Brayden Hunter shot this 8-point buck with a 21 3/8-inch inside spread in Grant Parish on Dec. 24. It was recovered by Scott Lewis and Brandy Lewis’s dog Gator, “The Louisiana Hell Hound.”
“The deer was shot in Grant Parish in a block of Kisatchie National Forest north of Dry Prong. I took out to the woods Saturday afternoon 12/24, knowing this frigid air had to have the deer on their deer. Me and my buddy, Joey Turner, who had hunted up this way for a few years always told me they had good deer in the area and invited me on many hunts hoping to lock down a wide 8-point and a big 10-point he had game trail pics of. Well we’d been after them for about 1.5 months. I took out to the woods around 1 p.m. and finally got settled in my tree where Joey had hunted the previous day and had a good feeling about the area. A few hours past, no sign of a deer until about 4:45. I seen a nice buck out the corner of my eye trotting through the bottom, and I shoulder my rifle trying to find him in the scope and hopefully get a shot but it was to late. I was hoping my luck would turn around and about 5:20 evening, as the light was getting dim in the woods, I seen the silhouette of a nice deer hop across the creek I was hunting by. I gathered myself, shouldered my 35 Whelen, and found him in the scope. When he picked his head up I had the crosshair’s exactly where they needed to be and shot. I knew I had crushed him as he fell hard and ran off tucking his front leg. I climbed down and called two buddies that lived nearby to help me pack him out. I went to look for blood, to my surprise there wasn’t any at the shot sight, but I didn’t get discouraged as I knew Gator was a phone call away and I knew the deer was hit hard. I called Scott and Brandy. They loaded up Gator and headed my way. When we walked Gator in, he was standing up on his back legs. This isn’t my first rodeo with Gator and seeing him work. I knew he was smelling the deer with the wind coming in our face. We arrived the shot site and turned him loose. He ran back towards the truck. The opposite way of which I saw the buck run and I heard Scott’s Garmin sound off a few times, I knew what that meant. We had a big buck down. We ran just across the creek to find a steady blood trail leading straight to the deer. As Scott approaches the deer I hear him say “it’s a little 4-point,” knowing there was no way that’s what I shot, but of course he’s got jokes. lol. I was very happy to have been able to connect with such a nice buck on public land and glad to have been able to share the memories with some great friends.”
-Brayden Hunter