Durrett drops 9-point, then 10-point in Lincoln Parish this month
Unfortunately nowadays, we hear about schoolyard bullies all too often — a dominating buffoon who creates terror for some youngsters.
The same thing can take place in the world of whitetail deer, and Simsboro’s Dan Durrett saw it happen this season.
Once a so-called “bully buck” was taken out of the herd, Durrett was able to down a big 10-point, followed just 10 days later by a 9-point that, when combined, totaled almost 300 inches of bone.
And alll three bucks were taken from the same stand.
“I hunt on property I own in Lincoln Parish with some good deer on the 80 acres. However,a big 200-pound 7-point cull buck with inferior antlers ruled the roost,” Durrett said. “I was able to down him Nov. 12 and four days later, I started seeing trail cam photos of the big 10-point.”
On the afternoon of Dec. 6, Durrett climbed into his stand around 4:45 and within minutes, a doe followed by the 10-point and another smaller buck came onto the food plot in front of the stand. Almost as soon as the deer appeared, the two bucks started fighting.
“I watched them fighting for probably ten minutes, and when the 10-point separated from the smaller buck at 150 yards, I dropped him with one shot with my Remington 7mm Mag,” Durrett said.
The buck was a good one, sporting 10 points on a 17-inch spread with high tines good enough for a rough score of 144 6/8 inches.
However, more excitement was just ahead.
“I didn’t hunt for the next 10 days. One reason was the weather was really too warm, plus I was letting a friend hunt my stand,” he said. “On Dec. 16, my friend didn’t hunt, and although I had to go bid on a job and my welding machine was over near my stand, I decided I’d go sit a while to see what might show up, even though my friend said he saw only does and yearlings and not a single buck the days he hunted the stand.”
Durrett climbed onto his stand around 4:40, and within five minutes the action started.
“First off, a 4-point buck we had on camera but had never seen during daylight hours came out on the plot. In just a minute, a small 8-point I never saw on camera stepped out,” he said. “I felt encouraged because I was seeing deer I hadn’t seen before. The bucks started acting weird, running around the field with their heads up, and I felt there had to be a doe in heat somewhere in the area.”
At 5:20, a doe stepped out at about 300 yards and was followed by a big buck that had never been seen on the property.
“I knew it was a mature d-eer with tall tines like most of the deer on my place have. My scope is calibrated for 200-, 300 and 400-yard shots, and I put the 300-yard pin on him, squeezed the trigger and he dropped,” Durrett said.
The buck was another fine specimen, tipping the scales at 185 pounds. It sported nine points on a 17-inch wide rack with tall G2s measuring 13 and 12 ½ inches each. That buck green-scored at 146 6/8 inches.
With a big cull 7-point, a 9- and a 10-point buck to his credit, Durrett was officially tagged out on bucks for the season. So what are his plans for the weeks ahead?
“I’m headed to Lake Claiborne,” he said. “It’s time to go white perch (crappie) fishing.”
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.
