When a particular buck stepped out this time last year, Rick Guillot, who lives in Elm Grove, decided he needed to be taken out because a strangely formed seven points labeled him as an obvious cull; his genetics needed to be removed from the herd.
“I hunt on a 2,000 acre private piece of property three other guys and I have under lease in Red River Parish,” Guillot said. “We have some good deer on the place and this weird looking 7-point had no place in the herd. When he showed up last year, I thought it best to go ahead and remove him as we didn’t want his genes to have a negative effect on our deer.”
The buck stepped out, Guillot drew his bow and released an arrow but unfortunately, there was a small branch in the way that deflected the arrow, giving the 7-point a new lease on life.
“I saw him several times last season but never got another chance at him,” Guillot said. “However, when this summer rolled around, something magical had happened to what had been a cull the year before. His scraggly seven points had transitioned into a massive eight points with several kickers and his body was quite a bit larger. I was glad I missed him last year because I could tell he would be a real shooter this season.”
Trail cam photos showed the buck to be a main frame 8-point with a split brow tine and several kickers long enough to measure, so he had grown to carry a rack of 13 points this fall.
A parade of bucks
Bow season opened this year on Oct. 1, and on Friday, Oct. 2, around 3 p.m. that afternoon, Guillot climbed onto a ladder stand situated in an oak glade next to a bayou armed with his Mathews bow, Carbon Express Arrows and Sevr broadhead.
“At first, the woods were quiet and I wasn’t seeing anything,” Guillot said. “Then later that afternoon, some does began to filter in from the woods to a corn pile I had out front. Then I began hearing sticks breaking in the woods behind me and here came a parade of bucks. I recognized the third one in line was the big 13-point.”
The parade of bucks walked right past his ladder, almost close enough to brush against it, and Guillot kept his eye on the big buck.
“The buck turned at just the right angle if I had been a left-handed shooter, but being right-handed, I couldn’t get around until he moved to give me a good shot at 15 yards,” Guillot said. “I took it, knew I had had hit him good and watched him run and pile up at 100 yards.”
The buck, in addition to sporting a total of 13 scorable points, carried a big body weighing in at 264 pounds. He was aged at 6 ½ years and his rack measured 159 2/8 inches.
Fortunately, a branch-deflected arrow the year before gave Rick Guillot the chance he needed to arrow a real quality buck this season.
