Jack and Jana Mayatt had a deer season so typical of many local hunters. From the bow season that began last Oct. 1 right on through the gun and black powder seasons, deer have been hard to find for most of us. But thanks to persistence, the Mayatt husband and wife team finished the regular rifle season on a very high note; they both took fine bucks just as their gun hunting year came to a close.

Scouting the woods on Friday, Jan. 13, revealed sign of rutting activity in their hunt area. The next day the pair were walking to a very distant stand so Jana could take advantage of the fresh sign. Thinking of shortening the long walk, Jana asked her husband, “I guess there’s no way I could hunt your stand?” (The stand she referred to was closer.) Of course Jack accommodated and Jana climbed into a shoot house that had a good view of a logging road.

Just after sundown a buck came trotting down the logging road and Jana made one shot, a hit to the deer’s shoulder. Her rifle was a 30-06 Remington 742 autoloader. She got on her walkie talkie and told Jack , “I just shot one and I think it’s the big one,” referring to a trophy buck they had photographed with trail cameras.

Jack arrived at Jana’s stand with his brother Cliff, and they took up the trail. The two quickly found the buck just 30 yards away. Jana, who was waiting near the stand, was calling out “What is it ? What is it?

“What are you doing killing a spike?” one of the men replied.



Not fooled

Shaken only momentarily, Jana retorted, “I shot a big buck!” The tease had not worked, and the men dragged the big buck out of the woods. Though it was not the one that had been captured on camera, the hunters were thankful for this 8-pointer with a 16-inch inside spread, bagged on the last Saturday of the gun season. It was Jana’s biggest buck of several she has taken.

Jack had entered into a friendly wager with a guy at work on who could take the biggest buck of the season. His friend had bagged a good one and Jack was still scoreless and taking a lot of ribbing when the final day of the gun season arrived. “It was 4:15 p.m. when Jack was able to quit work for the day. His friend told him, “There is no sense going today, you won’t have time to get to the woods.”

But Mayatt hurried home, changed and hit the woods with less than an hour left to take a bigger buck than his co-worker.

He climbed into a tree stand in woods between two green fields. He used his grunt call frequently. He was watching a scrape line near a field border. But a buck came from behind him and walked by at close range heading into one of the patches. Mayatt leveled his .270 Browning rifle and shot the buck that dropped in the open within a few yards, just minutes before the season ended.

Jack’s heavy-beamed deer sported a 12-point rack and had a “bad hook mark” on a back leg and a knot on its head; strong evidence of a serious battle. “I’ve got him digging now,” said Mayatt of his betting friend. “He thought he had it licked.” With only the bow and primitive weapon season remaining, Mayatt is the favorite to win the wager.



Finally found

The evening before Jack took his deer, his brother found the skull and rack of a buck Jack shot last year and failed to find. The cleaned skull and antlers when displayed are called a European mount.

The primary reason Jack Mayatt gave us this story was the deep satisfaction he and Jana have found as hunting partners. Both have hunted most of their lives, beginning early. For the last seven years they have hunted deer as equals insofar as dedication, effort and time are concerned. A book would be needed to relate the benefits that hunting brings to their relationship.

An interesting part of this husband-wife hunt began when Jana and her husband were resting at lunch on the day of her success. “I have prayed all day long that I would kill a deer,” she told Jack. Mulling over the propriety of asking God for something that could be considered by Him as trivial or selfish. Jack replied that he was not sure that her prayer was appropriate.

Remembering that her buck came the day of her prayers, Jack said a similar prayer on the following Wednesday. Sure enough, the huge trophy fell at sundown. As a result, Mayatt has a new motto with a measure of seriousness that some might say was born of a trivial wish. “Anything worth doing is worth praying for.” Hard to argue with that.