It worked. Bowhunting is the primary management tool in this region. This deer stepped out on an old road directly across the patch from the shoot house I was in, Hooper said. Men are terrible with sharing their emotions. While in Mississippi, Hooper made many friends and became a serious deer hunter, joining a club in Scott County. However, dreams are fueled by high-stakes whitetails, and the passion helped Ryan put his tag on the state's largest non-typical ever arrowed. He still has a deep bone bruise on his left heel and a fractured fibula in his right leg. I never knew this buck existed, not until my brother and I found him dead, piled up in the top of an old fallen tree in that cutover, Wilson said. Wilson kills 25-point buck that produces nearly 190 inches green. I was speechless. Ive dreamed of a deer like this my whole life. I was locked down by the doe that was really close.". This buck is known as the Missouri Monarch. 6/8 inches wide and sported sky scraping G-2s over 12 inches long. [], This is an easy two pot meal, one for the venison stroganoff and one for the starch that can be prepared at home or at the camp. We couldnt believe what we were looking at. The area I hunt is really brushy and thick, and I couldnt get a good, clear shot. Well, not so in this situation. This deer means so much, Reed said. It is my biggest to date. He was about 50 yards and I was going to have to shoot left-handed, which I didnt want to do.. The arrow slipped right behind his shoulder, and the buck didnt go far. About an hour into the afternoon hunt, a doe appeared about 100 yards away and walked down through the finger of trees. Put everything together and you have a gross 9-point frame score of 193 6/8. It scored 164 6/8 and ranked 9th overall. Gordon Whittington heads north to his personal Missouri farm for some crossbow action. I was overcome with emotion when we recovered the big eight. I was trying to get another arrow in him, but he kind of flopped over in some brush and I couldnt get another [shot] from the stand.. Subscribe to our newsletter for new stories, tips & events. In 2010 the buck was just an 8-point. This is the heaviest whitetail deer ever killed. Literally a 600-yard radius. "He got to about 25 yards, and I drew when he went behind the tree," Ryan says. From his stand, he was able to see the buck go down. When it walked into the open, she touched off the 75-yard shot. From there it was probably a five-minute ordeal, and he worked every scrape that young 8-pointer had worked, Watson said. He picked up his fathers favorite riflea Sako 85 Finnlight chambered in .25-06 Remington. She came in and started eating, but he caught our wind, Reed said. Arkansas doesn't jump to top of mind as a big-buck destination, but that didn't stop bowhunter Preston Hall. Yes, the two most giant bucks ever didn't fall to the bullet or arrow of a hunter. "There was no way he could get any bigger. These six states account for all 10 of the world's biggest archery-killed non typical whitetail deer: Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, and Kansas each have two, and Missouri and Nebraska each boast one. He decided to leave work early, hiked into the woods, and climbed the same tree he had done so many times before. And on Thursday, Myers was found guilty of the . As I entered the road where hed been, I started looking in the direction he ran and immediately saw him lying there, he said. Eight hours later, one of the trail cameras captured photos of the buck, who seemed to be acting as if nothing had happened. Many mallards were saved during his absence from the flooded timber. I heard a deer walking up the hill in the leaves grunting as he walked, Kamps said. Beka Garris is a freelance writer and Outdoor Life contributor who enjoys writing about all things hunting and fishing. I was just hoping he would survive in 2013 and not lose too much . He found the matching sheds of the buck from the year before, and he played his cards just right during the multi-year pursuit. I settled the crosshairs where I needed to place the bullet and steadied the rifle. It spent some time in the CRP, and then entered the food plot. This is also the part that can be frustrating. Right before Halloween, his trail cams captured good photos of the deer during daylight. I had no idea the journey our family was about to embark on with this deer, Lee said. He wasnt hunting that day so I asked if I could borrow his.. His summer and winter ranges didnt change much. A hunter who told authorities he killed and skinned what he thought were two coyotes, but later discovered they were a Connecticut family's pet German shepherds, has been criminally charged. "Every year I have an inventory of every deer on the place. The region is unique to Arkansas in that it doesn't have a traditional rifle season. Since then, I've only killed deer with my bow. The shot was 25 yards and I rattled him" into range, he said . I was just speechless. "All my buddies were expecting me to be jumping up and down when I found the buck," Ryan says, "but I didn't. Watts shot the buck at about 50 yards with a