“It was near the end of season in January when I was sitting on my stand one afternoon, hoping the big buck I’d been hearing about might come by. I was watching the trail when a doe came out and right behind her was this big buck. I didn’t get excited because I figured he wouldn’t come close enough to give me a good shot with the crossbow.”

What happened next is almost comical, because the buck did something that any red-blooded human guy might do before ringing the doorbell to meet his date for the evening.

“The doe ran on off past me and the buck stopped and began grooming himself,” Hazlip continued. “I mean, he licked and licked -- I’ve never seen a deer do that. All of a sudden, he looked up and realized his doe was gone; he’d spent too much time licking and grooming.

“As he set about looking for the doe he’d lost, he passed within 20 yards of me, and I shot him. He ran maybe 50 yards before piling up; I saw him the whole time until he fell.”

With a score of 168 6/8, the 210-pound buck won Hazlip a spot in the archery division of the Simmons contest.

THE “DIALING LONG DISTANCE” BUCK
Matt Robin, 27, lives in St. Joseph in Tensas Parish and works for a farm equipment company in Waterproof. On Jan. 3, he downed an impressive buck with his muzzleloader, although he had to “dial long distance” to accomplish the task.

“I was hunting this particular buck for four years. I’d seen his photo from a trail camera and I dreamed of having a crack at him,” said Robin.

“I was hunting private land that afternoon when I saw a doe run out of the brush with two deer chasing her. One raised his head, and I knew immediately that it was the buck I’d been after. However, I was shooting my muzzleloader, and the deer was at least 300 yards away, and I didn’t think I’d have a chance at this big buck. They disappeared into the brush, and my heart sank, because I figured I wouldn’t get another chance at him.

“About 20 minutes later, the doe came back out at 200 yards, I cocked my muzzleloader and waited. A few seconds later, the big buck came out and stopped broadside at 200 yards.”

Robin shoots his muzzleloader several times a week during season and knows what his gun will do at various distances. He felt confident that he could make a good shot on the buck, even at this distance.

“I put the cross hairs about 6 inches over his back,” he recalled, “and shot. When the smoke cleared, there he laid, right where he fell. I reloaded my gun, got down from my stand and headed toward him. I could see him lying on the ground as I stepped into the brush to go around a mud puddle. When I came back out into the clearing, the deer was gone.”