Opening Day was especially good to one 15-year-old. Josie Grace Black of Swainsboro successfully scored not one but two quality bucks on Saturday morning.
The daughter of Josh and Jessica Black, she began hunting with her dad when she was younger. She started hunting on her own last year. This season, she decided to hunt solo as well.
On October 16, she climbed in the stand at an area hunting club, .350 Legend in tow, and waited. Soon enough, around 7:30 a.m., she had a deer on her radar—a 140-pound, 7-point buck no less.
“When I first spotted the deer through my scope, I was very nervous. I felt like I watched it eat forever while I tried to decide if I wanted to shoot it or not. I had never shot that gun. In fact, I hadn’t shot a gun in over a year at all. When I finally calmed down enough to shoot, I was so scared I had missed because it didn’t drop right away.”
She pulled out her phone and managed send a text to her parents with shaky hands. Then, around 7:45, out walked another deer, which she would take for No. 2 on the day.
“I had just enough time to calm down and reload my gun when another walked out. That deer ended up being a 3-point that weighed about 120 pounds, I just couldn’t tell how big he was at the time. I didn’t give myself enough time to get worked up this time, but I was still shaky and nervous.”
After about an hour and a half, her dad and younger brother, Case, came to see if she had hit either deer. The trio located both animals not far from where she had shot them.
“I was so excited! I could tell my daddy was thrilled, too. Making him proud was the best part of it all.”
Black is a 10th grade student at David Emanuel Academy. She has one other sibling, a sister named Maggie.