Another deer season has come and gone, and many hunters ended their outdoors adventures with a full freezer and bragging rights.

Two hunters, Bruce Gates and Gage King, ended the year with even more accolades by taking first prize in the first Big Buck Contest sponsored by Rountree Outdoors and The Selma Times-Journal.

Of the 126 who signed up for both competitions, Gates took top honors with an eight-point that scored a 151 and King took top honors in the youth division with a deer that scored an even 140.

His winning deer, Gates said, was a total surprise.

“I hadn’t killed a deer in three years,” he said. “I was in here and I heard them talking about the contest and heard about it on the radio. I figured, it won’t hurt. I just got lucky.”

When he was informed he had taken the contest, Gates said he was shocked and excited.

“I didn’t have a clue this deer was even at the club,” he said. “He walked out and that was it.”