Ferrier’s big buck green scores 142 inches
A slick nocturnal buck had eluded Shandon Ferrier for three long years in Grant Parish — until the big buck finally slipped up Monday.
That’s when the deer stepped out onto a shooting lane 150 yards away from the Montgomery resident’s stand.
“This buck has frustrated me all this time mainly because camera images confirmed he was moving at night,” Ferrier said. “We had only one image of him early one morning, but everything else was at night.
“Actually, my brother had a chance at him a couple of years ago, took a shot and nicked his leg. He found a bit of blood and sliver of bone, but the deer began showing up again on the cameras at night so we knew he was still around.”
On the morning of Nov. 7, Ferrier, 43, climbed into his stand before daylight and settled in for what he must have assumed would be another wasted hunt. However, he looked up to see the nose and head of a big deer barely visible at the edge of the lane some 100 yards away.
“I didn’t even put my gun in the window because the deer was looking directly at the stand as if it wanted to see if anybody was there,” he said.
At that point, Ferrier wasn’t sure if he was looking at a buck or doe but believed it was probably a buck — one of the ones he’d seen on camera.
“Just a few moments later, the buck stepped out 50 yards further up the lane than when I first saw him and began walked toward me with his head down. I knew it was a good buck but wasn’t sure if it was the big one,” he said. “When he turned broadside at 100 yards, I put the crosshairs on my Beretta Tikka t3 .300 short mag on him and squeezed the trigger.
“The buck dropped on the spot. It was not until I walked up to him that I realized it was the one I had been after for three years.”
The buck was indeed a dandy, sporting 9 points with a wide 19 6/8 inches of air between the antlers. Main beams were longer than 23 inches, each with bases averaging 5 inches. The buck green-scored 142 inches Boone and Crockett.
“Although we haven’t aged him just yet, the fact he was a good buck three years ago makes me believe he’s between 5 and 6 years old,” he said. “He was a heavy-bodied deer that weighed probably 215 pounds.
“I’ve never had a buck mounted, but I can guarantee you — this one is going on the wall.”
Don’t forget to enter photos of your bucks in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest to be eligible for monthly giveaways and the random drawing for Nikon optics at the end of the contest.
Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clicking here.
