It was about this time a year ago when a buck that 33-year-old Tyler Perritt had targeted gave him a chance with his bow. He got the shot he wanted. Unfortunately, his aim was off just a bit, the broadhead struck the shoulder blade without doing damage. To authenticate the buck was not seriously injured, he was back on camera a week or so later.
“This is a buck that I had targeted and had been having him on camera for a couple of years,” Perritt said. “He was hanging out on a 15 acre plot behind my house just outside St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, land owned by my wife’s parents. I found one of his sheds last year and was hopeful for another chance at him this season.”
Perritt didn’t hunt on the morning of Oct. 1, opening day for archery season, because he felt he would have a better chance at the big buck late in the afternoon. He has placed climbing sticks on several trees in the area so he could choose where to hunt depending on wind direction. He was comfortable in his tree saddle on a tree that favored the wind.
Lots of activity
The area he was hunting is an area formerly covered in a thicket he had cleared to create an opening beneath the scattered stand of oaks growing there. He had placed a corn feeder and had a pile of rice bran out from his stand.
“I got in the stand around 3:30 that afternoon and began seeing deer shortly thereafter,” Perritt said. “Eventually I had four does, three fawns and a spike in front of me at the feeder. As the afternoon got later, around 6:35, I saw more deer moving in the thicket and could tell that one was a big-bodied deer. The deer stepped out and it was a nice 10-point that I had noticed had been traveling with the big buck. Ten seconds after the 10-point stepped out, here came the buck I was after.”
The pair circled downwind from the feeder and it put them squarely in front of where Perritt sat 31 yards away. He shoots a Matthews Halon 32 bow, a Victory V-Force arrow tipped with a Grim Reaper broadhead.
“I came to full draw and as I did, the big one turned straight away from me and started eating from the rice bran pile,” Perritt said. “I watched him, hoping he’d turn to give me a view of his vitals, but after a full minute I had to let off on my bow. Then the 10-point looped around the feed, the big one jumped at him and when he did I drew my bow. He gave me a quartering away angle and I released my arrow.”
Finding the buck
The arrow came close to where Perritt had aimed but was a bit too far back, entering a ham and then the stomach area.
“When he ran, I could see where the arrow entered and knew it was too far back,” he said. “I got down, found a few spots of blood, but I also knew I didn’t need to press him so I went home, returning the next morning with a friend and his blood trailing dog. We found the buck that had only traveled some 250 yards but sadly, coyotes had gotten to him overnight and had consumed most of him.”
The buck was a fine, heavy-antlered 9-point with a 17 7/8-inch inside spread, impressive bases that measured over 6 inches each with 22-inch main beams. Perritt put a tape on the rack and came up with a green score of 158 inches. The buck was at least 5 ½ years old and before the coyotes reduced his muscle mass, likely weighed in the neighborhood of 220 pounds.
