Anna McNeely lives in Natchitoches with her family and goes to school in Minden to study Industrial Implementation and Technology at Northwest Technical Community College.
Having to commute from her home daily to attend classes takes a lot of her time. However, she is a serious deer hunter, and when the opportunity presents itself, she’s on her deer stand in south Natchitoches Parish on land her family owns, especially when there might be the chance at a big buck her brother has had on his trail cameras.
“My brother has been getting photos of this big buck, with all the photos taken at night,” McNeely said. “Nobody had ever actually seen the buck other than in the photos.”
Taking advantage of a day when she didn’t have to be in school, McNeely left her home before daylight on the morning of Nov. 1 and drove to her stand to see just what might happen to show up. There was little hope of getting to see the big buck because of its tendency to show up only at night.
“I got in my box stand before daylight hoping that maybe a shooter buck would show up,” she said. “I wasn’t particular about which one; I just wanted a chance at a decent buck.”
As it started to get light, she saw movement on the open field she was watching, a field that was surrounded by woods with a stream flowing around the edge.
“Three does came out onto the field and a few minutes later I watched two more does come out, thinking just maybe a buck would be following them,” she said.
Waiting on the right moment
Fifteen minutes after the last two does came out, she saw movement at the edge of the field. To her surprise, it was a big buck.
“The buck was walking away from me, and when I got my .308 up and on him he walked behind a big pile of brush so all I could do was wait,” she said. “I started to really get nervous because I could tell this was a big one and I was afraid I’d never get a chance at him.”
Once the buck cleared the brush pile and turned his head so she could see his rack better she knew it was a shooter buck, but she wasn’t sure if it was the one her brother had on camera. When the buck cleared the brush at 230 yards, she had a good shot at him so she took it. At the shot, the buck took off. Behind this buck, she looked up to see another big buck following the one she shot but she wasn’t sure which buck she actually had shot.
“I called my dad and he and my boyfriend came,” McNeely said. “We tracked where the deer had run and he didn’t go far. Looking at the rack, we realized that I had actually gotten the one my brother had been watching on camera.”
Taking the buck to Simmons Sporting Goods in Bastrop to enter in that store’s Big Buck contest, the rack consisted of 17 points, with an inside spread of 21 2/8 inches and lots of mass. The 4 ½-year-old buck weighed over 200 pounds and his rack was measured at 171 2/8 inches.
