We’ve all heard about the absent minded professor. You know, the one who scratches his pancakes while pouring syrup on his itching foot. Well, Kim Marie Tolson, biology professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, is no such professor, at least to those who know her.
However, on the afternoon of Nov. 7, there was a two-minute period of time of which she has absolutely no recollection. We won’t, however, attribute that mental lapse as being related to her profession. She just has no memory of the time between 4:42 and 4:44 pm – when she realized she was standing over what turned out to be a 172-inch buck.
Tolson is privileged to hunt a prime piece of property in north Ouachita Parish, some 2,700 acres where hunters are allowed only by invitation. She utilizes her expertise as a biologist to assist the property owners in records keeping, suggestions for harvest rate, soil sampling, recommendations for the need for lime, fertilizer, etc. The property owners reciprocate by allowing her to hunt on the land.
“The terrain on this area is mixed with some agricultural lands, WRP areas with some early and some mature in age, bottomland hardwoods with some cypress/tupelo,” Tolson explained.
“On the afternoon of Nov. 6, I was hunting an area I like to hunt because I can usually take some does here, and my plan was to take one and start putting some venison in my freezer,” she said. “I’d been sitting awhile when a small 8-point buck came into view, and he was milling around; finally getting downwind of me, bolted and took off.”
Tolson was hopeful the little buck hadn’t alerted all the other deer in the area the next afternoon when she got back into her stand for a late-afternoon hunt.
“That same little 8-point came back out, and I was relieved that I apparently hadn’t spooked him too bad,” she said.
In a moment, she saw the top of some nice antlers working through the salt bush that grew in the area.
“I could tell from what I saw of his rack that this was a mature buck, but I didn’t get too excited; I’m usually the last one on the place to shoot a buck,” Tolson said. “When he stepped out, though, my heart was racing when I saw how big he was.
“I did something next I still can’t explain – I looked down at my cell phone to see what time it was since folks are always wanting to know, ‘What time did you see him’? The time was 4:42.”
Tolson put the crosshairs on the buck, squeezed the trigger and the buck dropped in its tracks. Then, thoughts of that professor referred to at the outset came into play.
“I have absolutely no memory whatsoever of getting out of the stand and covering the 110 yards to the buck,” Tolson said. “The first thing I remember after pulling the trigger was me standing over the buck poking him with my rifle barrel.
“I knew I couldn’t load him myself, so I called a friend to come help me.”
She later realized she had lost two minutes somewhere between pulling the trigger and reaching her trophy.
“Later I looked at the time when I called the friend and it was 4:44,” Tolson said. “I had shot the deer, climbed out the stand, gone to him and made a phone call all in two minutes.”
The buck the professor bagged was a trophy, indeed. Sporting 12 points, the buck carried main beams of 25 3/8 inches each, had a 17 1/8-inch inside spread with the most impressive measurement being bases of 5 1/8 inches each, but gaining inches as the measurements between the G-1and G-2 were greater and those between the G-2 and G-3 even larger.
The buck weighed 235 pounds, and was green scored at TP Outdoors at 172 inches.
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