Twelve-year-old Grady Bridges of Calcasieu Parish has spent more than 1,000 hours in a deer stand with his dad, Chris, over the past seven years. However, nothing in those hundreds of hunts compared to what happened on the morning of Nov. 28 at Loggy Bayou Wildlife Management Area (WMA); a hunt that ended with a massive 12-point buck crashing just 40 yards from their ground blind.
Grady and his father have hunted Loggy Bayou WMA for the past three seasons. They were not targeting a specific buck that morning, nor did they know a deer of this caliber was anywhere in the area. The only goal was to enjoy a cold, clear morning in a promising location that a friend had suggested. It was a wide, quarter-mile lane bordered by CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) on one side and hardwood on the other. The transition line offered a natural movement path, and with frost on the ground and bright sunshine creeping through the trees, the conditions felt right.
Not long after settling into their ground blind, a doe stepped into the lane. Grady made a clean shot, dropping the 97-pound deer. Having already harvested one, he assumed his hunt was complete. Still, he and his dad stayed alert, enjoying the quiet morning. Fifteen to 20 minutes later, another deer emerged.
“At first I thought it was a doe,” Grady said. “Then I noticed the horns and told my dad, ‘Daddy, it’s a buck!’”
A memorable moment
Chris Bridges urged him to take the shot, but Grady struggled momentarily to get the safety off his Ruger American .308, which was a Christmas gift from a few years earlier. His dad helped him release the safety, and as soon as the rifle settled, Grady squeezed the trigger. The buck bolted, but Grady had no doubt the hit was solid.
“I couldn’t wait to go find him,” he said.
Before getting out of the blind, Grady Facetimed his mom to tell her he had just shot a “wallhanger,” keeping a promise he jokingly made that morning when she said she wanted another mount for the wall. The buck ran only about 40 yards before piling up. When Chris Bridges found the deer, he shouted back in excitement, and Grady raced over to see what lay ahead. What he saw brought tears to his eyes and to his father’s.
The buck was a main-frame 10-point with two scoreable kickers and several smaller stickers clustered around the bases. He weighed 173 pounds, had an estimated age of 5.5 years, and scored an impressive 152 ½ inches.
“I cried so much out of excitement,” Grady said. “My dad even had tears in his eyes. The taxidermist told me that most grown men only dream of deer like this.”
For a young hunter with years of patience, time and dedication already behind him, Loggy Bayou delivered a moment he and his father will never forget.
