Black’s cat-and-mouse game ends with 170-inch class monster
Hunter Black was getting pretty fed up with a big buck he knew was hanging out on his property in Bossier Parish.
Trail cam photos showed the deer around his stand during daylight hours when he didn’t hunt, but on days that he did, the buck was a no-show.
“I had seen this buck on camera all season long and had gotten pretty frustrated because he seemed to have a sixth sense. He seemed to know when I’d be hunting and when I wouldn’t,” Black said.
The hunter’s luck finally took a turn for the better on Nov. 23 when he left his bow at home, picked up his Weatherby 300 and climbed into his stand.
Before the day ended, Black’s cat-and-mouse game with the deer came to a close when he finally got the big buck in his sights – a trophy with 14 points, an inside spread of 19 ½ inches and more than 42 inches of mass over the entire rack.
The 1,200 acres of family land where Black hunts features a long food plot running north to south, with a tripod stand on each end which allows hunters to take advantage of the prevailing wind. Because of a north wind that afternoon, Black got comfortable in his stand to the south.
“It was windy, drizzling and misty, and not long after I got settled in, I saw some does move onto the plot right around my other stand, which sits 260 yards away. While I was watching the does, the big buck walked out to mingle with the does, but at that distance under fading light with the wind blowing, I decided to hold off on taking a crack at him. He eventually followed a doe off the plot into the woods,” Black said.
A feeder is situated roughly halfway between the two stands, and the hunter knew the timer was set to activate at 4:30. Shortly after it went off, a group of does and a small buck approached the feeder and began feeding, then suddenly spooked and ran back into the woods.
“I don’t know if one of the does winded me or saw me but after they spooked, I figured it was all over for that afternoon. I decided to wait another half hour or so and I began to see the does filtering back toward the feeder with the big buck following them,” he said.
Because of the close proximity of the buck to the does, Black had to wait for several minutes until the buck stepped far enough away from the group because he was afraid he might also take out a doe.
“I kept the scope on him and waited until he got clear. When he did, I squeezed off a shot and he took off. However, I noticed the way he was running indicated I’d made a good hit,” Black said.
Indeed it was a good hit as the big deer traveled only about 30 yards before crashing. The buck carried 14 points on a massive rack, and was unofficially green scored at just under 170 inches Boone and Crockett.
Attempting to get him on scales was a challenge because of the big buck’s length: even with a foot on the ground, the scale topped out at 275 pounds.
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.
