One thing deer hunters really like to see is the buck they just shot lying where he stood when shot. It can be frustrating to have to go to bed and try to sleep when the buck you shot the day before has still not been recovered.
That is what happened to 41-year-old Seth Dupuis, owner of a fuel and lubricant distribution company in Broussard, with a big buck he had on his radar since summer.
“The buck was on camera all summer long during daylight hours, but once deer season opened it was like he tripped a switch and was never seen on camera except at night,” said Dupuis, who hunts on a private club in Avoyelles Parish.
The target buck appears
The weather was warm for that Friday, Nov. 7, when Dupuis drove to his camp in Avoyelles Parish. His wife and children were going to join him later that afternoon after school ended, so he decided to go sit on his stand while waiting for them to arrive.
“My stand is a 25-foot custom made ladder stand that sits among hardwoods,” he said. “I climbed into my stand around 4 p.m. that afternoon with my Mathews VX-3 bow with a Grim Reaper broadhead on the arrows. I was feeling pretty confident because the wind was out of the south, which was just right that afternoon.”
Soon after getting on his stand, a couple of small does came to his feeder out front, and then, at around 5 p.m., two small bucks came out right underneath his stand. Two minutes later, a nice buck he knew about appeared; he was a 140-class buck with double brow tines on one side. The buck walked on to the feeder.
“Next, I was hearing something walking in the woods and a big buck was standing 20 yards from me,” Dupuis said. “I saw the drop tine and knew it was the buck I was after. When he cleared a branch so I could see him better, he was 10 yards from my ladder. I drew my bow back and released an arrow. When I did, the buck took off.”
The long wait
Getting down from his stand, Dupuis walked over to where the deer was standing and found blood and his arrow. Intestinal material on the arrow indicated that the shot had been a bit far back. After trailing the buck for 100 yards, the blood stopped, so he decided he needed some help. He called a friend, Chase Ardoin, who has some good blood trailing dogs.
“Chase said he couldn’t come right then but would be there first thing the next morning,” Dupuis said. “So I went back to camp, and believe me, it was hard to sleep that night.”
Ardoin brought his dogs the next day. They got on the trail and found the buck piled up after running some 300 yards.
The buck sported a rack of 11 points, had an 18 ½ inch inside spread and weighed 232 pounds. The 5 ½ year old buck’s rack was scored at 160 7/8 inches.
Even though he didn’t get to lay claim to his buck until the next day, Dupuis breathed a sigh of relief at finally getting his hands on his trophy.
