Reader Report: Big Beauregard Parish buck

Johnson has memorable hunt with his father

On the morning of Nov. 11, 2024, after a short walk in the dark to our stands, my dad and I prepared to part ways. Like always, we wished each other good luck, promised to call each other if we got one, then went our separate ways.

I made it to my stand and climbed up. I was sitting waiting when I heard what I thought was a bird at first. Then I could hear something tearing through a thicket and a deep long grunt. My heart started pounding. I could hear the buck grunting after a few minutes.

There was good daylight by now, so I looked down my lane and thought I saw a deer. I picked up my rifle and looked through the scope. As I was looking, a nose appeared out of the side of the lane I was hunting. He walked on out and my heart went to pounding again. I had never seen a buck so big. He didn’t even look my way. He walked out and I gave him a soft call to stop him, but he didn’t pay me any attention. Right before he stepped into a thicket he stopped, and I said, “This is my chance.” I pulled the trigger and he jumped.

I immediately called my dad. Unable to hardly speak, I told him I had just shot a huge buck and he asked if it was a good one. I told him I had never seen a buck so big. He said he thought he heard him crash, just give it about 20 minutes and we will go look.

Finding the buck

Well it took what felt like an hour for that 20 minutes to pass. When my dad showed up at my stand we went to where I shot him, but didn’t see any blood or hair. My heart went from pounding to stopping.

We walked back and forth to make sure that I was correct on the spot where I had last seen him, but after about 5 minutes we were already texting someone with a dog. I was panicking. My dad told me to just calm down and for us to walk down this trail where I said the buck was standing.

We walked down the trail not far and came upon a scrape. While my dad was looking and texting the dog owner, I walked about 10 yards to a bend in the trail and that’s when I saw him. My dad said I jumped and started hollering.

All I could see of him was one side of his horns sticking up over a dead log. I knew I had a great buck down after a FaceTime call to my Paw Paw Johnson to let him see what I got. My dad and I stood and admired him. It is only my second buck. I don’t know if I will ever do any better than this, but it is a memory I will always have and share with my dad.

Tate Johnson

Rosepine, LA