It almost seems like yesterday that bowhunters in the Bayou State headed into the field in early fall to kick off the 2017-18 deer season in Louisiana.
And it didn’t take long to put some truly incredible bucks down, chief among them the amazing 18-pointer by Dr. Frank Sullivan, a St. Francisville dentist who arrowed what could be the state’s largest Louisiana non-typical deer ever killed with a bow on Oct. 5.
That deer, estimated to gross between 220 and 230 inches of bone, set the pace for the season, and it didn’t take long for other hunters to rack up spectacular wall-hangers, as well. Geoffrey Henry stuck a 200-class trophy nicknamed after Hurricane Harvey in Richland Parish, and Benny Bell and Donald Alexander each nailed 200-class bucks in DeSoto Parish. Darrin Dawes got into the mix late, knocking down a “Ghost” in St. Landry Parish on Jan. 12 that might just wind up as the new state-record typical buck.
Louisiana Sportsman writers covered hunts on 45 big bucks statewide, with 40 of them scoring at least 150 inches — and 23 of those topping the 160-inch mark.
Here are details on some of the latest trophy kills, along with a season-long timeline on when — and where — big bucks went down.
Giant St. Landry Parish buck green scores mid-180s as typical deer
Father’s advice pays off with 300-pound Madison Parish 11-point
14-point nicknamed ‘Mufasa’ goes down in Jackson Parish
Luling hunter shoots big Tensas Parish buck
Family farmland yields 13-point stud in Avoyelles Parish
Doe leads big 13-point right into crosshairs
Expecting cull buck, Sabine Parish hunter drops 166-inch stud
12-point public land brute goes down on Yancey
Hunter strikes out in Illinois, scores big in EBR Parish
