Eleven-year-old Fisher Brown, a fifth grade student at Drew Elementary in West Monroe, has his grandfather, Charles Brown, to thank for not only getting him into deer hunting but in putting him on the spot to collect an impressive buck that almost defies description. He also thanks God for directing him to the buck after the shot.
Charles Brown, a realtor in West Monroe, targeted his young grandson to be his hunting partner from the time he was in diapers.
“Fisher has been going hunting with me just about all his life,” Brown said. “I haven’t shot a deer in five years as I have left that task to Fisher, who has already at his young age taken 32 deer. There was one in particular he had his eye on, a buck with unusually palmated antlers, one Fisher named ‘Moose.'”
The saga involving this strange buck began three seasons ago when the pair was sitting in a stand overlooking a shooting lane on the Panther Lake Hunting Club, a 1200 acre track Brown owns in Madison Parish. This was the only sighting of the buck that season.
“This big buck came across far down the lane but I could see the unusual antlers,” Brown said. “Fisher wanted to try for a shot but I decided it was too far for an 8-year-old to try so he held off.”
Another shot at Moose
Having several trail cameras out on the property, the big buck began showing up and Brown alerted other club members to hold off on the buck should they have a chance because this one was reserved for Fisher, should he have the opportunity.
“Two years ago, Fisher had shot a nice buck and we got down to find it,” Brown said. “Following the sign the buck left, we stumbled upon a shed from Moose. About 40 yards farther, we found the other shed.”
Last season, Fisher had a chance at the buck late one afternoon, but according to his grandfather he was too excited and nervous and his shot missed.
“We went down and never found any sign of a hit,” he said. “Later that night, Moose showed up again on camera so we knew Fisher hadn’t hit him.”
The buck showed up for the first time during this season just before Christmas. He also was on camera on Christmas day in the middle of the day. It was all the grandfather could do to convince Fisher to wait a day rather than disrupt family plans for Christmas, promising he’d take him the following day.
“I told Fisher we would be on the stand before daylight and stay until dark if need be to give him a chance at the buck,” Brown said.
“It was a long day and around 3:00 while Fisher was taking a nap, Moose stepped out at around 100 yards,” Brown said. “I woke him up and told him the deer was there. Fisher was keyed in on the unusual rack and I had to tell him to forget the rack and concentrate on the body. He did, took the shot with his Springfield .308 bolt action and the buck took off back into the woods.”
The long wait
The next 45 minutes were the longest the youngster had ever spent in waiting to go check to see if he had connected.
“I told him we needed to wait, and while we waited Fisher asked me if he could pray that the deer could be found,” Brown said. “He did, and 45 minutes later we climbed down, went to the spot and could find no blood or evidence he had hit the deer. We started looking in the direction the deer had run, found a drop of blood and then more and we walked up on the downed buck that had run maybe 70 yards before expiring.”
The buck had a heavy body, weighing in at 260 pounds. Total points on the rack were 13 with a 15-inch inside spread. The buck was aged by a biologist at being 9 years old. He was scored three times by three different people, the last being at Simmons Sporting Goods in Bastrop, with measurements ranging from 151 to 190 inches.
What were Fisher’s comments when he was awakened to see the buck of his dreams standing there?
“I was so excited,” he said, “I almost wet my pants.”