SPRING BAY—A local hunter has harvested the deer of her lifetime!
“I will never see another animal like this,” stated Alison McAllister of the monster deer she harvested on Thursday, December 8. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Ms. McAllister noted, “I haven’t shot a deer in 15 years, and last year during the gun, rifle hunt seasons I didn’t even see a deer. Then this year this monster comes out right in front of me at 55 yards.”
She harvested this massive deer during the muzzle loader season. “With muzzle loader, you get one shot and that’s it.” The buck deer had 16 points and from the end of its nose to the base of its tail measured six foot five inches. The deer weighed 220 pounds. “There was not a lot of fat on him, he has been very active in the last month or so.”
“I’m quite thrilled, my husband Jean Marc (Pharand) was extremely excited. He has been hunting for 50 years and said he has never seen one this big,” said Ms. McAllister. “And I have relatives that are in their 60s and they say they have never seen a deer this big in their lifetime.”
Ms. McAllister told The Expositor, “I was sitting in my shack when I saw the buck. I was so quiet and moved very slowly. I was sitting in the shack when this buck come out and was facing me right away. He looked at the shack, but I didn’t move. When he put his head down I moved to get my gloves off. He looked again at the shack. Then I couldn’t get the hammer down on my gun.” When she did take a shot, “it was the first shot I have taken out of this gun.”
“I then took my shot, and he was gone—there was just smoke from the muzzle loader. Then the smoke was gone and I thought to myself ‘he’s gone.’ Then I heard some crashing in the bush, then nothing. All along I was thinking, ‘should I reload?’”
“I texted my husband, who was close by, ‘a big buck just came out,’ and he said ‘I’m on my way,’” said Ms. McAllister. “When my husband got to the deer he said, ‘oh my god it’s a monster.’ He left a light where the deer was and he said I’ve never seen a deer this big.”
The antlers on the beast are not typical. “The antlers are really thick and wide,” said Ms. McAllister. “My dad would say he was a swamp buck because they tend to have bigger antlers.” She harvested the prize on property that she and her husband own in Spring Bay.
She noted the family will eat every last bit of the monster buck.
“It was a stunning animal, and I was just in the right place at the right time.”
