Giles Island Hunting Club continues to produce Pope & Young bruisers.
Dusty Smith and his father have hunted at Giles Island for the last four years and come to enjoy their annual getaway to the renowned area northwest of Natchez.
Last season Smith killed a fine 8-point that scored about 120. When he and his father returned last autumn for their hunt, he couldn’t believe his good fortune when he knocked down another trophy buck.“The funny thing was I drew the same area where I’d hunted last year,” said Smith, who goes by the alias “dusty_smith” on the MS-Sportsman.com forum. “I had high hopes for it but didn’t think about anything like this. I was shocked it happened two years in a row.”
What happened on Dec. 7 is Smith killed an outstanding buck, one that many would say is a deer of a lifetime. The 15-point hoss green scored 172 7/8, with a 19 5/8-inch inside spread, main beams of about 25 inches long and long G2s with hooks on them.
“The first thing I noticed was how long the G2s were,” Smith said. “It was the last afternoon we were there. We had hunted food plots first two evenings and saw some deer, but nothing in bow range. I think we saw one pretty decent buck, but the weather was terrible with lots of rain and wind blowing really hard.
“We finally got a break on the weather the last evening, our third day, and we decided to get off of the food plots. We wanted to get into the woods, closer to where they were bedding and moving.”
Smith, who won the December edition of the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest, was waiting that evening when he saw a doe emerge from a thick area and begin feeding on pecans. Then the 15-pointer stepped out behind her.
“He wasn’t chasing her, but he was definitely keeping an eye on her pretty hard,” Smith said. “He was following behind her. They were far enough away that I didn’t have a shot and could watch them for a while.”
Smith’s been bowhunting for 12 years and admits he “got pretty shaken up” watching the big buck.
“I was ranging different things for shots and keeping an eye on them, but trying to stay calm,” he said. “I was shaking pretty badly. He grunted and she started moving toward me, and I knew he was coming with her.
“After the doe began moving closer and he was following, I knew I’d get a shot. He stepped into a little open patch, and I shot him at 43 yards.”
Smith said he’s comfortable at that range with his Hoyt Carbon Element. He shoots Easton Full Metal Jacket arrows tipped with G5 broadheads.
His arrow found its mark, and the buck ran about 70 yards and collapsed.
“I knew when he walked out he was definitely a shooter, but I misjudged him. I thought he might be in the 150s,” Smith said. “When we were walking to him I could see that he was bigger than what I’d estimated.
“I didn’t know what to think. It has all kinds of little stickers and hooks on it.”
Smith was the only hunter at Giles Island to kill a buck when he was hunting there. It definitely capped a great trip with his father.
“I’ve been hunting since I was old enough to go into the woods with my grandfather and father,” he said. “This was the biggest buck I’ve ever seen in my life, and to get it with in bow range was pretty amazing.”
See more than 100 other bucks killed this season — and add photos of your own — in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest, which is free to all registered users of this site.
Everyone who enters is eligible to win a set of Nikon Monarch ATB 10×42 binoculars to be given away in a random drawing after the season closes.
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