Rifle taken to stand as good-luck charm pays off.
Gabe Tunnard made a last-minute decision on Dec. 23 to use his girlfriend’s rifle when he headed to his favorite stand on his West Feliciana lease.
“I told my brother (Chad), ‘You know, I’m going to take Emily’s gun for good luck,’” Tunnard said.
The move paid off in spades when he shot a 11-point that has been green scored at 151 2/8 inches Boone & Crockett.
Tunnard, who goes by the alias “Huntingislife49” on the LouisianaSportsman.com forum, said he slipped into the lock-on perched in a magnolia tree overlooking a beautiful St. Francisville hardwood ridge that morning, and it didn’t take long for there to be some action.
“I saw a buck chasing a doe,” he said.
The buck, which he glassed at about 80 yards, carried a rack that was about 15 or 16 inches wide.
“He looked like a decent buck,” Tunnard said.
The buck quickly disappeared down the side of the ridge, so the concealed hunter pulled out his grunt call and Primos can.
“I grunted three or four times, and hit the can a couple of times,” Tunnard said.
He put up the calls, and texted his brother, who was hunting the property that morning, that he had just seen a buck.
Chad Tunnard didn’t even have time to respond before Gabe Tunnard heard a crunch behind him.
“I heard footsteps and turned and saw a deer slipping through,” Gabe Tunnard said.
The buck was only about 30 yards out, but it was behind trees. Tunnard knew it was a buck from the body size, but the deer had to move some before he got a glimpse of the rack.
That quick look was all he needed.
“I saw that left G2, and I grabbed my rifle,” Tunnard said.
The buck was walking to Tunnard’s right, making a shot difficult.
“I was going to shoot him left-handed, but then I said, ‘No, this is probably not a good idea,’” he said.
So the hunter quickly repositioned himself so he could twist around for a proper shot.
But the buck was still moving.
“He wasn’t chasing a doe,” Tunnard said. “But he was on a mission.”
So the hunter bleated with his mouth, and the deer stopped only 30 yards away. Unfortunately, its vitals were behind an oak tree.
However, Tunnard could get see a bit more of the rack.
“I saw that he was high on both sides (of the rack),” Tunnard said.
After a pause, the buck was on the move again. Again, Tunnard bleated.
And the deer stopped in the only shooting hole available, and Tunnard could see the antlers extended outside the buck’s ears.
He didn’t waste any time inspecting the rack, pulling the trigger of the 7mm-08 that was topped with a brand-new scope Tunnard had given girlfriend Emily Forbes as an early Christmas gift.
“He kicked, and I saw him run,” Tunnard said. “He ran straight to where the other buck was.”
The deer disappeared after about 60 yards, but Tunnard was able to find it again in the scope. And his heart sank.
“I saw the outline of a deer walking,” Tunnard said. “I said, ‘I’ve done missed this deer at 30 yards.’
“I’m shaking and freaking out.”
He texted his brother as quickly as he could, and Chad Tunnard called and calmed him down a bit.
“Chad said to just wait a little bit and go look for blood,” Gabe Tunnard said.
So he waited about 20 long minutes, climbed down and hurried to where he thought the deer was standing when the shot was fired.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
And then something on the ground caught his eye.
“I could see where it looked like he kicked,” Tunnard said. “I walked over there and saw bright, foamy-looking blood.”
That instilled confidence that the hit was solid, so Tunnard headed back to the camp to have breakfast and wait with his brother.
An hour later, the Tunnard boys were following blood down the ridge. The buck had only made it about 100 yards.
And Gabe Tunnard was stunned when he walked up to the downed animal.
“I saw him at 30 yards, and when (Chad) saw it he said, ‘Oh, man!’” Tunnard laughed. “I don’t know if I was more excited or if he was more excited.
“I was jumping up and high-fiving him.”
The 190-pound buck carried a huge set of anglers, set on a foundation of 6-inch bases. There were 8 mainframe points arrayed around the 24-inch-long beams that were separated by 18 ¼ inches of air.
The G2s soared to 13 inches, and each of these long tines featured rubber-stamp kickers. An extra kicker on its single brow tine brought the point count to 11.
Even without a second brow tine, the buck has been rough scored at 151 2/8 inches.
See other photos of the buck in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest forum.
“It was 30 minutes before we moved the deer,” Tunnard said. “We just sat there and took pictures and talked; just utter amazement.”
As for Tunnard’s love life, that’s still up in the air.
“Emily wasn’t happy,” he laughed. “That was the first buck killed with that rifle.”
He salved her wounds by taking her to Alabama this week, where she killed her first buck. But she still isn’t letting him use her gun again.
“She’s holding onto that rifle pretty tight,” Tunnard said.
See other bucks killed this season – and post photos of your own – in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest, which is open to all registered members of this site.
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