deer

Deer of the Year

Hunter gets her ‘Oh My Gosh Buck’

January 9, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Delise Menotti of Vicksburg loves deer hunting to the extent of few women. From the start of bow season to the end of the final primitive weapon season, she eats, sleeps and dreams the sport.

She hunts as often as possible, usually with her husband Scott.

Heck, she even wrote a country music song about it, which includes these lyrics: “I’m huntin’ deer and my dear is huntin’ me. Gotta Boone and Crockett in my scope, said a prayer asked for hope and steadied my rifle for the shot.” […]

Deer of the Year

Yazoo County 11-point falls on Christmas Eve

January 8, 2013 M.A. Fisher

Emily Howard is an avid hunter, so she was a bit concerned in early December when she found that her old hunting rifle had a bad scope and a few other problems. So, Howard bought herself an early Christmas present – a .243 Ruger with a brand new scope.

The self-gifting paid off on Christmas Eve when Howard used the rifle to down an 11-point monster buck near Vaughan in Yazoo County. The buck had a green score of 152 and featured not only a kicker, but a non-typical drop tine. The inside spread measured 19 3/8 inches and had a base of 6 inches. The mighty buck weighed in at a whopping 245 pounds and was estimated to be 5 ½ years old […]

Deer of the Year

Hunter gets ‘Bull Shark,’ all 164 4/8 inches of him

January 8, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Following what is becoming an all-too-familiar plot of modern deer hunting, Taylor Chastain closed the book on a well-known buck’s story on Jan. 3 at Bozeman Farms in western Madison County.

It was the Bull Shark.

Chastain and the Bozemans had been watching the deer for three seasons. There are numerous trail cam photos dating back to 2010, when it finally achieved mature status, a close call from the 2011 archery season and sheds from both years. […]

Content

Magic Markers — Why the rut plays such a role in deer hunting success

December 1, 2012 David Hawkins

Few periods of a deer’s life are as important to hunters as that reproductive time commonly called the Rut. It is the subject of much discussion, anticipation and study. It is the one time each year when hunters have a better-than-average chance at seeing and harvesting a trophy buck. But do you as a hunter know how to best use the collective research to kill the trophy of a lifetime? […]

Deer of the Year

Eight-year-old takes down Tate County legend

November 22, 2012 Bobby Cleveland

In Independence, a small unincorporated town in Tate County in Northwest Mississippi, one buck has been the talk of the community and the obsession of its deer hunters for three years.

They even gave the odd 10-point a nickname, Hercules, or Herc for short.

“Pretty much all of Independence knew about Herc,” Jody Freeman said. “He was legend and about half the hunters and landowners up here have been hunting him hard, very hard, for a long time. He was like a local celebrity.” […]

Deer Hunting

Hunting conditions turning around

November 9, 2012 Bobby Cleveland

First, there was a good run on big bucks in early October during the opening weeks of archery season, which biologists always expect when deer hunters first climb stands in deer habitat.

Then, the reports of trophy racks slowed and, eventually, ended.

Expected? Yes, but not simply because the big bucks disappeared after human intrusion into their home ranges. Instead, biologist Chad Dacus, Mississippi’s deer program coordinator, pointed at many factors. […]