Rack Train

A bowhunter’s patience pays off with his first Tar Heel buck, which turns out to be a winner at the Dixie Deer Classic.

A Floridian who literally found greener pastures in North Carolina as a football player and deer hunter bagged the state’s No. 1 non-typical archery-killed whitetailed last September.

Richard Bernhardt, 28, a Miami, Fla., native who came to North Carolina in 1998 as a football recruit at Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory and played four years (1998-2002) for the Bears, moved to Liberty (Randolph County) after graduation.

“Me and my dad used to hunt in the Everglades,” he said, “but it’s a lot harder to hunt the swamps down there. The deer are a lot smaller. The first big-game animal I killed with a bow was a red 100-pound wild hog when I was 13. I actually never killed a deer in Florida; the first one I got with a bow was a six-pointer in 2001. I got it in Georgia, where my dad lives now.”

By 2006, Bernhardt was working for Merita Bread Company and hunting with some buddies near his Liberty home. They had staked a claim at a 185-acre farm, split between hardwoods (95 acres) and fields (90 acres).

Bernhardt’s friend, Jeff Ferguson, said the woods might hold some quality whitetails.

“We hadn’t actually seen a big whitetail in there, but it was a big block of hardwoods; it had plenty (of acorns) for them to eat,” Bernhardt said.

Bernhardt, Ferguson and Ferguson’s brother, Kevin, had scouted the area and figured out the local deer herd’s feeding and bedding patterns by last September.

“We knew deer were coming to a (cut) corn field each eveing, but they weren’t getting to the field until dark,” Bernhardt said. “That was gonna make getting a shot, particularly with a bow, tough if we didn’t do some planning.”

The plan eventually was to find a trail during July that was winded its way off (a hardwood) ridge. The trail skirted a square-shaped pasture that was surrounded by the oaks and hickory woods.

The trio of hunters decided to hunt the trail several yards from one corner of the pasture.

“We figured we’d have our best chance at a shot at deer coming down the trail from a bedding area on that ridge,” Bernhardt said.

He placed a River’s Edge strap-on stand 25 yards from the trail and 100 yards into the woods near the northeast corner of the field, about 23 feet off the ground in a big poplar tree.

“I wanted to give myself plenty of time to catch one coming from the ridge toward the corn field on the other side (of the pasture),” he said.

Conditions couldn’t have been more perfect that September day as the white-oak acorns were falling.

“It was a perfect evening for hunting, actually the first cool day of September (the 21st) last year — a little front had moved in,” he said. “You have to hunt (this stand) on a north to northeast wind. The field was behind me, so if I’d had a south to southwest wind, I couldn’t have hunted that stand. My scent would have been blowing right into the hardwoods.”

Bernhardt, who rises at 3 a.m. each day for work, had finished by 1 p.m., which gave him time to go home, get a catnap, rise, get dressed in Realtree camouflage hunting clothes and be at his stand by 4 p.m.

“It was only the second time I could sit in that stand and the first evening I hunted it last year,” he said.

He pulled his Mathews Outback bow, set at 70 pounds draw weight, up to his stand. He uses Carbon Express arrows fitted with 100-grain Spitfire three-bladed broadheads.

But for most of the afternoon, Bernhardt had to be content with just enjoying a cool day.

“I didn’t see any deer all evening,” he said. “It was kind of frustrating.”

By 7 p.m., he’d begun to think about climbing down.

“It was getting dark back in the woods, and I didn’t want to get down and have deer on the trail when I came down or walk back to the field and spook ’em,” he said.

He already had unsnapped his arrow’s nock off his bowstring when he heard a sound coming from above him on the oak ridge.

“I knew it was a deer,” he said. “I looked over my shoulder and saw a doe, I thought, then I saw it was a seven-point buck coming down the trail. I’d seen this buck a week before on a Wednesday; I re-nocked the arrow.”

To his amazement, Bernhardt heard another deer behind the seven-pointer, then saw the whitetail.

“He was 5 yards behind the seven-pointer,” he said. “It was a six-pointer.”

The two bucks slowly meandered down the trail, browsing then snapping up their heads to check the wind. Then Bernhardt noticed yet another deer some 20 yards behind the six-pointer.

“Right away I could see one of the main beams as it curved around,” he said. “I remember thinking ‘That’s the shooter!’ and then it was hard to breathe. My heart was pounding; I knew it was a bachelor group of bucks.”

Bernhardt also knew he’d probably never have another chance at such a trophy buck. His situation was made more difficult because he was facing his tree.

“I was excited, but I knew I had to try to turn without either of the other two closer bucks seeing me to get in position (to shoot),” he said.

A right-handed shooter, he had to work his Mathews bow to the left side of the tree. Unfortunately, the seven-pointer, which was nearer to him by now, saw his movement.

“He stopped hard and went to an alert position, but he didn’t know exactly what had happened,” the former L-R safety said. “He was startled; he knew something had moved but didn’t know exactly what.”

By this time, the six-pointer and the bigger buck also had come to full-alert status.

“Those bucks weren’t downwind of me yet, luckily,” Bernhardt said. “(The big buck) stared at the seven-pointer for 2 minutes, not moving a muscle. I had to stay perfectly still and hope the seven-pointer wouldn’t smell me.”

The seven-pointer sniffed and took a couple of steps while Bernhardt said he was praying, ‘Just keep on going.’ ”

Doubtlessly, his camou clothing, gloves and pull-over facemask kept the seven-pointer from identifying him as a human in the tree. He also was high enough that his scent wafted above the first buck.

While all this was happening, Bernhardt said he noticed some more movement behind him. It was yet another buck, the fourth in the group.

