A roller-coaster deer season ended with some huge bucks — including a possible No. 2 typical deer — hitting the ground. Here’s how the season stacked up.
The recently closed deer season was weird. It began with warm temperatures and few deer being killed by those stalwart bowhunters braving the mosquitoes.
And torrential rains hit the state as gun hunting began, making it difficult of hunters to even get out in the woods, even though temperatures finally began dropping.
The results were predictable: Fewer trophy bucks were killed.
By mid-December, Mississippi Sportsman had tracked down only 12 bucks topping the 140-inch mark.
That’s not to say there weren’t some brutes killed during the first couple of months of hunting.
Among the trophies killed were seven bucks that topped 180 inches — and Eddie Harrell knocked down a 200-class deer on Tallahalla Wildlife Management Area on Dec. 1.
And then the weather warmed up again, and more rain fell.
Deer hunting slowed once more — and some areas were closed because of flooding.
The combined effect was like hitting the brakes, with big-buck kills pretty much ending between through early January.
But deer hunters remained active, and we learned of a few big deer killed before mid-January, when this issue went to press.
And that included a pending No. 2 typical record-book buck taken at Giles Island the day after Christmas.
We added another couple of deer killed earlier in the season but not discovered until recently.
So sit back and walk through the season with us.
Pending No. 2 typical buck knocked down
215-inch buck killed after duck hunt scudded
Missed doe turns into 192-inch brute buck
145-inch buck breaks bad-luck streak
Click here to read about other big bucks killed this season.
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