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4/10/2007

First Hunting Trip Gets Huge Results
Contact: Karen Parker (386) 758-0525

She wanted to go hunting. She had been asking her co-workers for months to take her after hearing about their hunting experiences in Virginia and Georgia.

Sylvia Green from Ball Ground, Ga., finally got her chance to get into the woods in December 2006. And she made it count -- in a big way.

“During a business trip to Jacksonville, we had the opportunity to meet up with some friends in Madison County to go hunting,” Green said. “It had to be the coldest day of the year.”

Green’s adventure started at 5 a.m. Dec. 8.

“I made sure I got up and dressed fast so I could impress the guys, who were sure I’d never make it to the stand before the sun came up. In borrowed insulated coveralls and wool socks, I stepped outside into 18-degree weather. With my borrowed rifle, we entered the ground blind at 6 a.m. sharp. We sat there and froze until around 9:30 a.m. We hadn’t seen the first deer, so we decided to go into town for some breakfast,” Green said.

Allen Cooper, one of Green’s co-workers had to catch up on some work, so she and another co-worker, Zane Bodiford, decided to get in a mid-afternoon hunt.

“We had been back in the blind about 20 minutes, and it was like ‘Wild Kingdom’ out there. First, we saw two gray foxes playing in the clearing up by the fence line. A short while later, two red-tailed hawks landed in the tree right above the blind. Then a bobcat strolled by. But we still hadn’t seen any deer,” she said.

Then, things got interesting.

“A doe stepped out in the clearing where the foxes had been playing earlier. She was followed by this beautiful buck. He was about 200 yards away. Before I could get set up, he stepped back into the woods,” Green said.

“Zane told me to be ready because they would either come out in front of us or they could come out on the trail to the left of us,” she said. “He was right.”

After several minutes, the doe returned and was feeding 65 yards in front of Green’s blind. The buck also returned and stood behind some scrub oaks.

“From where I was sitting in the blind, I could see the buck and his massive antlers. I could tell he was huge. Zane told me that if I could see the deer, then it could see me and not to move, as I had not gotten my rifle into position yet,” Green said.

The buck stepped behind an oak tree and Green got ready to shoot.

“The buck stepped back out into the clearing, and I took my shot. The deer flinched, turned and ran straight toward us, falling about 15 yards in front of the blind,” Green said. “We walked over and counted 15 points on him. I was so excited. And my co-workers still can’t believe I was the one to get him. I’m having a lot of fun with that.”

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Clay Huff scored the deer for Green Dec. 15. The gross score for the buck was 178. After the deductions, the Florida Buck Registry score came out to be 163 7/8.

“This was my first buck,” Green said. “He’s definitely going up on my wall.”