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Caroline deputy Justin Cecil says he can't believe his luck in felling two bucks in 10 minutes on a hunt Saturday. |
BY JONAS BEALS
Justin Cecil didn't waste any time getting his firearms deer-hunting season off to a good start.
Cecil, a 27-year-old Caroline County sheriff's deputy, took his 12-gauge shotgun into the woods Saturday and walked out 30 minutes later with the two biggest trophy bucks of his life.
"I've killed a few deer this season, so I can't complain," said Cecil, an avid sportsman who hunts with the Salvia Hunt Club. "But I've never in my life seen deer as big as this. I'm tickled to death."
Saturday marked the start of the firearms deer season in most of Virginia. Hunters typically put down their bows or black-powder rifles and pick up modern rifles or shotguns until the season ends Jan. 2. In Virginia, the bag limit for deer is two a day, and six in a license year.
Cecil killed both deer at approximately 10 a.m. in King and Queen County, just over the Caroline border.
The first buck was a 12-pointer with hefty antlers spread 23 inches across at their widest point. The second was a 16-pointer with a 22-inch spread. He estimated that both deer weighed 150 pounds.
Cecil had seen the first buck before, but the 16-pointer was unexpected. If things had gone according to plan, he never would have shot the second buck.
Cecil was hunting with his 11-year-old cousin Coltin Cecil. It was an early lesson in hunting luck for Coltin.
"We just walked into the woods," Justin Cecil said. "We hadn't been there more than 10 or 15 minutes when a deer walked right up to me."
Cecil dropped the brows-ing 12-pointer and promised his cousin that the next deer was his.
"My club had two dogs out," Cecil said, "Probably 10 minutes later, one of the dogs ran the second buck right past us."
Coltin tried to get a shot off, but his safety jammed. Cecil fired his own round of buckshot and bagged his second trophy in a 10-minute span.
He plans to get both bucks mounted and enter them in competition.
"Luck is luck," Cecil said. "It's unbelievable."
As for his young cousin, Cecil thinks the excitement may have created a dedicated outdoorsman.
"It kind of got to him at first," Cecil said of the jammed safety. "But he's ready to go another day. It's given him something to look forward to."
Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com
