Shannon Harper, 53, owner of Coney Island restaurant in West Monroe, has hunted a particular tract of land in Lincoln Parish north of Choudrant for more than 20 years.
When he prepared to head out on opening day of primitive firearms season, he had a stand he wanted to go sit on. However, the wind was wrong so he came up with an alternate plan.
“Since the wind was out of the south, instead of going to the stand that had a feeder out front, I came in from the north side and took a chair to sit in within sight of the feeder,” he said.
This particular tract of land, covering some 3,000 acres according to Harper, has produced quality bucks down through the years because hunters on neighboring properties have all agreed to let younger bucks go and only concentrate on mature bucks.
“We have protein feeders, corn feeders and we plant food plots to give the deer plenty to eat,” Harper said. “Plus, a good bit of the acreage where we hunt has been clear cut and replanted, which is allowing not only more bedding areas but also plenty of browse. Based on what we see on our cameras, it seems the area is holding even more deer this year, including some really nice bucks, including one that has a rack at least 22 inches wide.”
A new arrival
There was a buck that no one had ever seen that showed up for the first time on Wednesday, Oct. 15. However, there was a nice buck showing up on another stand Harper hunted. He had decided to hunt that stand, until a before-daylight photo showed the big buck at the feeder of the stand where he eventually decided to hunt. Wind direction helped him make the decision to sit in a chair on the ground rather than risk spooking the buck.
“I got in my chair before daylight,” Harper said. “Just as it started to get light, I saw movement in the clearcut next to the feeder. I picked up my binoculars. I could see it was a big deer, and when it stepped out into the clearing and turned his head at 95 yards I could tell it was the buck I had seen on camera three days earlier.”
Putting the scope of his 35 Whelan on the buck’s shoulder, he squeezed the trigger. At the shot, the buck hopped and took off.
“I sat in my chair for an hour before going down to try and find the deer,” Harper said. “I started down the trail where he had run and found him piled up at 40 yards.”
The buck sported a symmetrical rack of 8 points with lots of mass and tine length. For example, the G2s and G3s averaged being 10 inches each. Main beams were 22 inches; inside spread was 16 inches.
The buck was 4 ½ years old and weighed in at 195 pounds. The rack measured 147 1/8 inches of bone.
When the wind direction is wrong, you have to tweak your plans, which Shannon Harper wisely did. The end result was his being able to stand over the form of a top-notch buck.
