GILES ISLAND

Dream Bucks on Giles Island

EDITOR'S NOTE: Steve Barnett of West Point, Mississippi, owns and operates Steve Barnett's Fine Guns and has been a gun collector, gun trader and gun enthusiast for more than 30 years.

Question: How did you find out about Giles Island, an island in the Mississippi River near Natchez, Mississippi and Ferriday, Louisiana?
Answer: I'd heard about it for a couple years and was at the Catch a Dream Foundation auction at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point. I'd read a couple of articles about Giles Island's great hunting, but I had no idea the hunt was coming up for auction. It did, and I bought it through the auction.

Question: What's the Catch a Dream Foundation?
Answer: It's a company that hosts an auction to raise money for terminally ill children to fulfill a dream hunt.

Question: Tell me about what happened on your hunt at Giles Island.
Answer: It was a good morning to hunt -- clear and cool. I saw one really good buck that was too far off to shoot. Then this other one came in behind us, and I didn't have a whole lot of time to take it. I got an opening, and the camera was on it, so I shot.

Question: What gun were you shooting?
Answer: A Remington .700 50-caliber muzzleloader with a Zeiss 3-9X scope.

Question: What bullet were you shooting?
Answer: Hornady 240-grain sabot.

Question: When you saw the deer, what did you do?
Answer: I immediately knew it was a shootable deer if we could get the camera on it.

Question: With whom were you filming?
Answer: Justin Flaherty from Mossy Oak Videos. When the deer came in, I saw it first and grabbed Justin by the leg to make him turn around. The second he turned around and looked, he said it was a keeper. We were on the same opening. When the buck stepped into the opening, I took it.

Question: Where'd you hit the deer?
Answer: The shoulder.

Question: How far did he go?
Answer: Sixty yards.

Question: What'd he weigh?
Answer: 250 pounds.

Question: Have you shot much with a black-powder rifle?
Answer: Not much. I'm mostly a bow hunter.

To contact Steve Barnett, write him at PO Box 1271 West Point, MS 39773, call (662) 494-0779, or visit www.stevebarnettfineguns.com. To learn more about Giles Island, write 461 Old River Boat Camp Road, Ferriday, LA 71334, call (877) 944-5374, or visit www.gilesisland.com.

For more information on Remington guns, write to the company at 870 Remington Dr., P.O. Box 700, Madison, NC 27025, call (800) 537-2278, or visit www.remington.com; to contact Hornaday write P.O. Box 1848, 3625 Old Potash Hwy., Grand Island, NE 68802, call (308) 382-1390, or visit www.hornady.com.

TOMORROW: THE HISTORY OF GILES ISLAND