12-pointer potentially in Top 3 ever taken on Ouachita WMA near Monroe
The day after Thanksgiving is famous for deep discounts, big savings and special offers to officially kick off the Christmas holiday shopping season.
Britt Clark Jr. got in on a little ‘2 for 1’ Black Friday action of his own on Ouachita Wildlife Management Area when he drilled two deer in a matter of about two minutes, including a spectacular public-land 12-point that green-scored 173 inches.
“They said he’s in the Top 3 to ever come out of Ouachita WMA, and the biggest this year that came out of there,” said Clark, 24, of Bayou Chicot in Evangeline Parish.
On Thanksgiving Day, while the rest of us were eating too much turkey and watching too much football, Clark and three of his buddies were scouting the WMA for deer sign.
The group returned early Friday morning before daylight, and Clark positioned himself about 14-feet up in an oak tree with his Ol’ Man climber.
“We found a good spot with a bunch of scrapes and some deer trails coming through, and I set up right there,” he said.
Around 7 he saw a deer moving through the trees, but could never get a good look to determine exactly how big it was. Action was slow, until a nice doe appeared at 75 yards close to 8:30.
“She came out of some thick stuff,” Clark said. “I was set up right where some thick brush met those oaks.”
He fired his Browning X-Bolt .300 Win Mag, and the 145-pound deer took about 10 steps before collapsing.
That’s when things really started to get interesting.
“I bolted another one and put my gun back down, then waited for about a minute and I saw him slipping through there,” he said. “I knew it was a good buck and I could see his horns, but I couldn’t really see just how big he was.
“He was at full stalk, with his head about 2 feet off the ground. He was looking for her, but he couldn’t find her.”
The big buck gave him a broadside shot through a small clearing, and Clark made his second 75-yard shot of the morning.
“I hit him perfect right in the shoulder,” he said. “He dropped right there.”
He was overwhelmed when he approached the buck and saw just how big both its body and rack really were.
“I can’t tell you the feeling. I couldn’t believe it. It had me in shock how big he was,” Clark said. “That’s the biggest deer I’ve ever seen in my life.
“I grabbed him by the horns and I was like, ‘Oh my God! Look at how big this deer is.’ I knew he was going to score a lot.”
He was correct — the big 12-pointer green-scored 173 inches, with 24-inch main beams an 18 4/8-inch inside spread and about 5 inches of mass at the base of its rack. The deer was aged at 5 ½ years old and weighed 197 pounds.
Clark hunted Ouachita for the first time ever last year, but didn’t have any luck, so his expectations weren’t high on Friday.
“I went with my friends last year because they had been wanting me to go, but I didn’t kill anything,” he said. “I just went up there to meat hunt, but I didn’t expect him to come out.”
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.
