The Bowhunt or Die crew has been on fire this last few weeks killing some tremendous bucks. Tim Ainsworth was the latest to strike with a huge buck he called Cricket. Here’s the story on how Tim’s prayer for guidance led to a giant, as told by the lucky hunter himself.
The deer’s name is Cricket and this was the third year we have known him. Troy Spolum had found his sheds in 2014 and we thought he was a 4 year old deer at that time, although he might have just been one heck of a big 3 year old. We will find out for sure when we send his teeth into Wildlife Anaylitcal Laboratories like we do with every buck we shoot.
Several years of trail cam photos showed that, like a lot of mature whitetails, Cricket moved almost exclusively at night.
I had been battling a nasty cough and cold all weekend and woke to a pounding headache on Monday morning. I was tempted to sleep in, but I dragged myself out of bed, took a shower, packed my gear, grabbed some Ricola cough drops and tissues and headed out the door. Feeling exhausted and defeated, I slowly made my way to a crossroads between two stands I was thinking of hunting the night before. It’s about a 15 minute walk there and I just couldn’t make up my mind. When I got to the crossroads I stopped and tried to make up my mind but just couldn’t. Since I couldn’t decide, I lowered my head and said a small prayer. Something along the lines of, “Lord, I know this request is silly and insignificant, but if it be in Your will, please guide me to a stand.” And like that, something was telling me to hunt the stand we call, “Turkey Hill.”
I climbed into the stand and started getting set up for the hunt. As shooting light was approaching, the woods started to come alive. There were younger bucks chasing does to my north. But when I heard thrashing behind the stand, I turned to see a large deer tearing into a tree about 100 yards behind me. I immediately grabbed my grunt tube hoping to catch him angry and gave him a few grunts. He stopped, looked my way and then continued on his way away from me. It was at this point I identified the deer as Cricket. I thought the deer was gone for the morning, either off to bed or in search of a doe. I text my wife and asked her to say a little pray asking God to bring Cricket by my stand.
As the morning progressed, Cricket and a doe would eventually work around my stand multiple times in the thicket behind me, never getting any closer than 50 yards. Finally, at around 8:00 am, I heard deer running and grunting behind me. I immediately stood, grabbed my bow, turned on my camera and turned around to see the doe running toward me. 30 yards behind her is Cricket, slowly following her and grunting. The doe gets to about 5 yards from the base of the tree to my right then turns and heads away on the other side of the tree behind me. Cricket follows her path grunting and making other vocalizations. The doe bounds about 50 yards off my left shoulder and Cricket begins to follow her. He gets to about 30 yards, finally stopping in one of my shooting lanes. I drew back knowing this may possibly be my only chance. I slowly settled the pin behind his shoulder and watched the arrow hit. It was a great shot A spot low, but a heart shot nonetheless. Cricket gave a signature donkey kick and took off away from me disappearing in the brush. I was beside myself at this point. The biggest buck of my life and I’m as confident as ever in the shot.
A 3 year quest was finally complete when Cricket marched in behind Tim’s treestand.
I sat down and immediately called my wife. This is the part I remember most and will cherish the most about the hunt. She answers with, “You get him?” I tell her, “Yes!” She then tells our 2 year old son, Jack, and they both start cheering, “Daddy got a buck…Daddy got a buck.” The feeling of joy and feelings of support from my family made this moment one of the best in my life. I’ll never forget that moment.
We found Cricket tucked in the thick stuff after about a 200 yard blood trail courtesy of a perfectly placed NAP Spitfire DoubleCross. He was even bigger when I walked up to him than he was in any trail cam pic or even seeing him from the stand. I feel truly blessed to have harvested such a beautiful animal. But most of all, I am truly blessed to have a family that supports me doing what I love – what in retrospect is quite a selfish hobby – pulling me away from time with them. It was truly an amazing day and one I’ll surely never forget. All the glory to God for this hunt!
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