rifle chambered in 6.5mm Creedmoor. Morelands first encounter with the buck occurred on a hunt early in the season. The first year was challenging, as they had to learn how deer used the property. After all the crazy things that happened to me while hunting this buck, I just think that I was meant to shoot him.. Im a pretty good rifle shot; for some reason it comes naturally to me, and I dont typically miss. West Virginia hunters killed a total of 118,606 deer . A legal buck on the St. Francis National Forest must have either a 15-inch inside spread or one antler of at least 18 inches. Three does milled around as the sun dipped toward the horizon. At least, he did until a buck he'd never seen showed up on one of his trail cameras. He was hunting hill country in a 65-acre hay meadow, which was part of the larger 160-acre cattle operation. Where Lefty was bedding this day was almost impenetrable, so I opted to take a turkey seat and hunt off the ground.. The deer ran 40 yards and expired. In an instant, the shaft had passed through him. Arkansas Hunter Falls From Tree Stand After Arrowing the Biggest Buck of His Life. I followed it up with a few grunts and grabbed my rifle. After a few days of class, he again left on Thursday night and headed home to hunt. The hunt unfolded on Nov. 28. "I knew about this buck in 2018," he says. Then I raised his head to see the right side and almost passed out. It was very warm for November, extending upward of 70 degrees with a southeasterly wind. I glanced over and all I could see was antlers, he said. Being a right-handed shooter, this was an impossible shot. "I wasn't going to kill him," he says. Amazingly, the doe blew past and hurriedly got on the upwind side of Ryan and stopped. He was 19 inches wide.. "I waited until about 2 p.m. to trail the buck with my cousin and some good friends," Ryan says. Haynes Shelton discusses what to look for when choosing the magnification range when it comes to the scope on your deer rifle. Check out more stories, videos and educational how-to's on deer hunting. He finished the season with 11 encounters, but passed the buck each time in hopes of it living another year. And theres only one of their treestands thats beside water. Of course, a multi-year quest for any buck is emotionally taxing. He grew up around hunting and intuitively knew how to put the pieces together on this home-turf trophy. He knew something was wrong. Can Coolers | An Official Journal Of The NRA, Find More Great NRA Publications Perfect For Every Interest, Discover Everything That The NRA Has To Offer. "But he evaded me. I shot and put the arrow at the back of the ribs, and it went through everything important.". "I started getting pictures of him on my cameras. I had a good shot at about 150 yards, and I put the crosshairs behind the last rib on my side and took the shot.. Non-Typical: 312 inches. Jason Lucas didnt have any history with this buck from prior seasons, but he knew this was a surefire target when he first saw it in 2021. That errant shot allowed him to stay in the stand, wait another hour or so and shoot and kill a 183-inch 16-point non-typical with double drop tines. Everything seemed to be right until the buck slammed on the brakes. People couldnt believe he had drop tines coming off his main beams., Jeremy Martinsons New Hampshire GiantScore: 166 inchesDate of Kill: Nov. 1, 2021Location: Merrimack County, N.H.Weapon: .50-caliber CVA muzzleloader. That anxiety would have been a lot worse had he known the full extent of the bucks antlers. After taking the buck, Travis learned a neighbor had been watching the buck and seeing it on his trail cameras for two years. The stage now was set for him to truly blossom into a world-class trophy. As he waited for the sun to rise, he couldnt help but think of all his memories of the place, as well as the many times his father had taken him hunting as a kid. Deer hunting is my peace. The deer closed within range, and Jared took the 27-yard, quartering-away shot. The buck had morphed into a world-class bruiser right on Ryan's home turf. "I remember the exact time because I got a text from a friend saying that he had killed a buck." He was about to come into the main scrape at 17 yards, but right behind him came five does. Wilson said the buck kicked, but that he heard the bullet hit the deer. He was running away from me, and it was a snap shot. . It's a mirror-image 180-inch mainframe 4x4 with 34 inches of non-typical points. Lefty wasnt like many other bucks on the property. STACY FOWLER Danville, AR The big non-typical buck killed by Stacy Fowler of Danville is the largest deer taken in the Natural State last season. For several years, however, he gave up most of his duck season to lock horns with the world-class buck. All in all, about 15 deer filtered in and out of view. He lived in Mississippi until 2004, when he moved back to the Arkansas town of Benton just southwest of Little Rock. He couldnt retrieve his deer since he had to go immediately to the hospital. All Rights Reserved. Any serious whitetail hunter knows that it's not often that we get a second