Robbie Lepard shot the 9-point buck at 320 yards
Robbie Lepard of Wesson killed a big 9-point buck in Hinds County on Nov. 26 after a major rainstorm. He killed the deer with a long-distance shot from his .300 Win Mag around 5 p.m. while hunting from a ground blind surrounded by a 100-acre ryegrass field.
Lepard had an encounter with the same buck last year, but he decided to let it walk, hoping another year would help the deer reach its full potential. It worked out, and this season, the 9-pointer showed up twice on his trail camera. One of those was a nighttime photo, with the other one at 8:45 a.m.
“We have a ground blind set up on a pond dam that’s pretty much in the middle of a 100-acre ryegrass field. I sat through a monsoon of a storm for about an hour,” Lepard said.
Once the rain cleared, he began to see activity.
“About 4:45 when the rain stopped, six or seven does and yearlings made their way out into the field just grazing on grass. Then about 15 minutes later, a young 6-point fed out behind them on the same trail. And soon after that, seven or eight bucks just poured into the field,” he said.
Lepard took a closer look with his binoculars. And that’s when he saw the big 9-point buck.
“I was just glassing all the bucks with my Vortex binos and realized he was in the group of bucks. They were 450 yards away, grazing on acorns and grass under some big oaks out in the field. I had to watch him about 15 minutes for him to get past some tall sawgrass. Then he was at 350 yards,” he said.
No tracking dogs needed
The deer continued walking until Lepard had a clear shot. He ranged the buck at 320 yards.
“I had my rifle in a Hog Saddle shooting tripod, and I was able to get steady enough that I felt comfortable with the shot,” he said.
When the deer stopped, Lepard pulled the trigger. The shot sent the other deer scattering.
“After the shot and the kick of my rifle and all the deer running out of the field, I had no idea which way he ran,” said Lepard.
The hunter quickly left the blind and headed to the last place he’d seen the deer.
“I immediately went to where I knew he was standing, while I had some light left, to look for any sign of hitting him. So I looked around for about 10 minutes and couldn’t find any sign of hitting him,” he said.
Lepard was feeling a little discouraged at this point.
“I decided to call my best friend Joey Sheppard, who has great tracking dogs. I was sick to my stomach because I thought I’d missed,” he said.
But before he could make the call to Sheppard, he saw something that lifted his sprits considerably.
“I turned my light off and picked up my phone to call. When I did, the deer was laying about 30 feet from me in some beans under an oak tree,” he said. “I could see his white belly when I turned my flashlight off. So I was quite happy at this point. This is the best deer I’ve ever taken, so it was a happy ending.”
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