Hunter kills 170-class deer after during bow-hunting trip to
Saucier’s Josh Saucier and a few of his friends decided to make a trip to Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge near Yazoo City in hopes of harvesting a good buck shortly after New Year’s Day.
Now, “shooting a good buck” may be an understatement, as the hunting buddies really don’t shoot at many deer at all. They’re very selective in what they
harvest because they have to travel deep into the heart of the forest on foot to get back to where the big bruisers live.
“We really don’t shoot many deer because we walk about a mile or two to get back to where we’re hunting, so we don’t shoot average deer when hunting at
Panther,” Saucier said.
But shortly after arriving at the national wildlife refuge and beginning his hunt, a buck in the 140- to 150-class ranged tried to slip by him. However, the buck made a near-fatal mistake of walking by within bow range of Saucier.
Saucier liked what he saw and decided to harvest this buck, or at the very least give it a try.
“I drew back on the buck and my bow just exploded,” Saucier said.
The bow just came apart, and the deer disappeared. Feeling dejected, the avid hunter thought his hunt was over.
Fortunately, one of his hunting buddies had a spare bow and offered it to Saucier to use it so he didn’t have to go home.
“I had a pretty good hunting location and a tree picked out way back in the swamp, so I didn’t do any scouting, I just decided to go back in there and
spend the day in that tree,” Saucier said of an acorn flat filled with palmettos.
He decided to hump it back more than a mile to the area, despite his lack of scouting.
“I’m usually the first one in there as you can’t kill them if you aren’t hunting so I decided to spend the whole day in this one tree in an area I hadn’t hunted since last year,” Saucier said.
It was the third day of the hunt, and Saucier settled in for a long day of watching and looking for the big one.
“I’d hunted the stand last year and saw several good bucks, but they never got into range for a shot,” he said. “I saw three deer all day long, and it was getting late and I hadn’t shot yet.”
That changed as the day began fading.
“Around 5:10 (p.m.) I spotted a good deer at 80 yards closing fast on my position, and he came all the way to within 12 to 13 yards and I drew back and let an arrow fly,” Saucier said.
The shot wasn’t the one the hunter hoped for.
“I missed, and he ran right under my stand out to about 45 yards and stopped, and I let another (arrow) fly,” Saucier said.
This time, he heard the gratifying sound of the broadhead making impact with the deer, which ran a scant 40 yards before collapsing in a heap.
The buck’s massive rack sported 10 points, long tines and a wide spread. It green scored 170 1/8 inches Boone & Crocket, with a net score of 165 2/8 inches. The buck dressed out at 150 pounds.
Saucier has only been bow hunting a few years, but after he killed his first bow buck he was hooked.
“I grew up near the coast and we don’t have big deer down there, but once I killed my first buck with a bow I was hooked,” he said. “All I do now is bow hunt, and it doesn’t matter what season it is that’s what I prefer to do.
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