“This one was really big,” he said. “His antlers were whiter than the third buck; it was a big-bodied deer.”

Bernhardt said he already had made up his mind to let the six- and seven-pointers walk “because I pass up small deer all the time” and take the third buck. And the fourth buck was out of range. And it was getting dark.

The third buck finally put its head down and started walking in a relaxed posture as his two buddies started to meander again down the trail.

“I was in a good position now,” Bernhardt said. “(The buck) walked to a point where I didn’t have to move. I was already thinking about a spot between two trees he’d walk through about 20 to 25 yards from me. All I’m thinking then is ‘green pin, green pin’ (his 20-yard sight pin).”

His range-finder told him the spot was 22 yards from his perch.

“(The buck) went behind a big tree, and I drew (the bowstring),” he said. “I think he actually was quartering toward me a little, although at the time I thought he was broadside.”

When Bernhardt released his arrow, the deer scattered, the arrowed buck heading down the ridge. Then it turned and came back up the hill.

“I don’t know where the six- and seven-pointer went, but the fourth deer just stood there,” he said, “about 40 yards away. He stood still for 5 minutes, then he started to walk. I actually nocked another arrow; this buck might have been even bigger than the one I’d shot at. But I didn’t get a shot; hopefully, I’ll get a chance at him this year.”

By then it was dark. Bernhardt didn’t consider trailing the wounded buck because he was afraid he might spook it into a mile-long run.

“I called Jeff (Ferguson),” he said.

He told his hunting buddy he’d shot probably a “100-inch” eight-point buck.

“I said, ‘Trust me, when we find him you won’t be disappointed,’ ” Bernhardt said.

Ferguson was hunting at nearby Silk Hope. He and a friend drove to where Bernhardt had parked his vehicle. Bernhardt, by then, had walked out of the woods after searching without success for blood sign where the buck had been standing when Bernhardt released his arrow.

“They got there a good hour and a half after I shot,” he said.

“We went back, and I got up in the stand with a flashlight. Jeff and his friend had brought better flashlights. I came down from the stand after shining my light where the deer had been standing when I shot. As soon as I hit the ground, Jeff said ‘I found blood.’ ”

With Ferguson’s friend standing each time at the point where they last found blood, the two other hunters circled down the hill, then back up, following the wounded deer’s trail.

“We got to a point almost at the corner of a fence around the (pasture) where a tighter trail comes near the fence,” Bernhardt said. “I told Jeff I thought the deer had jumped the fence (into the pasture). And 7 yards from the corner I found my arrow. It’d made good penetration and worked its way out of him.”

Bernhardt said he remembered reading injured deer often head toward water and recalled a small pond in the pasture.

“Then I found blood where he went over the fence,” Bernhardt said.

They walked toward the pond, and Ferguson found the buck lying at the edge of the pond in some reeds.

“At first when got up on (the buck), Jeff said, ‘A 100-inch deer, my a…,” Bernhardt said, laughing at the memory.

“We pulled him out (of the small bushes around the pond) and saw what a magnificent animal he was. By now Jeff’s freakin’ out. He said, ‘That’s a 135- or 140- incher!’

“We all just sat down and looked at him for 30 minutes.”

The buck’s rack, scored officially at the 2007 Dixie Deer Classic during March, had 11 measureable points and total 142 4/8 gross inches, It was a 4×3 main frame with four abnormal points, three on the right side and one on the left.

The right main beam totaled 24 4/8 inches; the G1 was 4 inches and the G2 7 1/8 inches. The circumferences (H measurements) were 4 4/8, 4, 6 and 4 inches. The three abnormal points measured 4, 1 2/8 and 6 inches.

The left main beam totaled 25 4/8 inches with G measurements of 3 6/8, 8 and 6 5/8 inches. Circumferences were 4 4/8, 4, 4 4/8 and 3 2/8 inches. The one abnormal point on the left beam was 1-inch long.

The greatest inside spread was 16 4/8 inches.

“I practice (at targets) all year long, with my friends, particularly Jeff and Kevin,” he said.

Bernhardt said he and his friends shoot arrows once a week, then more during July and August, anticipating the start of the season.

“We shoot every other day just before the season,” he said.

They practice shooting at 3-D deer targets and 4×4-foot square block targets. However, as is becoming more popular among bowhunters, they don’t just shoot at distances where they’re comfortable with good results.

“We shoot (at targets) out to 80 yards for fun and to see the amazing difference it makes when you practice that far then move in closer,” he said. “I’d never shoot at a buck more than 45 yards, but when you shoot at long distances, a 25-yard shot at a real deer feels like a chip shot. You have a lot more confidence.”

Jeff Ferguson lives at an old observatory, Bernhardt said, and the place has a massive tree stand, perhaps 22 feet off the ground. That’s where the trio practice in order to get a feel for being high above deer during tree-stand situations.

“Now, under the right conditions, I’m calm and feel like I can make a good shot (at a deer),” Bernhardt said. “If it’s a questionable situation, I won’t take the shot.”

Another good result of practicing, long hunting hours and having his hard work pay off — besides his trophy — is it may help convince Bernhardt’s wife to be a little more accepting of his pastime in the future.

“My wife didn’t care too much for my hunting,” he said. “She told me I needed to kill a 14- or 15-pointer, if I was gonna spend that much time (practicing and hunting).

“Well, this buck’s not that big, but it is a trophy-winner.”

The buck’s rack totaled a net 132 3/8 inches, not a huge set of non-typical antlers, but N.C.’s highest-scoring bow-kill non-typical of 2006.

“It’s something I’ll never forget,” Bernhardt said, “especially since it was my first N.C. buck.”