Laurinburg hunter almost “gave” the buck away
Robert Clark of Laurinburg, N.C. killed a big Moore County buck on Nov. 9, 2019 while hunting on a friend’s farm with his son Cayden. It’s Clark’s biggest buck yet, scoring in the mid-130s. And he almost “gave” the 11-point buck away.
The Clarks had been keeping close tabs on a number of bucks throughout the summer, into bow season, and then into gun season. But every year, he said a few new bucks show up as the rut comes in. The same thing happened this season, and that’s when this buck first showed up.
“Around Halloween, we saw some shooter bucks, but we had let them walk, knowing that some better ones may show up around the rut, which was coming up fast. I hunt on Mr. Rodney’s land, so when I saw the photos of this new buck, I wanted him to kill it. I showed him the photos and told him it wouldn’t be right for me to kill it. I told him he needed to go in and hunt him,” he said.
But Mr. Rodney wouldn’t hear it.
“He looked at me and said ‘son, if you don’t go in there and kill him, you’re not hunting here anymore.’ He insisted on me hunting him,” said Clark.
So Clark checked the trail cameras again on Nov. 7 while putting out some corn and sweet potatoes. His camera had taken more than 700 photos of that buck during that week. And with cold weather on the way, Clark felt good about his chances for the weekend.
Clark passed on several nice bucks waiting on this one
That Friday evening, Nov. 8, Clark and his son passed on two nice bucks, hoping the big boy would show up. It didn’t happen that night, but the father-son duo was back in the stand early the next morning.
“At the first of light, one of our other shooters showed up to eat. Cayden and I looked at him through the scope. But this deer kept looking behind him as if he was worried. That one ate for about 10 minutes. And while he was eating, our big buck showed up,” he said.
Clark got Cayden to ease over into his lap, hoping the youngster could kill the big Moore County buck.
“But he was shaking from the cold. He said ‘daddy, you kill this one for me,’” he said.
Clark got his rifle ready and set his sights on the buck. When he pulled the trigger, the buck jumped straight up.
“I texted my friends Curt Kindley and Mike Nunnery, and after about 45 minutes, Cayden and I got down to see if we could find blood. Our buck was laying 30 yards from the corn and sweet potato pile. I called Mr. Rodney to let him know. The Lord has blessed me and my son with so many memories,” he said.
Kindley and Nunnery put a tape on the buck’s rack, and gross green scored it in the high 130s.
Be the first to comment