Susan Roe and her son-in-law, Dale McPhearson, have a good-natured ongoing feud, and it revolves around hunting bucks on family property in Caddo, DeSoto and Red River parishes.
A year ago, Roe let McPhearson sit on her stand and he downed a very nice 11-point buck. This year, McPhearson had several trail camera photos of a huge buck but never got around to telling her about it.
Roe got sweet revenge on the morning of Nov. 7 when she shot the buck, a huge 12-point that scored 162 5/8 at Simmons Sporting Goods where it currently leads the women’s division in Simmons’ annual big buck contest.
“I didn’t know that buck was in the area until after I shot him when Dale showed me the trail cam pictures of him. I guess I got the last laugh because I got him and he didn’t,” Roe said, laughing.
Susan Roe spent her career working for the U.S. Postal Service and retired on Oct. 31. Her plan was to hunt every day of the season. However, her mother’s illness put a kink in her plans.
“My mom went into the hospital Oct. 17 and I had been sitting with her just about every day and sometimes at night,” she said. “I took a break on opening day of deer season and got into my stand only to receive a phone call from the hospital that I was needed there.”
Then on the morning of Nov. 7, Roe told her husband she was going to try once more to go hunting on their property in Caddo Parish.
“I got in my box stand before daylight, a stand that sits alongside an old road, and soon after, I began seeing deer,” she said. “I watched three different small bucks chasing does around me. My husband was supposed to pick me up around 9:00 but I saw a doe come rushing out of the woods to my left and I knew something was chasing her. I texted my husband and told him to hold off coming after me right then.”
Roe’s spirit fell just a bit when the buck chasing the doe stepped out and it was a big spike. She happened to turn to the right and there stood a big buck 60 yards away.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I eased around, got the scope on my .270 on him and squeezed the trigger. The buck, which was hit high in the spine, fell on the spot.”
Roe couldn’t remember all the stats on the deer but had her son-in-law call with this information. The buck weighed a whopping 232 pounds, had 12 points with an inside antler spread of an incredible 21 7/8 inches. Main beams were approximately 24 inches each, G-2s were around 13 inches each with 5 inch bases with mass that carried over the entire rack. The buck currently sits atop the Women’s Division in the Simmons contest.
“The buck was bigger a year ago but we found where he’d been shot with an arrow, and although he survived, that wound affected this year’s rack,” McPhearson said.
The duo may have some serious competition going on but there seems to be genuine affection between the two.
“After all she’s been through this fall,” McPhearson added, “nobody deserves this buck more than my mother-in-law.”
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