During a recent episode Ram Trucks West Virginia Outdoors callers were asked to share their best deer stories from the recently completed buck hunting season. “Jerry from Franklin” had one for the ages.
An avid bowhunter, Jerry decided he’d hunt during the buck season with his bow in LoganCounty. On the evening of opening day, he spied a healthy buck chasing several does. The does led the big buck into range.
“I got about a 45-yard shot on it and I hit just a little low,” said Jerry. “I had to follow him along ways and it got dark on me so I had to come back the next morning.”
Jerry easily picked up the blood trail and tracked down the buck another 200 yards away. He was still alive, so Jerry put another arrow into the deer’s vitals. The buck’s head fell over and Jerry hurried to admire the sizeable rack on the deer.
“I went down to pick up the horns to look at it and it was angled on a downhill slope,” Jerry explained. “When I picked the horns up to look at it, it was not dead.”
The next few minutes would be a blur to most of us,, but Jerry vividly recalled the details for the radio audience.
“It lunged toward me and hit me with its horns and I was holding them with both hands,” he said. “Me and the deer rolled down the hill. It was over me trying to gore me with the horns and I was holding on for dear life.”
The wrestling match continued to on down the hill and finally ended along the railroad tracks near the highway.
“Cars were going by and people were blowing their horns. Me and the deer were going in a circle as I was trying to get this deer down,” he said.
The fracas continued for several minutes before Jerry said he finally got the deer in a headlock and subdued it enough to find his knife and finish it off.
Some naturally had their doubts and raised skepticism about potential embellishment to the story. Jerry stands by it word for word.
“I swear on my life. I witnessed it. I was in this fight,” he laughed. “It was awesome, but I never want to do it again because I could have been seriously hurt.”
Click the Audio Icon at the top of the story to hear Jerry tell his story—with the help of the legendary comedian Jerry Clower.