Buck was looking for turnips
Travis Manuel won an award at the Dixie Deer Classic in 2010 for a 147 6/8-inch buck. Unfortunately, it was under the non-hunting category for a beast that he actually did shoot, but wasn’t able to find until running across it 6 months later. And he’ll likely attend the 2019 Dixie Deer Classic with a 147-inch (green-score) buck he killed on Nov. 16 while hunting with his muzzleloader in Forsyth County.
The Winston-Salem hunter was sitting in a double-buddy stand overlooking a small plot of turnips along the side of a cow pasture during an afternoon hunt when he heard something creeping up behind him. At first, he didn’t think it was a deer.
“I thought it was a coyote at first, and then I began seeing the animal’s shadow on the ground in front of my stand. Then I made out the shadow of the rack and I knew it was the big buck I’d been seeing on trail cameras since August,” he said.
Manuel had already killed one buck this year, but he knew a big one was still out there, thanks to trail camera photos that showed the trophy coming through a small thicket about every other week.
Staying patient, Manuel waited for the deer, which walked directly under the hunter’s stand, then paused eight yards away. Manuel let him have it with his Thompson Center .50 caliber.
“I shot him and he ran about 30 yards into some brush. It sounded like he crashed in there so I waited about 15 minutes, which seemed like forever at the time. Then I got down to look for him and found him right about where I thought he would be,” said Manuel.
Manuel said his dad found an antler shed last year that matches the big buck, so he has a bonus to go along with his trophy. And maybe he’ll pick up another bonus at the Dixie Deer Classic which will be held at the N.C. State Fairgrounds March 1-3, 2019.
