Patin downs big buck on final day of primitive firearms season
Emery Patin gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “Stick it to the man” when he dropped a big Pointe Coupee Parish buck on the final day of primitive firearms season in January.
Patin, 54, of Lakeland, had nicknamed the 13-pointer “The Man” when he first crossed paths with the buck last fall on his 200-acre lease near the south end of False River.
Patin’s son, Chase, said his dad used the description the first time they talked on the phone about the big buck.
“He was walking down a trail and a couple of deer ran across him, and he noticed the big deer running with them,” Chase said. “That’s how he described it to me.
“I just happened to call him one afternoon to see how he was doing and to check in, and he said, ‘Chase, they got ‘a man’ across the street. I don’t know what he is right now, but he’s big.’”
The buck proved to be not only big – but elusive. It traveled mainly at night, showing itself only in trail cam pictures, and Patin didn’t even see the deer on the hoof again until the afternoon of the final day of rifle season.
“He was standing outside by the 4-wheeler piddling around in the yard, and he looked back across the cane field and he could see something brown against the tree line, so he went inside and grabbed his rifle,” Chase said. “By the size of the antlers, it had to be him running a doe across the headland of a cane field.”
Motivated by seeing the deer, Chase said his dad borrowed a Thompson Center from a friend at work, and hunted hard the final week of primitive firearms season in Area 6 to see if he could track down “The Man.”
On Saturday afternoon, Jan. 31 – the last day of the season – he finally got his chance.
On his way to check a spot where he had been putting corn down, Patin saw an 8-point run across a pasture with a doe. Sure enough, the big buck was with them.
“So he stopped the 4-wheeler and got off and started walking through the pasture,” Chase said. “He was walking and slow-creeping when he caught a glimpse of the doe standing just inside the next grown-up pasture over.
“The 8-point and buck took off back across the pasture to the woods, and he shot him running across that open pasture and dropped him.”
After the 70-yard shot, Chase said the buck managed to get up and headed for a gully along the pasture’s tree line. Patin got back on the 4-wheeler instantly in pursuit of the deer.
“He said when he got there the buck was just standing in the water with his butt underwater because he couldn’t stand up,” Patin said. “He waited a few minutes, then loaded up another shot and finished him off.”
Fittingly, “The Man” bottomed out a 200-pound scale, and his 13-point rack – though not officially scored yet – featured an 18 1/2-inch inside spread and was estimated at 142 inches.
And as is often the case, the big buck was even more impressive in person than on the pictures from a trail cam.
“”When I saw the picture of my dad holding the deer for the first time, with him next to the antlers, and I saw how tall and wide they were, I didn’t expect it to be that big,” Chase said. “He thought the buck was much bigger in person than in the pictures, too.
“He was ecstatic about the deer.”
Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clicking here.
