FINDING AND TAKING A TROPHY BUCK

The Bow Buck Trophies

EDITOR'S NOTE: We all have our own opinions about what makes a trophy buck, and each idea has validity. However, I don't feel I need an organization to define a trophy buck. Actually no one but me has any concerns about the size of my buck. I have to decide what makes a buck I take a trophy buck, and you may have different parameters to define a trophy buck.

I consider bow hunting the ultimate white-tailed challenge. You have to ...

* sit still for hours on a little platform,
* stay extremely quiet and odor-free,
* not move, stand and draw when the buck comes close to keep him from seeing you,
* totally fool the whitetail so that when you're at 30 yards or less, you can take him without his ever realizing your presence.

On one particular bow hunt at Tara Wildlife's Willow Point on an island in the Mississippi River, I hadn't spotted any deer sign that encouraged me to believe that a buck would appear. However, my guide, Hank Hearn, confidently walked me to my stand, not 60 yards from the main road back to camp.

Hunting this narrow neck of hardwoods beside a pine plantation, I heard a bluejay scream. I looked behind the tree where I sat and spotted the biggest 8-point buck I'd ever seen when I had a bow in my hand. My heart thumped so hard from the excitement, I thought I could hear the two pens in my left shirt pocket rattling. The buck took his time to get within range, stopping occasionally to eat acorns, and finally moved within 20 yards of my stand. When another bluejay screamed, the buck turned away from me to look in the direction of the bird. I stood, made my draw and aimed behind the buck's front shoulder.

Just as I prepared to release the arrow, the buck turned and spotted me. I realized that the deer would drop down to jump and run away when I made my shot. So I aimed a little low and released the shaft. As soon as the arrow struck, the buck dropped. Immediately, I drew another arrow and took a second shot to make sure I'd downed the buck. I'd never taken a better bow-hunting trophy at that time in my life. Excited, unnerved and full of the emotions that only successful bowhunters would understand, I had to sit in my tree stand for at least 15 minutes to calm down enough to climb out of the tree.

Even today when I look at that mounted buck, I rekindle some of those same emotions. I once again can feel the pride I felt when I walked up on my trophy, lifted his head and admired his antlers. Although the Pope and Young Club would not have declared this animal a trophy, I did.

Jim Crumley's Trophy

Two years ago Jim Crumley, founder of Trebark Camouflage, bagged one of the finest trophy bucks of his lifetime. "I'd been planting food plots and wild shrubs and managing the land around my home near Roanoke, Virginia, for trophy bucks for many years," Crumley explains. "When hunting on my property, I'd let many little bucks walk and primarily shot does and inferior bucks. Then the biggest 8-point I'd ever seen on my land walked within bow range.

"I released my arrow, and the deer went down. When I recovered the buck, I thought to myself, I did it. I've finally managed my land to the point of being able to produce a buck like this. All those years of letting the little bucks walk, harvesting the does and passing up some nice-sized bucks has paid-off in a buck like this. This buck is truly one of the finest trophies I've ever taken."

Walter Appelle And Tom Runkle's Trophy Bucks

Walter Appelle of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, had hunted for six days in sub-zero temperatures with Whitetail Outfitters in Manitoba, Canada. The two hunters who had made the trip to Canada with him had tagged-out early and left. For three days, Appelle hunted by himself, spending 10 to 12 hours daily in his tree stand and seeing few deer and no big bucks that he wanted to take. Although discouraged, frustrated and ready to give up and go home, Appelle opted not to leave camp early.

On the last day of his hunt, Appelle put on his heavy outerwear and once again left to brave the elements and wait on the trophy of a lifetime. At 9:30 a.m., he took the biggest buck he'd ever seen. He completed his hunt, and now had the trophy buck he'd searched for his entire life.

Tom Runkle of Chetek, Wisconsin, while on the same six-day hunt in Canada as Appelle made the decision before he arrived that if he didn't have an opportunity to bag the biggest buck he'd ever taken, he'd go home happy with a tag in his pocket. Runkle braved the elements, spotting plenty of nice-sized bucks that he would've taken in a heartbeat back home. But none of these deer qualified as the buck of a lifetime. Each night he'd return to camp and say, "If I had to go home tomorrow without filling my tag, I could still say that I'd had a great hunt and would come back again." Finally, on the last day of his hunt, Runkle's dedication and perseverance made the buck of a lifetime he took a trophy not only to him but also to me.

TOMORROW: THE ENCLOSURE BUCK