not many big ones.

Still, a buck evades the hunter pressure now and again, gets old and grows big antlers, kind of like the velvet monster that young hunter Madison Shealy’s shot in Gilbert County this past August. Her buck is one that even the most seasoned deer hunters in the Midwest wouldn’t pass up. And the best part of this story? The buck was Madison’s first deer, ever.

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Madison said that she’s been going deer hunting with her father and brother, Hunter, for quite a few years. She has mostly gone along to observe, so she had never even pulled the trigger on a deer until she took her monster buck this year, with her brother’s CVA .243 rifle.

On the opener, Madison and Hunter hunted on their family’s property from a box blind overlooking a field that borders some timber with a shooting lane going through it. Hunter had been baiting the lane with corn for more than a week. They didn’t see a single deer that afternoon, but Madison said, “It was good to get back out there after waiting all year for the season to open back up.”

Not too discouraged by the lack of deer movement, the Shealy siblings headed for the same box blind the following morning, settling in around 6:20 a.m. They kept quiet to avoid alerting any deer to their presence, and they began seeing some deer as the first glints of daylight spilled into the timber.

“I didn’t really think we’d see any deer,” Madison explained. “But a couple of does and a few bucks came out and started feeding in the shooting lane. Then, my buck came out. He was standing perfectly broadside, so I prepared to shoot. I didn’t specifically know whether or not he was the biggest one in the group. I just knew he was a nice buck.”

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Because she hadn’t previously fired a shot at a deer, Madison’s mind was flooded with various thoughts as she lined up the crosshairs for the shot of a lifetime. Again, she admitted that she didn’t realize how impressive the buck was in that moment.

The buck didn’t run too far after Madison Shealy shot him with her brother’s CVA .243 rifle. Photo courtesy of Madison Shealy.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I was really nervous,” she said. “I aimed, and I think I flinched when I shot. Afterward, I didn’t know what to say or think. I remember just being in awe at everything that happened. At first, I wasn’t sure if I had gotten him. He kind of dropped, but then he ran away.”

Unsure of the shot placement, Hunter scurried down to the ground and ran down to where the buck had been standing to assess the situation. Meanwhile, his sister sat in the stand, shellshocked by the events that had just unfolded.

“I got down out of the stand and walked down by my brother,” she said. “We stood around for a little while before we began looking for the buck. We found him pretty quickly. My bullet hit a little bit high and slightly forward, but it took him down quickly. We didn’t realize how big he was until we walked up to him. We were shocked.”

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Hunter has taken some good bucks, but he said this one’s way bigger than any of those.

“My first thought when we walked up to the deer was that I wished I had gotten him!” he said. “No, I was happy for her and that I was able to be there and help her get her first deer.”

The rack is in full velvet and sports a gigantic 8-point frame with massive bases and long brow tines. Throw in four extra points for a total of 12, and her taxidermist got a gross score of 175 inches. The Shealy family had no idea that the buck had been roaming the area, but after the fact, they learned that some neighbors had known about it.

Madison wanted to acknowledge her brother and her father for the effort they put into deer hunting. “Without them, this wouldn’t have happened,” she concluded.