Larry Huddleston harvested this nice 8-point buck, his personal best, with a Ruger American Hunter 308 rifle Jan. 18 on private land south of Houma.
“I was able to harvest this nice 8-point buck Jan. 18 on private land south of Houma, La. I saw the deer on cell camera pics the evening prior, Jan. 17, so I decided to hunt the next afternoon. I highly suspected the buck to be bedded down just north of my stand, and there was a 15 mph south wind blowing my scent straight to the bedding area. I sprayed my stand down with doe estrus cover scent to mask my human scent. I tried a series of doe bleat and grunt calls 30 minutes prior to my corn feeder throwing corn. The grunting and cover scent must have worked because the buck approached from straight downwind at 30 yards only 30 minutes after the feeder threw corn. I waited for him to position himself between two cypress trees with a 1-foot clearing between the trees for a clear shot just behind his front shoulder. I squeezed the trigger on my Ruger American Hunter 308 rifle. After kicking his back legs, the deer slowly walked 10 feet and laid down to expire less than 25 yards from my stand. The deer in this area of Terrebonne Parish don’t typically grow antlers this big, so it is considered an exceptional deer for the area. It’s my personal best buck, although I’ve only been deer hunting for the past two seasons. I am very happy with this result, and I’m anxiously waiting to get the shoulder mount back from the taxidermist.