chance on the buck of a lifetime, or even a first chance for that matter. "At least I think there were six. It wouldn't be until spring 2013 that the bowhunter would find the matching sheds and see how big the rack really was. The W.A. On a morning when the bucks in Scott County were in a serious mood for love, Jason Hooper got a lucky break when he pulled the trigger on the first shooter than ran past chasing a doe. County Sex Count; Arkansas: Antlered: 1699: Arkansas: Button Buck: 156: Arkansas: Doe: 1410: Ashley: Antlered: 1495: Ashley: Button Buck: 301: Ashley: Doe: 2418 . Bottles & 12-oz. About 74,000 hunters participated in the state's 2017 spring turkey season, and killed 33,000 birds. Courtesy of onX Hunt, here are the eight states in the USA with the highest deer density: Mississippi: 38 deer per square mile. Which begs the question: Why arent more bird hunters using them? Arkansas Biggest Bucks: Score: Typ? To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine. However, this 4-year quest came to fruition on the most stereotypical whitetail rut day on the calendar for most of North America: Nov. 15. When the buck is adding 20-30 inches of antler per year, the stakes just keep getting higher. The buck was definitely dead. He missed. In this edition of "Big Buck Profile," Gordon Whittington talks with young whitetail hunter Reid Crawford about his trophy buck taken in 2017. On Nov. 4, 2021, that became reality. The buck walked to about 20 yards and started raking tree limbs. I ran to the house and headed straight to Dads, he said. He settled in for the afternoon sit and waited for deer movement. . Subscriber Services. The giant non-typical sported a typical 1211 frame, but was scored as a non-typical because of an abundance of small kicker points. Arkansas deer usually score around 120 to 130 inches, Moreland says. I didn't know he was 214. An hour or so later, at 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 22, Hooper would realize his good fortune when a bigger buck, not showing the rutting behavior of the many that had passed that morning, suddenly appeared. On October 17, Watson got pictures of the buck from his cellular trail cam near the treestand. Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clickinghere. But this buck would measure much more than that. Ryan's foresight and patience were mature beyond his years. The first time, the buck was chasing does and didnt come close enough for a shot. Wardens recently concluded a three-month investigation centered around a 34-point whitetail that was poached this fall in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. After showing friends and family the deer, I received lots of congratulatory messages, he said. Ryan hunted the buck all season but saw him just one time from the tree stand. The 16-point buck has been scored before deductions at 210 by Terry's Taxidermy in Oklahoma City, which would make the animal the largest typical whitetail ever killed by an Oklahoma hunter. It later taped out at 186 3/8 inches. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . He bolted and was jumping over treetops in the clear cut and finally after 80 yards he jumped into one last fallen treetop and stopped, he said. It ran 177 yardsan incredible distance for a deer with a 190-grain broadhead inside of him. It walked down a trail, turned broadside and offered a 20-yard, slightly-quartering-to shot opportunity. He was bowhunting from the ground with some natural brush around him. In retrospect, Watson believes the buck probably died after the first shot. However, some just keep growing. The wind was just right for the spot he wanted to hunt. 10. The buck walked past him inside 20 yards. However, every year the buck would become much more random as the Delta rut came closer. Around 5 p.m., an 8-pointer walked by, then, five minutes later, Watson caught a glimpse of Scoob. He was hunting an area mixed with crops, hardwoods and thick cover. That's as big as it sounds. It was about 100 yards . Trust me: I thanked the good Lord numerous times for this buck and for letting me miss that first buck, he said. So I was pretty nervous when I started that walk across that field.. "The doe saw me and started blowing. Eric Mullina thought it would be a good decision to hunt whitetails with Indian Hill Outfitters last season, and he was right. It checked a few scrapes and walked toward Lucas location. As luck would have it, the buck didnt show. The farm seems different now. He was getting photos of the giant, which he would later discover carried a rack scoring over 190. I started getting pictures of him on my cameras. Lefty showed up on camera after a long Tennessee rifle season.. I had a shooting lane through the pine trees. Yet, the state Game Commission charged him with poaching, killing out of season what was described as the largest bear ever seen in the county. Then, 2020 arrived, and Lefty was back on the farm. To our surprise, nothing. All told, Moreland would see the buck a total of six times before the deer slipped up. During the offseason, he used HuntStand to find and mark numerous