Markaya Ashley traveled to Indiana during the height of the rut this November. On Nov. 22, she climbed into a tree stand she’d never hunted out of before, but it was surrounded by choice whitetail habitat. She’d hung the stand over the summer after getting permission from a friend to hunt on the farm.
“I got in the stand early and sat there all day,” Ashley, who lives in White Hall, Michigan, tells Outdoor Life. “I was really just there to learn about the deer and the area.”
It was cold and starting to rain, and Ashley was still tired after driving down from Michigan the day before. Still, she figured she would stick it out through the evening in case a buck passed through on its way to bed.
“The stand was set near what I believe was a bedding area, and about 4 p.m., I saw some movement in the woods.”
It was a buck looking for does — and he was headed straight toward Ashley’s stand. She watched the deer travel down a ravine with its head down. Then she grabbed her bow and prepared to draw.
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“The whole thing happened in just 10 or 15 seconds,” she says. “I didn’t have to look over the buck. I knew he was huge. When he walked into range at 35 yards in an open area, I calmed myself, drew my bow, aimed, and released.”
Her shot placement was perfect, hitting the buck behind the shoulder. The expandable 2-blade broadhead passed right through the heart.
“He ran just 50 yards, then fell, slid down on his belly and stopped,” she says. “I knew the biggest buck I’d ever shot was dead. I was so thankful and full of emotion that I cried.”
She climbed down from her treestand, thanked God, and notched the tag on her buck. Then she called her father in Michigan to share the good news.
Ashley went back to her stand, where she waited until dark. Around nightfall, her friend Joe Holstine arrived, and the two of them loaded the buck into the truck. They dressed elsewhere, hoping to keep coyotes out of the area.
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Ashley says the 13-pointer was given an unofficial green score of 170 7/8 inches. She plans to have the buck mounted so she can display it along with some of her other trophies from over the years.
“All I do is bowhunt, and I’ve been blessed to previously hunt bears and African game,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot hunting those other animals, and that experience helped me get this buck.”
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