Stan McCollough knew there big deer on Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, so he was ecstatic when he and buddy Justin Vandevender were drawn for the muzzleloader hunt on Dec. 9-14.
The two friends were joined for the lottery hunt by McCollough’s father Frank and his brother-in-law Kevin Ashley, both of whom killed bucks during the hunt.
However, it was Stan McCollough’s kill of a 150-class 9-point that topped the successful hunt.
The kill came Dec. 10 in a part of the 38,000-acre tract of public land on which the party had experience.
“We’ve hunting it before, and we knew there were some good deer in the area,” McCollough told MS-Sportsman.com.
And they weren’t disappointed, with McCollough seeing a shooter buck on the very first day.
“I missed a good deer,” he said.
So when the sun rose over the vast refuge on Dec. 10, McCoullough was perched in a tree watching a funnel between two thickets.
“I was hunting over the water: I was in knee-deep water,” the Clinton hunter explained. “There was a big island or peninsula out there, and it had this big thicket on it. You actually had to walk through another big thicket to get to where I was.
“I was hunting the opening between the two thickets.”
During that morning’s hunt, McCollough saw two deer but they were too far away for a shot. So he climbed down and moved his stand about 150 yards to put himself in a better position. He then left the area to eat a sandwich at his truck.
He returned just after 1:30 p.m., and headed up the tree.
“I still had my feet in the (stand stirrups) and my backpack on my back and my rifle on my shoulder when I saw him,” McCoullough said. “He was on the edge of the water on that island, about 85 to 90 yards away.”
The only problem was the deer, which McCollough recognized only as a “good shooter,” knew something was wrong.
“He was looking at me,” McCoullough said. “I thought, ‘Not good.’”
Hunter and hunted stared at each other for what seemed an eternity, and then the buck broke.
“He was leaving town,” McCollough said. “He was just trotting through the edge of the water, sort of quartering away from me.”
The 31-year-old hunter reacted instinctively – rolling the rifle off the shoulder strap, flipping the scope covers open, cocking the hammer and stabbing the stock to his shoulder in quick procession.
McCollough then quickly acquired the deer in the scope and squeezed the trigger when the deer was about 100 yards through the woods.
“It was real quick,” he said. “It’s kind of like a reaction-type deal. It wasn’t the most high-percentage shot in the world, but you’re not going to kill them if you don’t shoot.”
The buck hunched up, and staggered out of sight.
“I knew he wasn’t hit the way you want to hit them,” McCollough said.
So the nervous hunter, who still had no idea just how big the animal’s rack was, waited 45 minutes before climbing out of the tree.
“I eased over to the island, trying to be quiet,” McCollough said. “About the time I made it to the land I saw him about 85 yards from me.
“He was laying there, but his head was up.”
The deer hadn’t noticed the hunter easing through the water, however.
“His head was behind a little tree, but I could see his antlers and an ear so I knew his head was up,” McCollough explained.
The hunter moved into position, put the crosshairs on the deer’s chest and fired another shot.
“I thought he would be piled up right there, but you know how it is with a muzzleloader – there was all the smoke, and I lost sight of him,” McCollough said.
He hurried closer as the smoke cleared, and couldn’t believe his eyes.
“I walked up right to where I shot him, and no deer,” McCollough said.
There wasn’t even much blood.
So the now-anxious hunter began looping to try and locate the deer.
“I made a couple of loops, and he was laid up in a tree top, like he had tried to jump it and couldn’t make it,” McCollough said.
That’s when McCollough got his first really good view of the rack – which was enormous.
“I thought, ‘That’s the biggest deer I’ve ever killed before,’” he said.
That was an understatement: The 9-points were arrayed around thick main beams sprouting from 6-inch bases and stretching about 19 inches inside.
“I knew he was a shooter, but I didn’t know he was that good,” McCollough said.
He still wonders if that was the buck he shot at the first morning.
“That deer looked similar, and he never really ran,” McCollough said. “He just sort of trotted away.”
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