In Independence, a small unincorporated town in Tate County in Northwest Mississippi, one buck has been the talk of the community and the obsession of its deer hunters for three years.
They even gave the odd 10-point a nickname, Hercules, or Herc for short.
“Pretty much all of Independence knew about Herc,” Jody Freeman said. “He was legend and about half the hunters and landowners up here have been hunting him hard, very hard, for a long time. He was like a local celebrity.”
So on Nov. 16, when Freeman’s 8-year-old son Hayes killed the buck, the happy father knew what he needed to do, what he had to do.
“I called all my neighbors who had been hunting Herc all these years and invited them over to be in the picture with Hayes and the buck,” Jody Freeman said. “Seemed only right. We have 80 acres on this place, and we had trail cam photos of him. Two of my neighbors each have 80 acres and they both have pictures of Herc on their places. Another neighbor has 200 acres and Ol’ Herc had been on his property, too.”
Identifying Herc was easy enough. He was an oddity, probably because of an injury to his scrotum early in life that messed up his testosterone levels as they pertained to his antlers. Although he continued to grow a new rack each year, he was always late to shed velvet and quick to drop his antlers. For being the boss buck — antler wise — he had no interest in does.
“Everybody knew him and his quirks,” Freeman said. “That was part of his legend and how we always knew it was him. All of us wanted to get him, and hunted him hard. Heck one of my neighbors hunted him every day, morning and afternoon, last year until he dropped his antlers.”
Because of Herc’s odd antler cycle, the window of opportunity to take him was narrow. Once gun season opened each year, it was only a few weeks before he would drop one main beam, and the second would follow, and no way would anybody shoot him without both.
“He was mature, which made him smart,” Freeman said. “He had no interest in the opposite sex, which made him a genius in survival skills. I was beginning to think he would die of old age. He was the talk of the whole community by the time this season rolled around.”
The legend of Hercules began the first week of December in 2010, when Jody and Hayes Freeman, then just 6, were hunting over a small food plot on their 80 acres.
“This 9-point walks out and I knew he was obviously a young buck,” Jody Freeman said. “Hayes was too young to shoot then and he was begging me to take him.”
The buck was putting on too good a show to shoot, and the older Freeman, who in 2005 had killed a 191 4/8-inch 21-point non-typical in Tate County, knew it was young and had great potential.
“He was grunting, pushing does around and even trying to spar with another buck,” Jody Freeman said. “It was an awesome hunt, and then that week we started getting trail cam photos of him. Then on Dec. 14, he dropped an antler.
“Of course, we had no idea why but immediately we began to look forward to the next season to see what would happen. We figured he had suffered a testicle injury right after we first saw him.”
During the summer of 2011, Herc started showing back up on trail cams. He was even bigger and his range was very broad, as the neighbors’ cams also had images.
“By the time the season rolled around, we had a lot of pictures of him, and my Dad and my three neighbors, they had pictures of him, too,” Jody Freeman said. “When the rifle season opened (Saturday before Thanksgiving), he still hadn’t dropped his velvet.”
But the hunt was on throughout their area of Tate County and all around Independence.
“We were all hunting pretty hard,” Jody Freeman said. “One of my immediate neighbors hunted him every day, morning and afternoon, all season… well, at least until Dec. 14 when his antlers fell off again. After that, we never saw him again and never got another daytime photo. Once again, we started looking ahead to the next year.”
This past summer, they weren’t disappointed. An even bigger and heavier-antlered Herc started showing up on the trail cams, but always at night. The question became, would he ever make a mistake?
He did, and it happened on a Friday afternoon, just after Jody Freeman had picked up his son Hayes early at school for a hunt on the final day of the youth-only gun season.
“Like always, I asked Hayes where we were going to hunt, and without hesitation he said ‘I want to hunt Herc!’” the dad said. “Since nobody had ever laid eyes on Herc during daytime while hunting, it didn’t really matter where we hunted. I knew that the first buck that walked out, Hayes would shoot it. He had killed three deer the previous year, including a 5-point buck.
“We were sitting in our stand at about 4:30 and out stepped a buck in the field about 50 yards away. He was not a bad little buck and Hayes started to get him in his scope. The buck was steadily walking away and I didn’t want him to shoot at a walking target so we had to wait, and the buck wouldn’t turn broadside.”
The wait was excruciating but came with great reward.
“Hayes had been patient, waiting for him to turn, when all of a sudden I saw his gun pivot to the left,” Jody Freeman said. “The whole time I’ve been looking at Hayes, and suddenly he says, ‘Daddy, it’s him! It’s Herc!’
“I looked up and saw Herc walking out 75 yards away, broadside. I started choking on the lump that was in my throat, until I heard Hayes say, ‘I’m on him! I’m right behind his shoulder!’ Then Herc started walking and I’m freaking out because I didn’t want him to shoot until he stopped.”
Finally, three seasons into the chase, Hercules took his final step.
“Buddy, let me tell you, the second Herc stopped, Hayes drilled him right behind the shoulder,” Jody Freeman said. “Three years of scheming and discussing strategies with my Dad and friends, and Herc crumbled and fell in his tracks right in front of us at the hands of my 8-year-old. Of course, I was shaking and hollering. I couldn’t believe it. It was priceless.
“Hayes turned and looked at me and said ‘Daddy, I think I’m gonna throw up’ and I told him ‘go ahead because we don’t have any reason to come back to this stand any more.’”
The dad said his son made a perfect heart shot with his Handi .243 rifle.
Jody Freeman scored the 225-pound buck at 176 inches gross. It had 6-inch bases with a circumference of 7 1/8 inches at its thickest point on the 27 4/8-inch main beams. The longest point is 13 inches.
“It’s one of those racks that when you hold it, it blows your mind, it’s so massive,” Jody Freeman said. “I hate he’s gone. I’ll miss checking my cameras and one of the guys suggested group grief counseling was in order.”
Proud that his son could hold it together and make the shot, Jody Freeman spoke of something else Hayes did that made him proudest.
“That night, when he prayed, he thanked God for giving us such a great opportunity,” he said. “I’ve been a part of some awesome hunts, but it’s going to be tough to top this.”
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