Lee’s 12-pointer green scores 154 1/8 inches Boone & Crockett
Ordinarily on a Sunday night, Reba Lee attends church service.
But on Sunday, Nov. 23, services were cancelled because of Thanksgiving week, and Lee made the most of the opportunity.
“Since we didn’t have church that night, I decided to go sit on my deer stand to see if maybe I could see the buck that had shown up on my daughter’s trail cam,” she said.
Lee’s family lives in the small community of Weldon in Claiborne Parish, and they have access to a prime piece of property where they can deer hunt close to home.
“The 140-acre piece of property is right across the road from our house, and when I get ready to hunt, all I have to do is hop on my 4-wheeler and I’m there in a couple of minutes,” she said.
The temperature was warm that November afternoon and it was really windy, so much so that Lee thought maybe her best bet would be to climb down and hunt another day.
“The property consists of planted pines on about half the property with the rest being a pasture or field. My husband keeps it bush-hogged for the owner who lives in Shreveport and in exchange, he lets us hunt,” she said.
Just before deciding to call it quits, Lee saw a deer come across the field and watched it proceed to the edge and make a scrape. She watched it for awhile when another deer appeared.
“As I watched this little buck make the scrape, I saw a doe come out right in front of my stand, and about 50 paces behind it, here came this big buck,” Lee said. “I waited until it turned just right, put the crosshairs on the shoulder of my Browning .243 and squeezed the trigger.
“The deer ran, but I felt I’d made a good shot because he was only about 50 yards from me.”
Gathering her gear, Lee climbed down from her box stand, walked to where the deer had stood and looked over a dirt mound and found the buck piled up only a few yards away.
“I knew the buck we had on camera was a good one, but when I actually walked up to him, he was bigger than I imagined,” she said. “I was super excited.”
The 12-point buck was indeed a dandy, and weighed 185 pounds with an inside spread exceeding 18 inches.
Lee took the deer to Simmons Sporting Goods in Bastrop for their big buck contest, where it measured 154 1/8 inches and is currently in fifth place in the Women’s Division.
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 Monarch binoculars at the end of the contest.
Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clicking here.
