When you think about the parishes in Louisiana most likely to produce trophy bucks, your mind naturally goes to Tensas, Madison, Concordia or a couple other parishes along the eastern side of the state within the Mississippi River flood plain. The soil is laden with minerals that can and do produce heavy body weights and impressive racks.
One parish, though, you would never consider is the pine hills and marginal soils of Sabine Parish. Yet, a group of hunters several years ago decided to see what they could produce in Sabine. The Masters family purchased some 3,000 acres, set up food plots and developed a product to provide healthy protein-rich food for the deer. The kicker, though, was to adopt the “Midwest rule” of letting deer grow to their potential. Hunters are allowed only one buck per season and the buck has to be five years old or older.
Thirty-year-old Joel Masters has had his eye on one particular buck that in 2023 was an 8-point, but showed potential. Last year, the buck increased in weight and antlers to a heavy 10-point.
“My dad decided that we needed to give this deer one more year as he was expected to grow even more given another year,” Masters said. “Man, did he ever. We began getting pictures of him this year and he had really exploded in both weight and mass. We like to name our deer and I gave this one the name ‘Sasquatch.’”
A group of deer
The morning of Oct. 4 dawned cool and breezy as Masters and his dad, Ryan, got into an elevated stand overlooking a power line where they had placed rice bran. Masters was born with spina bifida and has been wheelchair bound his entire life. He is licensed to take advantage of the special season for physically challenged hunters and is permitted to use a regular firearm, his dad’s Browning A-Bolt 30.06.
“We got in the stand before daylight and noticed that the breeze was not in our favor and were a bit concerned about deer being able to smell us,” Masters said. “However, soon after daylight, several deer came onto the power line to the rice bran.
“I noticed right away that Sasquatch was with the group of deer. I got my gun on the window and waited until he stepped out from behind a tree, got the scope on him and hit the trigger at 65 yards. Then it was total chaos because deer scattered everywhere and we had no idea which way my deer had run.
“I put the scope on the spot where he was standing when I shot and was surprised and relieved to see him piled up there. He had dropped at my shot.”
The buck carried a heavy rack of 15 points with an inside spread of 18 inches. Main beams were 23 and 24 inches, bases were 5 inches with G2s and G3s both being around 11 inches. The buck was aged at 6 ½ years old. He weighed 220 pounds. The rack was measured at 183 3/8 inches.
Once again, the Masters family is proving that if you do it right, you can kill good bucks on marginal habitat, like in Sabine Parish.
