Newport hunter wins October Bag-A-Buck contest

Public-land trophy buck came from Croatan National Forest

Danny Dixon knows the Croatan National Forest in eastern North Carolina pretty well. That knowledge helped him win our October Bag-A-Buck contest.

An aircraft mechanic from Newport, N.C., who works at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Dixon, 43, has hunted the 160,000-acre national forest his entire life. His father hunted there, and his grandfather before him.

“I’ve killed deer where my granddad killed deer,” Dixon said. “I kill big bucks in there. I know they’re there.”

The morning of Oct. 6, Dixon headed to one of several “killing trees” he has in the thick, pocosin habitat. His stand trees generally overlook places where deer trails through the thick habitat come together in pinch points. 

‘I don’t go in there until the wind and moon are right,” he said. “I’ve got to have an east wind to hunt it.”

It didn’t take long after he climbed into his stand that he had five does in front of him and another one, much smaller, headed in from his right.

He shot the buck with a muzzleloader

“The next thing, I looked behind her, and I saw something with horns,” he said.

Coming on the heels of the smaller doe, the buck finally got to a spot where Dixon could administer a killing shot with his .50-caliber CVA Acura muzzleloader, which was firing a 290-grain Barnes bullet. 

The typical 10-point, 137-inch buck, with tines as long as 9 3/4 inches, dropped on the spot.

The next day, Dixon entered the buck in Carolina Sportsman’s Bag-A-Buck contest, and on Oct. 31, his entry was drawn as the winner of the monthly contest for October. He will receive a free, one-year subscription to Carolina Sportsman and a $25 gift certificate to the online Sportsman’s Outdoor Store. 

All subscribers are eligible for the contest, which includes four monthly contests. The grand-prize winner, drawn from all entrants, will receive a two-day, deer/hog combo hunt for two at South Carolina’s Cherokee Run Lodge, a $50 gift certificate to the Outdoor Store and a three-year subscription to Carolina Sportsman.