Teenager Bags First Bow Buck with Recurve

Wyatt Scott bowhunted his family’s Kentucky property and ambushed this outstanding buck — his first ever with a bow — on opening day with his recurve. Image courtesy of Joe Scott

Fourteen-year-old Wyatt Scott of Kentucky got an early start to deer hunting seven years ago, when he took his first deer with a 6.5 Creedmoor. That same year, Wyatt’s father, Joe, introduced him to tree-saddle hunting, a tactic they both enjoy to this day. Although Wyatt has taken deer with a rifle, he was still looking to get his first one with a bow when the season opened this fall.

Joe and Wyatt each have both a compound bow and a recurve bow. Joe prefers to hunt with a recurve, but he hasn’t yet arrowed a deer with it. Wyatt enjoys shooting both his compound and recurve, although he had intended to hunt with his compound this year. But life had other plans.

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Before the Kentucky archery opener, Joe had taken both of their compounds to the local bow shop for a tune-up, and to get new strings put on Wyatt’s bow. But the bowstring company was backed up with orders, and the pro shop was unable to finish their work on Wyatt’s bow in time for the opener.

“I told Wyatt, ‘You’re just going to have to hunt with your recurve,’” Joe recalled. “He has an inexpensive Black Hunter recurve bow with very lightweight poundage. We got some arrows for it on Amazon, and I set them up with 150-grain Magnus Stinger broadheads. Wyatt didn’t have tons of confidence, and I said, ‘Look. You’re hitting perfectly out to 20 yards. Go sit in the stand and see what happens.’”

The stand location, which the Scott family had been baiting in the weeks preceding the opener, had a handful of bucks coming to it, and Wyatt was eager to try getting one of them.

This is one of the nice bucks that was frequenting the Scott family’s property, but it isn’t the one that Wyatt arrowed on opening night. Image courtesy of Joe Scott

“Our property and our neighbor’s property is basically one big open field of about 8 or 9 acres,” Joe said. “There is a tree line going down one side, and a creek with another tree line on the other. Then, there is a finger of woods with a creek that comes up to one corner of the field. We’ve had a ladder stand in there for probably 15 years.”

On opening morning, Wyatt headed out to the old ladder stand for a mid-morning hunt. “I got into the stand around 9 o’clock,” he explained. “I sat until about noon. I didn’t see anything, so I went home for a while. I headed back out that afternoon just before 3 p.m.”

The first deer to appear was either a doe or a spike; Wyatt couldn’t quite tell. Then, a spike came in. Later on, a dandy 8-pointer appeared, followed by a doe.

“He stopped across the creek to feed for a little bit,” Wyatt explained. “Then, he kept walking my way. I wasn’t too nervous. I was mostly focused on staying undetected and trying to determine which buck he was. I didn’t recognize him from our trail camera pictures. He kept coming and stopped 6 yards below me to look at the bait. That’s when I drew my bow and shot him. I didn’t see him go down or hear anything once he disappeared. I called my dad 10 seconds later.”

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Meanwhile, Joe was at his parents’ home. “We live on a dead-end road, and my parents live a rock throw away,” he said. “Quite often, we get together with my folks on the weekends for cookouts. My youngest son and I had just returned from his football game, and we were all making dinner.

“My phone suddenly rang,” he continued. “When I answered, Wyatt was saying, ‘I just smoked a big one! I just smoked a big one!’ I could hear the shaky excitement in his voice, but it took me a few moments to wrap my mind around what he was saying. I’ve watched him shoot well at a target, but shooting at a deer is an entirely different ballgame. I just didn’t think he’d get a nice buck right away on opening day with his recurve.”

Joe told Wyatt to sit tight and that he was on his way to help look for the deer. Joe and his father quickly jumped onto a side-by-side and drove to Wyatt’s location. What they didn’t know was that Wyatt had already begun searching for his deer. Due to the high entry wound and no exit wound, Wyatt only found one spot of blood on the ground, but he continued in the direction the buck had run and found him not far away, piled up.

Wyatt Scott won’t soon forget the hunt for his first bow buck, this dandy Kentucky 8-pointer. Image courtesy of Joe Scott

“We were just beginning to drive downhill toward the stand when we saw Wyatt walking our way,” Joe said. “I asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I had told him to wait for us and was confused as to why he was walking around. He started shouting that he had already found the buck and that it had run only 40 yards.”

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The three hunters took off downhill toward the deer. Still in disbelief, Joe started videoing the recovery with his phone. “Sure enough, there he was,” he said. “I think I was more excited than Wyatt. It was almost like I got a buck, but even better.”

The Scotts don’t recognize the buck from their trail cameras, but the buck had a big chest and solid 8-point rack, making it a trophy for any bowhunter, but especially for a new bowhunter carrying a very traditional piece of equipment.