Big 14-point deer measures 162 7/8 Boone & Crockett.
How seriously does Terry Perilloux take deer hunting?
So seriously that the Montz resident let his sons play hooky on Friday (Dec. 9) to sit stands on his West Feliciana lease.
Good thing he did because the boys got to see something they may never see again.
“We got to the lease about 6 (a.m.), and it was still good and dark, so we took a little catnap,” Perilloux said.
Before long, though, the boys were itching to get on their stands, so Perilloux dropped off 16-year-old Denver near his stand site, and then walked 13-year-old Cole to his stand site and watched him ascend a tree in his climber.
By the time Perilloux finally got settled up a tree in his own climber, the clock had ticked all the way to 8 a.m.
Almost immediately, Perilloux saw a doe, and then his phone buzzed with a text from Cole, who had seen a doe.
A few minutes later, Perilloux’s phone buzzed again – Cole was watching a 6-point and spike.
Though he’s young, Cole is quite a successful hunter, having been featured in a recent issue of Louisiana Sportsman with a nice 8-point he shot with his bow.
Still, even with all of the activity before him, Cole’s hunt wouldn’t go nearly as well as the elder Perilloux’s.
At 8:20, just 20 minutes after settling into his stand, Perilloux looked over at the biggest buck he’d ever laid eyes on.
“I looked at his horns for about 1 second,” he said, “and then I wouldn’t let myself look at them again.”
The buck was moving at a steady pace, and showed no signs of slowing down, so Perilloux found a clearing in the direction the buck was headed, waited a few seconds for it to arrive there and pulled the trigger.
The deer took off like Usain Bolt at the Olympics, so Perilloux fired another round. The buck kept chugging.
Perilloux knows you’re supposed to wait before going to find a just-shot deer, but he couldn’t stand himself. Five minutes after the shot – once the shakes had finally begun to subside – he shimmied down to the ground and walked 60 yards to where the deer had been when he made the shot.
“There was blood everywhere,” he said. “It looked like you poured it out of a bucket.”
The land Perilloux hunts is in the famed Tunica Hills, and not surprisingly, he found the expired buck at the bottom of a steep valley.
Cole texted to find out what he had shot.
“I said, ’13-, 14-point? I don’t know. I lost count,'” he recounted.
Denver, however, had lost his phone, and was unable to ask about the gunshots he had heard. So when Perilloux picked him up, he told him only that he had shot a barely-legal buck.
The club is on a strict 8-point-or-better program.
Perilloux then videoed Denver’s reaction when he first saw the buck. You can watch it below.
The animal had 14 measurable points and gross-scored 162 7/8. Neither Perilloux nor any of his club mates had ever seen the deer on any trail cams.
Perilloux plans to enter the buck in the Louisiana Sportsman Big Buck Contest at the Louisiana Sportsmen’s Show in March.
See other bucks killed this season – and add photos of your own – in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest, which is free all registered users of this site.
Not a member of the Sportsman team yet? It’s free! Just fill out the short registration form to get started today!
