Chris Register has been bow hunting since he was a teenager, but the 26-year-old had yet to connect on a deer. Well, that’s not exactly true: He had shot and lost a doe.
But that all changed Oct. 12 when he arrowed a genuine Pope & Young trophy that has been green scored at 141 4/8 inches.
The Logansport hunter entered the buck in the Nikon Deer of the Year contest. To view the full photo gallery and enter your own deer photos, click here. But remember, you must be a registered user to be eligible for the contest.
Register, who goes by his full name on the LouisianaSportsman.com forum, knew the big deer was on the DeSoto Parish hunting club.
“We got him on camera last year,” he said. “He was a 10, but a little smaller. But we never laid eyes on him.”
And the buck appeared again on camera this year.
“We had him on camera three times this year before the season, and they were all in the daytime,” Register explained.
The cameos came Sept. 28, and the images were snapped at about 7:30 a.m. That was followed on Oct. 11 with two appearances – one at 10:30 and the other at 12:45 p.m.
Click here to see trail-cam photos of the deer.
That was all it took for Register, who made sure he was in the hardwood bottom the next morning. By just before 6 a.m., he was perched in a climber about 20 yards from a dry creek bed snaking through the bottom.
“I went and sat the whole day long,” he said.
The day was by and large boring, until late in the early evening, when a doe and yearling eased through.
He watched the two deer meander away, and about 20 minutes later was shocked into adrenaline-charged alertness.
“I looked down the creek, and all I saw was horns,” Register said.
A buck – a big buck – was walking right down the creek bed toward the corn pile a mere 20 yards from the concealed hunter.
“He was walking straight to me,” Register said. “He got about 30 yards and stopped and got all nervous.
“I thought he’d done smelled me.”
The hunter watched anxiously from about 25 feet up, knowing it was the buck he had seen on the camera and worrying he’d miss the chance at killing the animal.
And then a second, younger buck popped out of the woods.
“They spared a little bit, and then the young buck came into the corn,” Register said.
About 40 minutes after first appearing, the bigger deer headed to get its share of the food.
“I drew back when he walked behind a tree,” the hunter explained. “He stood there for what seemed like forever.”
That took a toll on Register, who had calmed down from the initial shock of seeing the buck.
“Every time I wanted to ease (the bow) down, the little buck would look around,” he said. “I was tired from holding the bow back.”
Finally, the big buck stepped clear, and Register released his arrow.
The shot was a little off, breaking the deer’s spine.
“He went down in the back, and dragged himself about 40 or 50 yards,” Register said.
The hunter sat down and waited about 30 minutes, hoping the shot had been good enough to kill the animal.
“I could pretty much see the deer the whole time,” Register said. “It’s a pretty open bottom.”
Register found the deer dead, and the celebration began.
The buck had identical 21 3/8-inch main beams that engulfed 18 ½ inches of air. The G2s were more than 7 ½ inches long, with G3s that topped 8 inches in length.