stand locations to target this deer. Once there, they followed blood and found the deer in a logging road about 75 yards into the tracking job. Dont forget to enter photos of your bucks in theBig Buck Photo Contestto be eligible for monthly giveaways. Is This the Largest Buck of the 2019 Deer Season. the only deer I killed was an 8 point, and I shot him at 295 yards. Ryan didn't bother taking his bow that day, as he'd been hunting for seven straight days and hadn't seen the big deer once. In 2012, Ryan hunted this deer exclusively. It's a mirror-image 180-inch mainframe 4x4 with 34 inches of non-typical points. He was set up in a blind along a fence row between two cut cornfields. In regions without great habitat, many deer seem to plateau out after age 4 1/2 and don't make the huge leaps in antler development. Typically, in regions influenced by the flood stages of the Mississippi River, the rut is later than the traditional Midwestern rut of mid-November. I took one last look at his antlers, couldnt believe what I was looking at, and then took aim. Chase Watson shot the biggest buck he's ever killed two weeks ago while hunting from a treestand on his family's farm in Arkansas. By the fall of 2013, Ryan was enrolled at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. Konschak was hunting deer in nearby property and said he killed what he thought were . This big buck was killed in Randolph County, near Maynard, Arkansas during the Arkansas 2020/21 modern gun deer season. After several minutes of waiting for a shot opportunity, the deer finally turned broadside. Check out these 10 monster bucks that were taken throughout the country. I never saw him on the three cameras we had out, but Id seen him when I couldnt shootearly mornings going to work, or at night past shooting hours, Hill said. Alex Laffey, Dion Laffey, and Eugene Heisler, all from Eau Claire, have been charged with multiple wildlife violations. It brings me to tears thinking of dads face when I told him the news. Ryan hunted this buck for four years on family property. But at his shot, the deer jumped the stream and his arrow hit high. He was just a special deer, and very much a result of patience in both management and hunting. The rack gross scores 214 1/8 and nets 212 1/8. In no specific order at this time. His stand location was in a draw between two ridges that led to a destination ag field. They were a little downwind and they started getting nervous. By late afternoon, about 15 deer were out in the open, including a couple of nice bucks. He was coming right towards me. He hunted hard, but the deer evaded him. The eastern boundary of the county is the Mississippi River. This was one buck that didnt have ground shrinkage, but had ground growth, he said. This deer is special because 8-pointers typically dont get to this level. His travel patterns were extremely tight. This 8 1/2-year-old buck killed by Mississippi hunter Justin Develle on Oct. 22, was ear-tagged in 2018 by the Mississippi State University Deer Lab as part of a buck-movement study. After all the hard work and patience, it finally paid off., Eric Mullinas Missouri MonsterScore: 174 inchesDate of Kill: Sept. 25, 2021Location: Pike County, Mo.Weapon: Elite compound bow. It was bittersweet. Watts shot the buck at about 50 yards with a rifle chambered in 6.5mm Creedmoor. Dan Taylor, 33, of Shinglehouse, McKean County, bagged a massive 10-point with a 19-inch spread on the opening day of rifle season in north central Pennsylvania. I was excited and sad. He went from fighting mode to loving mode and made a move. The next day, Luke Wilson was back in the same stand at 3:30. Whispering 'fire in the hole ' while floating the crosshairs on the spot, I gently squeezed the trigger until the recoil removed the buck from my view. Ryan says, "I could have killed this deer with a rifle if it had been legal. It hit true. Deer was killed in Clarion County, Pa. , weighed 412 lbs. Then there were the two drop tines, with the longest being 7 inches off the left beam. A native of Hattiesburg and graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Cleveland lives on Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson with his wife Pam. However, when it happened, he was focused on finishing the job. Its pretty common to scroll through your social media news feed this time of year and see various photos of bowhunters sitting behind the monster bucks they have shot. