Imitating a buck making a scrape tricks big deer
There are all sorts of deer hunters.
Some (like yours truly) love to sit in a comfortable box stand overlooking a lush food plot or corn feeder. While waiting for a deer to walk out, we’ve even been known to take along a radio to catch the action if an LSU game is on.
Then there are others —who are several notches above the typical box-stand sitter.
Count 26-year-old oilfield worker Nick Sampey in that group. From his home base up in north Natchitoches Parish, Sampey has compiled an impressive record with an unconventional method of locating and downing big bucks.
While using one of those techniques on Dec. 13, Sampey totally fooled an impressive 10-point buck within a few miles of his home.
He utilizes a method of scouting that would be foreign to all but the most serious deer hunters today. Instead of sitting over food plots and corn feeders, Sampey spends hours during the course of a season looking for areas where bucks like to bed down.
“I had been in an area that afternoon where I knew a big buck had been hanging out but as the hour got late, I decided to walk out the ridge to see if I could locate the buck’s bed,” he said. “As I walked along, I did my best to ‘act like a buck’ and see if I couldn’t attract his attention if he was anywhere around.”
While searching for the bed, Sampey tried to imitate the way a buck acts as it walks along through the woods.
“I made a little noise as I walked, occasionally and deliberately stepping on a stick. Then I’d stop and rake the leaves as if I was a buck making a scrape.,” Sampey continued. “All of a sudden, I heard him coming through the woods running flat out. He stopped at 30 yards and I shot him with my Savage .270 bolt action.”
The big deer apparently mistook Sampey for another buck making a scrape, something the 10-point refused to tolerate.
The rutted-down deer, which only weighed 160 pounds, sported a heavy rack that scored 142 2/8 inches.
To top it off, Sampey only hunts public land — with the nearby Kisatchie National Forest in Natchitoches Parish being where he spends most of his time.
“I was hunting a particular block of Kisatchie that adjoined some private property. I talked to a fellow later who was in his stand on that property and he watched the buck I shot work a scrape,” he said. “Just as he was trying to get the buck in his scope, the hunter told me that the buck took off in a hurry, apparently responding to the noise I was making.”
Sampey’s methods may be unconventional, but because of his willingness to get out of the comfort of a box stand, hit the woods, look for beds and act like a deer, these unique methods are working for him.
Don’t forget to enter photos of your bucks in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest to be eligible for monthly giveaways and the rand drawing for Nikon optics at the end of the contest.
Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clicking here.
