12-pointer is bowhunter’s best buck ever
You never know what can happen when three friends get together for a white-tail hunt, like when NorthCarolinaSportsman.com moderator ViperX4 harvested a 12-pointer on October 9 while hunting with fellow moderators Creek07 and Gobblintom.
These three hunters got together via e-mail and decided to make a weekend hunting plan. Jeff Smith of Kannapolis hosted the hunt at Ten Oaks in Anson County, and Jeff Huggins drove 2.5-hours from Roseboro to join him and Joey Murphy came from Lexington. “This hunt would have never happened without the NorthCarolinaSportsman website,” said Murphy.
Arriving in hunt camp by 5 p.m. the three hunter’s fanned out to hunt, and Jeff Huggins elected to use his Summit ViperX4 climbing stand to get 20-feet up a pine tree that was on the inside bend of a curving gravel road. “After a warm day, it was cooling down rapidly and there was a slight breeze out of the South,” said Huggins. About 5:45 a yearling emerged from the woods to dine at the cornpile which was ranged at 22-yards from Huggins.
An avid bowhunter for seven years, Huggins is using a 75th anniversary Hoyt Tricon XL bow with a 72-pound draw. “My arrow weighs 434-grains because I believe that arrow mass gives you kinetic energy,” said Huggins. “At 7 p.m. I heard leaves crunching under the hooves of approaching deer, and at 7:15 Skyscraper stepped out and put his head down on the corn.” The tall-racked buck was well known to Jeff Smith via his trail cam surveys over the past years, and he estimates the buck’s age at 4.5-years old.
Just then, another buck emerged and began walking towards the stand that Huggins was already standing in, and the buck stopped and looked at Huggins. Skyscraper stopped eating and also looked right at Huggins, making him wonder just how quickly these bucks were going to snort him and say adios. Instead, the closest buck veered off and Skyscraper went back to eating corn. “I drew my bow and shot, and heard the G5 Montec broadhead hit, something that sounded like a watermelon getting thumped, and the buck ran up a ridge and away from me,” said Huggins.
Text messaging his buddies to come help search for the deer, Smith showed up with a 3-million candle Q-beam and Murphy showed up with his trademark enthusiasm. Recovering the arrow about ten-yards past the cornpile, they could see that the high front left shoulder hit had done some damage. With complete darkness set in, it was up to Smith to utilize his knowledge of the property to help locate Skyscraper, which he did when he checked a likely draw about 100-yards from where the 12-point was arrowed.
Estimated to weigh 185-pounds and to score in the middle 140’s this buck was a product of deer management. “I am really glad that this buck was harvested on our property, because I feel like we had a hand in growing him,” said Smith, in a sentiment that has been echoed by many successful deer managers. Huggins can’t wait to take this buck to the Dixie Deer Classic in March to have the buck scored, and to spread the story of how hunting and fishing enthusiasts can utilize the NorthCarolinaSportsman.com forum to come together for fellowship and so much more.
For more photos from ViperX4 click the forum post here.
Be the first to comment