Trent Buxton of DeQuincy, a Health, Safety and Environmental Manager, had something absolutely weird happen to a big buck he was after on his Calcasieu Parish hunting club.
“In 2023, he was a big deer with a really nice rack,” Buxton said. “In 2024, the buck suffered a serious setback with his antlers when something damaged the velvet on his right antler. As a result, while the left side grew to impressive proportions, the right antler was a 6-inch long ‘stick’ with two small points off it. I figured I could forget about this buck because I doubted if maybe he’d ever recover.”
Since he had no photos of the buck this year, Buxton formulated alternative plans for his family on opening day. He is a member of a hunting club near Singer and he decided it was best that they head for that club.
“I woke up that morning with plans to go to Singer, checked my camera via my phone and got my first picture of him at 3 a.m. that morning,” Buxton said. “We followed our plans and went to hunt the Singer club. While I was on my stand at Singer, my phone pinged and there he was at 8:30 a.m. on the Calcasieu club.”
A new target
Friday morning, Buxton had to be at work and was unable to hunt. He got on his stand Saturday morning and afternoon and again Sunday morning with no sighting of the big buck.
“I wasn’t ready to give up so I got back in my stand Sunday afternoon, Oct. 26,” Buxton said. “The hunt was about over when at 6:38, I looked down and the deer had stepped out at 260 yards. I shoot a Browning .270 A-Bolt. It’s a gun I trust at that distance but the deer was facing me. I got on him, and when he turned slightly giving me a front facing quartering shot, I took it. The deer squatted and took off into the woods.”
Two club members were also hunting and both texted Buxton to report they heard the shot and it sounded like a solid hit.
“Going down to the spot where he was standing when I shot, I found blood and was able to follow a good blood trail for a while until I could only find a drop here and there,” he said. “I called a friend with good blood trailing dogs, he came, and the dogs jumped the deer up at 60 yards. He ran a ways before finally expiring.”
The buck sported an impressive rack of 8 points with heavy mass and the inside spread was 17 ¼ inches. He weighed 197 pounds and was an old 8 ½-year-old buck. His rack was measured at 151 6/8 inches.
This buck went from having velvet damaged on one side resulting in a messed up antler to being a genuine trophy in just one year.
