Florida resident, native of Kershaw County, hits the jackpot
Bill Neil, a Kershaw County native who lives in Florida, heads down to the Lowcountry regularly to hunt with a club on a 5,000-acre tract, passed up two good bucks in a food plot the first weekend in October. As dusk approached on Oct. 3, he took a dream buck, an 11-point, 142-inch trophy.
Neil took the big buck 15 feet off the ground in a fully-enclosed stand built into a 200-year-old live oak. It overlooked a food plot planted in a mixture of rape, soybeans and oats, and was nestled between stands of mature oaks and pines. The stand had been erected by a former club member but was classified as a “community” stand that could be hunted by anyone in the club. Fortunately, the stand had received very little hunting pressure.
“There was tons of deer sign around this stand,and luckily, nobody else was taking the time to hunt the stand like I have,” Neil said. “On each hunt, a herd of does and several bucks of different size classes would move in to feed with little hesitation.”
The afternoon he killed the buck, Neil slipped into the stand around 4 o’clock, as deer had been coming out early and staying in the food plot until dark. With signs of rutting activity on the rise, Neil wanted to make sure he got settled before afternoon activity commenced.
Within a couple of hours, several does and a small buck entered the food plot from the north. The deer worked their way across the flood plot, then Neil spotted movement back on the north side of the food plot. “And there he was,” he said. “He just came out by himself and put his head between the others and began eating without hesitation. His neck was not swollen much and showed little physical signs of rutting.”
Neil looked the buck over for a few minutes, then fired a single shot from his .30-06 and dropped the buck on the spot at 6:45.
“The deer collapsed and never even twitched an inch after the shot,” Neil said.
The buck 5½-inch bases, a 5×5 frame with one double brow tine and a 20-inch outside spread. The buck weighed 190 pounds, illustrating clearly what sound wildlife management can produce.
Neil attributes his success to the club’s supplemental feeding, sanctuaries and strict harvest guidelines. The club’s land is predominantly mature forestland with pines and massive groves of hardwoods and acorn-producing oaks blanketing the landscape. Of the 5,000 acres of forestland, a small portion is dedicated to row crops, contributing to the food budget for wildlife in the area.
Their club maintains more than 25 food plots and ensures a rotation of warm-season and cool-season planting mixes to provide a year-round buffet for the wildlife. The club has relatively few members and only allows a few stands every couple hundred acres to provide expanse regions for sanctuary and protection. Club members want to take only mature bucks at least 3½ years old.
“While aging whitetails on foot can be difficult, we look for bucks with at least a 16- to 17-inch spread and weighing at least 160 pounds,” Neil said. About 35 mature bucks are harvested per year, along with at least 50 does.
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