Louisiana is in the throes of a major drought that has reduced palatable browse for deer; they are having to depend on less desirable food sources to survive. Forty-three-year-old Daniel Colvin, of Bernice, is offering a 4 ½ acre smorgasbord of wheat, clover and turnips that virtually guarantee that when he sits on his stand, it’s almost a sure thing that he’ll see deer.
Colvin is an entrepreneur who has a variety of professions. He deals in real estate buying and selling, is a commercial fisherman, has a lawn service and is a consultant to property owners who want to provide the best opportunity for attracting and holding deer.
A haven for deer
Colvin has converted his own 1,300 acres in Union Parish to a haven for deer and as a result, he has been successful in growing some impressive bucks. Colvin keeps cameras out year round, provides minerals all year and improves the land by controlled burning and thinning where needed. He knows and keep records on virtually every buck on the property, but there was one that provided a bit of a mystery this year.
“I’m really not sure if I knew about this particular buck,” Colvin said. “I knew I had a big one on the property and had a photo of one back in July in velvet before his rack fully developed that I knew was going to be special. Then he just disappeared and I never had a picture of this particular buck after that.”
As dry as things have been, it had rained the night of Oct. 29 and continued on into the next morning, finally ceasing on Monday, Oct. 30.
“I knew the deer would be moving after the rain and bucks were starting to make scrapes and chase does,” Colvin said. “At 3:30, I got in my box stand overlooking the food plot and actually ran off a doe and yearling as I got to the stand. Soon after getting settled in the stand, several small bucks showed up and were starting to harass does that had also arrived.”
Young buck bolted
Around 5:00 that afternoon, Colvin noticed one particular small buck had his eyes fixed on the adjacent woods. Suddenly, the young buck bolted and ran from the food plot.
“I knew there had to be a bigger buck that had spooked this little buck, so I kept my eyes on the direction the buck was looking,” Colvin said. “Then I saw a big rack and then the body of an impressive buck as it stepped out. I knew it was a shooter for sure, so I got my 25.06 Remington up and five seconds later I hit the trigger. The buck ran about 20 yards before falling at the edge of the food plot.”
The buck sported an impressive rack of 11 points, had an inside spread of 19 2/8 inches, impressive main beams of 24 and 25 inches and 5 inch bases. He was determined to be 5 ½ years old and weighed in at 190 pounds.
Colvin took him to official Buckmaster scorer Greg Hicks and the tape came to 154 4/8 inches.
Although Colvin has a record of just about every deer on the property, this one, never actually identified, was a bit of a mystery that ended successfully.