Sometimes when you go out of your way to help a friend, you could be in for an unexpected reward. Such was the case for 34-year-old oil and gas operator Matt Harrell, who lives in the village of Iowa near Lake Charles.
On the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 12, Harrell was on his box stand located on a private plot of land in Beauregard Parish. Sitting in another stand on the property was a novice deer hunter, one who was new at the game and had never killed a deer.
Harrell had worked the night shift and was leaving work not sure if he wanted to go hunting. However, as he drove away from the plant, he saw something that decided for him that today may be a good day to be on his deer stand.
“As I was leaving the plant after work I saw a couple of deer, so I figured they must be on the move since a cool front had come through,” Harrell said. “I decided to head home, grab my gear and head for my stand.”
Double the fun
Harrell’s stand overlooks a clear cut that had not been replanted and had become overgrown with tall weeds. As he got settled in, his novice friend began texting him from his stand, telling him that he had just seen a doe running across in front of his stand.
“I told him to be watching because often when you see a doe in a hurry there could be a buck chasing her, so he needed to get ready,” Harrell said. “Half an hour later, I heard him shoot. He was excited to tell me a buck had come out and he shot it and it dropped. I told him to just sit tight to be sure the buck was down, but 10 minutes later he texted me to say his buck had gotten up and run off. I told him to just wait for a couple of hours to give the buck time to expire and I’d come help him.”
Harrell continued to hunt and an hour later he saw something moving at about 30 yards in the tall weeds. He realized it was possibly one of the bucks he had seen on his trail camera. Then the buck stopped in an area that exposed its head and neck. Leveling down with his Weatherby .270 on the buck’s neck, Harrell took the shot and his buck dropped.
“I texted my friend and told him I thought I had shot a nice 8-point and I’d go down and get him to help me load it up and then we’d go look for his deer,” Harrell said.
Two celebrations
When he got to his downed buck, Harrell realized it was not the 8-point, but was a larger buck he had never seen on his camera. The buck was a 10-point with an inside spread of 17 inches, long main beams and heavy mass. It weighed 150 pounds and was only 3 ½ years old. The antlers were scored at 143 4/8 inches.
His friend had called someone with a blood tracking dog to track his kill. Harrell, his friend and the dog owner followed the dog, which led them straight to the buck. It had 10 points but was overall smaller than the one Harrell got.
“This was the first one my friend had ever gotten and he was really excited,” Harrell said. “I’m just glad I was able to ‘coach’ him about keeping his eye out for a buck that could be following the doe. It all worked out well for both of us.”
