A retired state trooper, 1988 winner of the Tunica Big Deer contest, Bobby Reed, recalls how he came to harvest his 169 7/8 buck with a primitive weapon.
“I had read an article in the newspaper about stalking for deer,” he said. “The article interviewed a native American Indian who claimed the difference between Indians and European hunters was that the Indians kept their eyes on the horizon while they stalked, having memorized the path in front of them. The Europeans kept their eyes on the ground, and therefore missed most of the action ahead.”
Reed’s chosen weapon for the day was a handmade .45 Kentucky long rifle percussion muzzleloader made by a fellow state trooper back in the early 1970s. Reed had promised some deer meat to a friend he would be seeing that afternoon, so decided to get in a morning hunt with the intent of taking a doe during the muzzleloader season.
He headed to an area known as the Bluff located in DeSoto County. After spooking a couple of deer ahead of him, Reed recalled the Indian way of stalking and tried it for the first time while walking out of the woods.
“I was about 50 yards away from an open grass field when I noticed a deer duck down into the grass,” he said. “He was about 75 yards out in the grass, and I could make out part of his rack.”
Estimating the distance below the deer’s head to its vitals, Reed fired his double-action rifle, and was immediately blinded by the smoke from the muzzle. As the smoke cleared, he quickly reloaded the weapon and approached the area, having not seen any movement after the shot.
“The closer I got, the bigger the rack got,” he said. “Then I could make out his head, and I saw him blink. I cocked the gun, stepped in for another shot and I literally stepped on a doe that was bedded next to him. When she jumped, it scared me and caused me to shoot straight up in the air.
“No human being has ever reloaded a muzzleloader as fast as I did after that.”
To Reed’s relief, he discovered his first shot had paralyzed the huge buck, so he stepped in and finished him off with the next shot.
Score a win for the Indian hunter with the muzzleloading rifle.
Editor’s Note: This story appears as part of a feature in Mississippi Sportsman’s November issue. To ensure you don’t miss any information-packed issues, click here to have each magazine delivered right to your mail box.
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