There are many quality public lands available to deer hunters, but those looking for the best opportunity to fill their freezers might want to make a trip to Ouachita WMA.
Troy Hibbard wanted to be duck hunting the morning of Dec. 20, 1997, but he couldn’t put incredible deer sign he had found on the edge of Ouachita Wildlife Management Area out of his mind.
“I wanted to go duck hunting so bad, and a buddy wanted me to go,” the Sterlington hunter said. “But I told him I had to go hunt this buck.
“There was a scrape as big as the hood of my truck.”
The scrape was just outside a replanted area on the northern end of the WMA, so Hibbard eased into a tree just on the adjacent Russell Sage WMA just before dawn.
As sunlight filtered through the trees, movement caught Hibbard’s eye. A buck was under the hardwoods.
“He was out there feeding on acorns,” he said. “All he had to do was go 50 yards, and he’d be back in the thickets on Ouachita.”
As the buck began picking his way to a game trail leading into Ouachita, Hibbard put his crosshairs on the buck, and dropped him. The 10-point later scored 131 points.