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. Then, much to his surprise, and with only a few minutes of shooting light left, the big deer reemerged in front of him. "Apparently, the buck had put on roughly 50 or so inches from last year," Travis said. BREATHE LIFE! Most of the deer walked straight toward him, but the big buck disappeared over the hill. As I walked up to him, it started dawning on me how big the left horn was. I was in the wide open, but it worked out. They didn't want me to leave. In July, Lee found a track that looked like Leftys. But I promise yall this, I feel my dad more now than I ever have. A little after 5 p.m., we heard running from the creek bed behind us. I couldnt believe what I was looking at.. Hooper realizes his good fortune, even if the story belies just how good a shot he usually is. Thinking the hunt was over, Mullina started looking at his phone, trying to determine a game plan for the next day. Hall sure did. I thought he was bigger than 190. Enter your email in the box below to get the most mind-blowing animal stories and videos delivered directly to your inbox every day. Lefty was gone., Then, our family received news that rocked me to my core, Lee said. All three deer were within 20 yards, and thats when he heard a fourth deer, then a fifth, coming from the same direction. . Again, Moreland tried to call his buddy with the tracking dog again, but couldnt reach him. My brother and I counted 28 points, what youd call deer camp points, but the guy who scored it at the taxidermist shop said it was officially 25 points, Wilson, 22, said. The deer ran about 200 yards and crashed. Currently, Watson is recovering from his injuries at home. The story of Loyd's Arkansas buck shows why effective deer management in many states is creating the potential for record-book . []. James Kroll and Haynes Shelton talk about being realistic when it comes to managing a smaller deer property in this edition of Dr. And to get close enough to kill one, you need to be smarter than they are. With his head down, did I hit an antler? Let us know what you thought about these Monsters! He was sitting in a blind on the edge of where CRP, timber and a food plot meet. . I still had no idea about the size of the rack, Hooper said. When the Washington Blade caught up with Gisele Barreto . I killed him in the mock scrape I created., The deer ran 30 yards and tipped over. Countrywide, it isnt often you get to hunt in August, let alone with a rifle. It made for a wonderful holiday trip to his old home. What Hooper found was a 205-pound buck with long, thick main beams. Camping is available at Storm Creek Lake Recreation Area, about 4 miles northwest of Helena-West Helena. A native of Hattiesburg and graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Cleveland lives on Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson with his wife Pam. The terrain is relatively flat, with large sections of agricultural land, swamps, muddy rivers and blocks of hardwood timber. The buck took three steps and bounced back. He was hunting near a pond and a small field. When he reached some thicker, taller grass, he did stop and turned to look back. Likewise, the last 200-class buck to break into Boone and Crocket Club's list, which includes gun-hunted deer, was also killed in 2003, and 2000 before that. Score: 155 inches. This season, Murdaugh had the opportunity to cash in some of that knowledge on a huge whitetail. Zach Edey had 17 points and 19 rebounds as No. The larger buck snort-wheezed twice. But thats life in Hills part of South Carolina, and last season, a big deer was waiting for him. The G3 on the right had three stickers and the left G3 had two. So I guess Im back to hunting the 100-inch 8-points, but I know I will be more selective and start passing on the promising ones, he said. I enjoyed every day of the hunt, but being successful with this buck made it a hunt I will remember forever, Mullina said. Taking any deer with a traditional bow is an accomplishment, but shooting a giant buck with a traditional bow can be a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Justin Kamps first learned of this deer in 2019, but it wasnt on their radar. I hit it four times, pointing in each direction once.. We purchased more cellular trail cameras. He had a little standoff with the 10-pointer, with them grunting at one another. "I knew he had potential." Lee Dixon and his father have been hunting together for 28 years. She milled around the stand within 20 yards while the buck stood at 40 yards, antsy. HUNTING TIPS OF A REAL PRO. "The buck was right in the middle of the block of timber. The big buck walked in front of Lees father while he was hunting, but unfortunately, the deer broke off its entire right side. "I could feel myself starting to sway. Ryan's buck had the genetics and nutrition to continue to skyrocket. This deer had a track that was undeniable. He was truly the deer of a lifetime.. Hunting public land, he killed a buck in the Natural State that would make a Midwesterner swoon. It was sunny and 40 degrees with a north-northwest wind. There was an additional sticker off the left main beam. I could never get a consistent wind. It looked like they were going to get into it, but when the big one got a visual on the doe, he changed moods instantly. I moved 150 yards downwind of his bedding area and started rattling, Lee said. "The buck chased in a doe at 7:05 a.m.," he says. Ryan estimated the deer now was 7 1/2 years old. A couple hours later, Kamps returned with a tracking party. Lance Hill brought down this 4 -year-old whitetail much earlier than most hunters have a chance to go hunting. Copyright 1998 - 2023 Mississippi Sportsman, Inc. All rights reserved.
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