Jiles drops 16-pointer hours before his son’s wedding ceremony
Nov. 30 was already a very special day for Johnny Jiles: his son, John Michael, would be marrying his beloved Natalie that very afternoon.
But what happened early that morning before the ceremony would make the day even more special for a completely different reason.
Not only did he shoot a 165-class buck, but the way he brought down the brute will be long-remembered in the Jiles family.
Retired from Industrial Insulation Group, Jiles lives north of Ruston in Lincoln Parish and hunts his own land, as well as that of neighbors who allow him to hunt property around his home.
Most deer hunters who bag trophy bucks spend weeks preparing food plots, trimming shooting lanes, monitoring trail cameras and erecting stands to create that perfect moment so they’re ready when the buck of a lifetime steps out.
Jiles did none of that on Nov. 30 when good fortune simply fell into his lap.
“I didn’t go hunting that morning because we were getting ready for John Michael’s wedding,” Jiles said. “Around 7:45, I stepped out my front door to go let my dog out of the pen. I had taken maybe half a dozen steps when something caught my eye. A big buck was running across my yard.”
Even though he wasn’t scheduled to hunt, Jiles did what any red-blooded deer hunter would do: he ran back into the house and grabbed his scoped .30-30.
“By the time I got back on the porch, the deer had crossed a creek and was in a clearing up on a hill behind my house about 175 yards away,” he said. “The buck was standing broadside and paused to sniff the ground.
“I assume a doe had already crossed. I shot, and he dropped.”
Jiles took the buck to Simmons Sporting Goods (we assume he got back in time for the wedding) to enter the deer in Simmons’ Big Buck Contest.
The deer weighed 188 pounds, sported 16 points, had an inside spread of 20 inches and was green scored at 165 inches Boone and Crockett.
“This date, November 30, 2013 will be remembered for a long time,” Jiles said. “Not only did my son get married, but it was the date I stood on my porch and killed the biggest buck I ever laid eyes on.”
Don’t forget to enter photos of your bucks in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest to be eligible for monthly giveaways and the random drawing for Nikon Monarch binoculars at the end of the contest.
Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clicking here.
