Grunt call works, Brown shoots big 9-point at 175 yards with .300 Mag
Mike Brown, a retired electrician from Mount Olive in Bienville Parish, stayed in his stand longer than he normally would have on Tuesday, Dec. 15, hoping for a repeat of what he had seen just a few days earlier.
On Dec.10, the 72-year-old had watched a buster of a buck chase a couple of does across his shooting lane at about 200 yards around 9:30 that morning.
Brown hunts on his own 410 acres of mixed pine and hardwoods near his home in Bienville Parish.
“I had seen this buck on camera before, and others have seen him crossing the highway. I knew he’d be worth waiting on, so about 8:15 that morning, I made the decision to give him another hour, just in case he decided to show up,” Brown said. “I had my rifle out the window for several minutes, but then just kicked back in my chair in the stand and pulled my rifle back.”
He decided to take out his grunt call to see if maybe it might entice some action.
“I’ve never had much luck using a grunt call, and didn’t have a lot of confidence in it this morning,” Brown said. “However, I hit the call about three times and something told me I needed to get my gun out the window, just in case the big one might step out.”
Thankfully, his Browning .300 Magnum was propped up and ready to go when he saw movement at the edge of the thicket 175 yards from his stand.
“The first thing I recognized was a big set of antlers and I knew it was him. When he stepped out into the lane, I nearly had a heart attack I was so excited. The buck took three steps onto the lane, put his nose to the ground and I shot,” Brown said. “The buck dropped, but I hit him a little far back and he tried to get up again. A second shot finished him off, and all I could see from 175 yards away was that big old rack sticking up.”
The heavy-horned rack was indeed impressive: Sporting nine points, the 190-pound buck was rough scored at 151 2/8 inches Boone and Crockett. The inside spread was 20 ½ inches, with main beams exceeding 24 inches each, and the G2s were 10 inches-plus with 5-inch bases.
“I had to get my son-in-law to score the rack because in my 55 years of deer hunting, I’ve never shot one big enough to need to learn how to measure a rack,” Brown said. “Getting this one, though, might just change my thinking.”
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 optics at the end of the contest.
Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clicking here.
