Not much good is expected to happen for most folks on Friday the 13th. However, it proved to be a lucky day for Zach Jones of Sterlington, La., a 22-year-old student at the University of Louisiana Monroe. Not so much for a huge old buck that he had been after.
Hunting on Ashbrook Island along the Mississippi River, Jones has had his eye on this buck since 2020 when it sported 10 points.
“I put him in my phone as a potential target buck, but then forgot about him until 2021 when he showed up as a big 8-point probably in the 150-inch range,” Jones said. “In 2022, I looked for him but couldn’t find him. Then this past summer, 2023, I started getting a whole bunch of photos of him and I knew he was a good 8-point.”
A closer look
This past September, Jones and his girlfriend, Taylor, were going in to refill a feeder, but on a hunch he decided to use his phone to check his camera before going in and the buck was there. Leaving Taylor at the Ranger side-by-side, Jones walked in to keep from spooking him.
“I was able to sneak to within 45 yards of him, got a good look at him as he was in velvet,” Jones said.
The first two weeks of this bow season, Jones said it was a game of cat and mouse with the buck. He’d show up just before Jones got to his stand or be on camera right after leaving the stand.
This buck had a fascinating and quite unusual habit of showing up on camera accompanied by his “friend,” a 300-pound boar hog.
“I’d get pictures of them walking side by side on the same trail, very unusual,” Jones said.
A near mishap occurred when the day before shooting the buck, the limb on his main bow broke and he had to rush back home, grab his secondary bow, a Hoyt Ventum, affix a bow sight and sight it in and get back to camp for the hunt.
There he was
“On the morning of Oct. 13, I walked in along the Mississippi River and started up a bluff that led to where my stand was located,” Jones said. “There stood a doe at 15 yards. but a big tree obscured her line of sight and she never saw me. I got down on one knee behind the tree and waited until the doe finally left.
“As I waited on the doe to leave, I heard a stick break to my right. It’s around 6:40 that morning with barely enough light to see. As soon as the doe left, the big buck stepped out partially obscured by brush. There was only a small clearing for me to shoot him to the buck’s left. He took that step at 17 yards and I released the arrow. He only ran about 75 yards before falling.”
The buck was estimated to be 7 ½ or 8 ½ years old, weighed in at 233 pounds and carried a rack of 8 points. The inside spread was 17 1/7 inches, main beams were 23 inches each with massive 5 ½ inch bases. The unofficial score of the rack was 145 inches.
Friday the 13th may be an unlucky day for some, but even though the buck beat Zach Jones to his spot before he had time to climb his stand, Jones enjoyed a primo streak of good luck that morning.
The post “Good luck finally runs out for huge Mississippi River buck” first appeared on LouisianaSportsman.com.
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