Giant buck for young hunter

A DeKalb High School freshman, Reili Brewer, shot a 31-point buck at the 12,000-acre Red River Army Depot property in Bowie County in East Texas, and the buck is expected to be a new youth state record.

Reili was hunting with her father, Rickey Brewer II, during the youth weekend Oct. 28-29. On the second afternoon of the hunt, after a cold front came through followed by heavy rain, Reili had forgotten her rain gear and her father gave her his. Sitting below her stand, he was too wet and cold to remain and headed to the truck to warm up.

“About 6:15, I went to the truck,” he told the Antlers & Hicks Outdoors podcast. “I was freezing, and my boots were wet. On the way back to the truck, she texted she was going to stay until 6:40.” When Rickey was in the truck, he heard the rifle shot from Reili’s .350 Legend.

Rickey had been trying to hunt the same buck for three years, and had trail camera images of the buck each year. Last year, he had one encounter with the buck while bowhunting, but not close enough for a shot.

Reili said she was on her phone and looked up when she saw the deer. “My nerves were shot, but my dad’s words were with me,” she said. “I just took a big breath and slowly squeezed the trigger.”

“It was only 15 minutes after he left,” she told the podcast. “The buck was walking down the trail. I only saw his right shoulder. He shook his horns, and I saw the water fall and got nervous. My scope was fogged up and I wiped it with my hoody and put it on him. I breathed and barely squeezed the trigger. He was 35 to 40 yards out. He ducked his head, walked off and then fell.”

After hearing the shot, Rickey began heading back to the area, until he looked at his phone.

“Reili had left three messages, all screaming and crying,” he said. “She said, ‘I shot the big one.”’

Rickey sprinted to the area, and later found the deer down about 35 yards from where it was shot.

He said he was glad it was his daughter who made the harvest.

“I’m super proud of her,” he said.

A local taxidermist scored the buck as 238 1/8. The state youth record is 209.