Deer kill results from intensive quality management plan.
SouthCarolinaSportsman.com user Ben Lecroy joined the trophy deer parade currently under way across the state when he bagged a Pope & Young buck last Saturday (Nov. 5).
“This buck was a dream that came true.” Lecroy said of the 12-point buck, which has been green scored at 143 7/8 inches. “It was very emotional when we got to him.”
If the score holds after the 60-day drying period, the buck will be eligible for listing in the South Carolina record books and the national Pope & Young Club.
Click here to see other photos of the buck!
The kill by Lecroy, who goes by “lacrow” on the SouthCarolinaSportsman.com forum, is proof deer management works.
Three years ago, Lecroy and buddy James Whitmire started a comprehensive habitat and deer management project on their 600-acre lease in Laurens County. They utilized techniques and tactics based on the Quality Deer Management Association’s principals. After making many annual trips to Southern Illinois to kill trophy bucks on trophy managed properties, the duo decided to incorporate a similar doctrine right here in rural South Carolina.
“We created bedding areas, protected travel corridors and massive food plots with rotations that never end,” Lecroy said. “We keep food plots in production 12 months out of the year with something for the deer to eat all the time.”
In addition to habitat management, Lecroy and Whitmire target an older class of bucks, trying to allow the deer to reach full maturity. But, this change in harvest objectives came with its own hurdles.
“We bumped up the age class on what we wanted to kill, but the deer just get a lot smarter and harder to encounter with an extra year of training,” Lecroy said.
With more than 60,000 trail camera photos on file, few bucks make it through their property without becoming a file name on an SD card or thumb drive.
Lecroy’s 12-pointer had its own folder, with several hundred photos taken of it since the early summer. Click here to see a trail-cam photo of the big deer.
However, encountering this buck or one of the other mature deer with bow in hand was becoming a losing battle.
Lecroy just could not seem to get the timing worked out to connect with the buck. His trail cameras would snap photos of the buck just before Lecroy was on stand or just after he left the stand.
But, unfavorable hunting conditions played in his favor, forcing a different stand set up.
The first week of November brought lots of wind and unsettled weather across the state. But, poor conditions did not keep Lecroy’s from climbing a tree in hopes of encountering one of the trophies roaming the ridges and bottomlands on his lease.
The forecasted wind from the northeast prohibited hunting their usual stands. So on Nov. 5, Lecroy moved a portable stand to a nearby oak grove raining a flood of acorns and having received very little hunting pressure.
There were lots of tracks and activity within the area.
“We try to do everything right, with rich food plots, cover, low pressure and always hunt favorable winds,” Lecroy said. “With the rut in full swing, sooner or later one of the big ones would cross our paths, even when the weather is not quite ideal.”
Shortly after he got settled into the stand, the north east wind that was forecasted ended up being a south east wind. Within minutes after settling in, a deer started blowing downwind and scampered around in the leaves just out of sight.
Over the next 25 minutes, Lecroy continued to hear several deer running around across the creek. The deer would get close, but would never make it to his side of the creek and into view.
“At 5:30 p.m., one of the deer crossed the creek and started heading my way,” he said. “I knew that it was time to get ready, with just a few open lanes to take a shot.”
The woods were fairly thick, and an opportunity to shoot something would be short-lived.
“A big doe appeared in one of the paths at 30 yards away and started eating acorns around one of the massive oaks,” Lecroy said. “Then, a big-racked buck stepped out, and I recognized him immediately.”
While the buck looked at the doe, Lecroy took the opportunity to draw back his Matthews Switchback XT. After placing his pin in the kill zone, he released the arrow, sending the razor sharp broad head toward the buck’s vitals.
After contact, the deer bolted away for a short distance leaving a hefty red trail behind.
Lecroy’s whopper buck had a 17-inch spread and weighed 170 pounds. While not his biggest buck ever, his 2011 trophy was a direct product of hard work and sound habitat- and trophy-management techniques.
“We try to do everything by the book covering all bases, then hope for a little luck,” he said.
Check out other bucks killed this season – and post your own photos – in the South Carolina Sportsman Bag-a-Buck Contest!
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