It’s not unusual for a deer hunter, especially one who is just 11 years old, to take a little nap in the woods.
Usually, that isn’t a good thing.
But when Wren Jones, a fifth-grader at Sterlington Elementary School, needed a little shut-eye after he’d crawled in a box blind with his father, Will Jones III, it resulted in an enormous 6×6 buck that may qualify for the Boone & Crockett Club’s all-time record book.
At daylight on Saturday, Nov. 23, the younger Jones had dozed off when a big 7-point buck wandered into the food plot the stand overlooked. The buck was on the “hit list” for Jones, his father and his twin brother.
“I had a big 7-point buck on camera that was a 7 the last two years, so we had decided to take him out this year,” Will Jones said. “Wren was sleeping when this buck came out at daylight, and by the time I had him up to shoot, he’d gotten away.”
The best is yet to come
Whether or not Will and Wren Jones were disappointed, that disappeared about an hour later, when an even bigger buck wandered into the green patch, a wheat/oats blend from Buck Magnet. Wren Jones took him about a minute later, at 7:46 a.m., with a single shot from his Savage .25-06 at 237 yards.
By that time, his unfortunate little nap was long forgotten.
The huge buck weighed a pound or two shy of 200 pounds on the hoof and carried a beautiful 6×6 rack, 22 inches wide, with 27- and 26 ⅞-inch main beams, two tines 10 inches or longer and another at 9 6/8 inches. The buck scored 177 ⅛ inches gross and had 7 inches of deductions for asymmetry, leaving it just a shade bigger than the Boone & Crockett Club’s 170-inch minimum for the all-time record book. If the score holds after a 60-day drying period, Jones’ buck might qualify.
“My dad saw him first,” Wren Jones said. “It was pretty hard to watch him for so long; I was shaking. Three different deer got in the way before I could shoot. They were all standing in the food plot, but they ran off after I shot.”
Management pays off
Will Jones said his family has been managing a piece of private land in Richland Parish for about 15 years.
“We tried clubs and leases, then we got this place and got serious about it,” Will Jones said. “This is only the second buck we’ve taken off this place in the last 8 years managing this property – managing it pretty hard. We’ve killed a handful of does. Wren has killed four or five deer the past two years. I’ve been working with him since he was about 6. I’d put him up against anybody (as a shooter).
“I’ve been watching this buck for four years. I figured it was 2 ½ or 3 ½ when I first started watching him. I figured he was maybe 7 ½. From the front gate to the back of the place is about 2 miles, and I’ve got seven cameras out. This buck had been showing up everywhere in-between, but nowhere consistently.”
When the buck came out that morning, Will Jones said he was at 200 yards and heading south, away from the stand. There were a handful of other deer in the green patch, and one after the other they kept getting between Wren Jones’ muzzle and the big buck.
“He was looking through the scope for a good 60 seconds waiting for a shot, and when he got it, he let it rip, and he dropped like a rock,” said Will Jones, who explained that the 115-grain Nosler hand-load had taken it through the heart.
