Started Wrong - Ended Right

It was Tuesday, November 29, 2011 and I really wanted to go hunting that afternoon, especially after seeing the big eight point that has frequented by back yard the last four years. My wife doesn't want me to kill any of the deer in the yard so I let him walk and headed to my stand in Lincoln Parish north of Ruston Louisiana.

I had put the ladder stand up the week before and had already taken a small buck on the previous Friday. I wasn't very comfortable with the stand, so when I went out I had decided to move the direction it was facing. After making a lot of noise I finally got it situated and went down the lanes to put out corn.

It was only around 2:00 so I decided to put corn on another stand that I hunted earlier in the year. This meant carrying 50 lbs of corn close to a half mile up and down the hills. By the time I finished this I was soaked with sweat, but decided to hunt any way.

I took my inner shirt off and dried as good as I could, but figured every deer within a mile could smell me. I climbed the first stand about 3:15 and realized the corn I had put out was down wind and that I had left my camo mask in the truck, but still I decided to hunt this stand.

When it got to be 4:00 I knew that if I was to see anything it would be soon. About 4:30 a yearling came out followed by a large doe. The doe was acting nervous but another yearling came in from another direction so I thought that might be it. A second large doe came out and even though the small deer were feeding the two does were nervous and didn't stick around.

When the last small deer left in a hurry I thought something was up. Before I could get the thought out of my head I saw a heavy set of antlers feeding in. At first glance I thought he was an eight point so I set my scope for his shoulder. I had to wait for him to move forward before taking the shot and the 300 short mag dropped him.

I could see he was big so I called a friend to help me get him out, and called my wife to let her know I got the eight point. I climbed down and made my way to where the deer lay and then realized I had taken a real trophy. I called my wife again to let her know I had taken a twelve point with split brow tines and kicker points.

The next day I took him to TP Outdoors where they scored him 161 7/8. I didn't do much right to get such a trophy, but I didn't let the things that went wrong keep me from the hunt.