11-point buck for bowhunter Gunner Bowen

Gunner Bowen with a fine Lowcountry 11-pointer

On Friday October 21 Bowen made his first deer harvested with a bow a memorable one when he took an 11-pointer from Yemassee. Naturally, he carried the buck to work with him after dark at B & B processing.

Bowen begins skinning and cleaning deer just after dark that come from the Western Colleton County area. Girlfriend Kennedy Gibson had been hunting with Bowen that night and she also works at B & B Processing.

“We had been watching that buck for a month using a trailcam,” said Bowen. “On this Friday we checked the trailcam at 4 p.m. and saw that the big 11-point had been at our corn pile at noon that same day, and I felt like he might be back in the evening.” Kennedy has her own bow and was hunting from a different stand on the same hunting property. 

 “I went to my tree stand at 5:30 and I sat tight while a doe and a small buck came out to the corn pile,” said Bowen. “The 11-point came out about 6:45 and I had good shooting light until just after 7 p.m.,” said Bowen. “I drew my bow and held it for what seemed like twenty minutes waiting for the right shot. When he was broadside to me at 30-yards I went for a double-lung shot, and after impact the buck ran off.”

After going to get Gibson out of her deer stand after dark, the two bow hunters found where the arrow passed through the deer. Well most of it anyway! “The broadhead was in the dirt near where I shot, but the shaft of the arrow and the veins were still in the deer,” said Bowen. They followed the blood trail in the dark using Bowen’s flashlight.

“When we caught up to the buck and Gunner shined the light on his rack he began to jump up and down with excitement,” said Gibson. “Gunner has been dedicated to bow hunting this year, and now he says he’ll never shoot one with the rifle again!” Bowen also likes to hog hunt using horse and catch dogs, so he won’t give up firearms altogether.

B & B Processing is in its second year and part owner Steve Breland says they are running at least 100 deer ahead of last year’s workload. “Bowen’s buck was the first real big buck we got in this season, but we have seen some bigger ones since then,” said Breland. “All the boys here at B & B chip in to do their part and we work well as a team.” Family runs strong at B & B with Breland’s brother-in-law a part owner and his son and nephew helping to round out the staff.
The buck is being mounted at Whitetail Taxidermy in Cottageville.

To view past blog entry about a bowhunting success story click here.