Bradley Koonce, 24, an oil field worker who lives in Quitman, has plenty of confidence in what his Raven crossbow will do. He trusted it when his target buck stepped out at 90 yards on Oct. 3. The Raven bolt was right on target and he was successful in downing the big 10-point Bienville Parish buck.
“I hunt on Sandy Hills Hunting Club in Bienville Parish,” Koonce said. “I had been after this particular buck for the past two seasons and actually had a couple of chances at him but wasn’t able to connect.
“I was surprised and disappointed last season when the buck just disappeared from my cameras, although I had seen him regularly the season before. Then I heard from someone who has cameras set up about 2 miles away and learned the buck had moved over there as he had lots of pictures of him. I was pleased, though, when in July I started getting photos of him back where I hunt and he had really improved in size since I last saw him.”
Spotting the buck
Koonce’s stand overlooks hardwoods that were dropping acorns on which the deer had been feeding. The club is made up of about half upland pine timber and the other half being lower swampy land loaded with hardwoods, the area where Koonce elected to hang his stand.
“Not long after I got on my stand, I began seeing several smaller bucks feeding on acorns,” Koonce said. “This got my attention because this buck I was after had been running with this group of younger bucks. I felt like he was in the area and I had a good chance to see him.”
Some 10-15 minutes after spotting the small bucks, Koonce saw the big one he was after. It was hooking some bushes and feeding on acorns among the oaks.
“I got my crossbow ready and kept my eye on him,” Koonce said. “He was steadily feeding toward an opening about 90 yards from my stand and I decided when he hit the opening, I’d take the shot. When he stepped into the opening, I hit the trigger. The buck buckled but took off. I couldn’t tell where I had hit him, but from his reaction I knew he was hit.”
Following the trail
Getting down from his stand, Koonce walked down to where the deer was standing when he shot, found a little blood and his arrow which had good blood on it.
“I followed the blood trail until it played out,” he said. “Rather than risk pushing the buck, I left the woods and contacted my friend, Adam Ponder, who has a blood trailing dog. He came with the dog which went right to the deer, which had only traveled about 60 yards before dying.”
The buck sported a rack of 9 points with a small kicker and carried a 16-inch spread between the antlers. The deer was a heavy weight, tipping the scales at 217 pounds, and was determined to be 4 ½ years old. The rack was measured for a score of 142 inches.
