The more acreage in the plot you hunt, the better chance you have to make improvements and locate feeding and bedding areas. Bigger, though, is not always better because sometimes hunters can utilize small plots and take advantage of what is there.
Such is the case with Amanda Culver of Haughton, who is a nurse. She is in a big hunting club near Cotton Valley, but is also interested in a 15-acre plot owned by her mother near Haughton in Bossier Parish. This property may be small, but it has a water source and butts up to a large tract of timber that holds some nice deer.
There was a particular buck Culver had been watching on cameras on her mom’s property for the past couple of years, one that had her attention.
“He was a big 8-point and this year sported a rack of 9 points,” she said. “I had bow hunted him without having a chance at him. For the past couple of years, as primitive season approached, he always seemed to disappear.”
Taking a chance
With the hope that maybe the buck wouldn’t do a disappearing act this year, she decided to head for her ground blind around 3 p.m. on the afternoon of Oct. 21. She was packing her CVA 45-70 primitive firearm in case he wouldn’t be a no show as he’d done in the past.
“The area where I had my ground blind was in a wooded area with a small clearing where we had a corn feeder as well as putting rice bran on the ground,” Culver said. “I sat there all afternoon without seeing anything, then during the last hour of daylight a spike came out to the feed. I was watching him when out of the corner of my eye I saw a big body moving. I didn’t bother with binoculars as I just picked up my rifle when I realized it was the big buck I was after.”
The buck was walking straight toward her, so she had to wait for the deer to turn to give her a better chance at him. When he turned just right, she leveled down on him and hit the trigger.
“I watched him take off into the woods and I just sat there for awhile to gather my wits and to give him time to expire,” she said. “I called my husband and told him what had happened.”
Tracking the big buck
Walking to the site, Culver found blood and was able to follow a blood trail to where the buck was piled up at 50 yards.
The rack sported 9 points with an inside spread of 17 4/8 inches. The rack also featured 23-inch main beams with long G3s that measured over 10 inches each. The buck was estimated to be 4 ½ years old and weighed around 230 pounds.
Taking the buck to Simmons Sporting Goods in Bastrop, the rack was measured at 142 2/8 inches.
Having lots of acreage to work with can sometimes pay off. However, as Amanda Culver proved, small plots can pay big dividends as well.
