Williamsburg County deer taken on Oct. 2 responded to grunt calls.
Williamsburg County, one of South Carolina’s best trophy buck hotspots, has done it again.
The first cool blast of the fall on Oct. 2 rewarded J.C. Malpeli of Clover with a 144 4/8-inch non-typical from Williamsburg County.
The buck responded to a series of grunt calls from his tree stand overlooking a bottomland forest.
Malpeli’s buck was his biggest in many, many years of hunting in South Carolina and his home state of Michigan. His earlier hunts, under summer-like conditions, had been unproductive, but the string of cold fronts was warmly welcomed.
With cool breezes in the air, Malpeli was chomping at the bit to get into a deer stand at his home away from home, the White Oak Hunting Club near Kingstree — a club that follows a regimented trophy management plan on its 6,000-acre collection of leases, allowing bucks to fully mature in body and antler size.
Malpeli had his eyes on a specific stand he felt was due to be paid a visit by a big buck.
He slipped in at 4:30 p.m. and began peering down two shooting lanes cut through mature hardwoods. Long and narrow, the lanes featured a little browse, scattered acorns and the remnants of corn piles that had been completely demolished by hungry deer. With reports of buck activity on the rise, Malpeli pulled his grunt tube from his pocket.
“I called a handful of times every 30 minutes, hoping for something to happen,” he said.
At 7 o’clock, Malpeli blew his call six times, put it back in his pocket and began scanning the shooting lanes.
He looked one way, and when he turned his head to look down the other lane, a buck had appeared and was standing at the end of the lane. Malpeli grabbed his binoculars and looked at the buck for a second, realizing it was a real shooter.
“I dropped my binoculars and scrambled to get my gun up, but when I got my gun up, I looked into the scope and couldn’t see him anywhere,” he said. “I panicked and scanned the lane back and forth.”
Malpeli lowered his gun and saw the buck coming directly toward him down the shooting lane. As it approached, the buck stopped at a bush.
“The deer seemed very agitated as he thrashed his antlers violently on a bush along the edge of the path,” he said. “He was still standing facing me, not really giving me a good broadside shot I had hoped for.”
After a few minutes, the buck finally offered Malpeli a quartering shot at 150 yards. At the crack of the rifle, the buck hit the dirt instantly, and Mapeli arrived at the site shortly afterwards to admire his trophy.
The buck had a 5×5 main-frame rack and six sticker points, three decorating the right-hand beam, pointing upwards, and three decorating the left-hand beam, two pointing downward.
The buck, which had main beams measuring 21 and 24 inches, weighed 205 pounds. Tommy Hall at Tommy’s Taxidermy in Indian Trail green scored the buck at 144 4/8 inches Boone & Crockett.
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