THE TROPHY 25

It almost never fails.

At least once each hunting season, a lucky whitetail hunter goes undercover on a tiny tract property and winds up coming face-to-face with one of the biggest bucks in all of the land.

Lady Luck and Mr. Big found Luke Johnson’s court shortly after daylight on Oct. 10. The Archery Only season was in full swing across Texas and the cool, dry air ushered in by fall’s first welcomed cold front had dropped temperatures into the 50s on the heels of a brilliant Harvest Moon.

The woods were still and quiet that morning. Things seemed perfect for finding a few deer stirring.

Johnson, 21, slipped quietly into the heart of a 25-acre tract of property his grandfather owns in Anderson County. The Elkhart archer affectionately refers to the wooded tract of land located roughly 10 miles from Palestine as the “Trophy 25.”

“It’s been in the family since the 1980s and it’s my primary hunting spot other than public land,” Johnson said. “We’ve always seen some fairly nice deer on the place, but nothing like this one. All I had was one blurry game camera picture this year, but I could tell it was a pretty good buck.”

Johnson said it was about 7:45 a.m. when he caught movement in the thick stand of hardwoods a short distance from the loc-on tree stand he had secured in a red oak roughly 20 feet above ground.

He spotted a doe first, then a buck that was following close behind. The deer were headed the direction of corn feeder with fresh goodies strewn about on the ground.

The hunter said the doe led the buck into a small opening about 23 yards from his stand.

“He was definitely traveling towards the corn feeder,” Johnston said. “He was slowly making his way there and a doe brought him right in front of me. I knew right away he was a great deer with tall tines and lots of mass. In looking back, it’s the biggest buck I’ve ever seen on the hoof in my entire life.”

Johnston said the deer stopped momentarily, but there was a tree limb blocking plain view of the buck. With his compound bow already at full draw, Johnson said he crouched on the platform and lowered the shooting angle just enough line up his sight pin behind the buck’s shoulder before releasing the arrow.

“I got lucky an got a good shot on him, right below the limb,” he said. “It was a last chance deal. He fixing to leave out of there with that doe.”

Johnson said he knew right away the G5 T2 mechanical broad head had found its mark. The buck left a well defined blood trail, ran about 40 yards and died.

The hunter described the experience as somewhat surreal, one that is forever etched into his big game hunting memory banks.

“It truly felt like a dream when a first saw him — almost like it put the world in slow motion,” Johnson recalled. “The moment I first saw him, I knew I was looking at the biggest deer of my life. I could not be more thankful or grateful than to shoot a deer like that. I’m proud of him. I still can’t stop looking at him.”

There’s plenty to admire about the handsome Anderson County buck.

A main frame 10 pointer, the chocolate-colored rack sports a pair of legal kickers, main beams of 22 and 23 inches and great mass throughout. The bases are about five inches in diameter, Johnston said.

The deer has yet to be officially scored for the Texas Big Game Awards program, but it is sure to be one the top free ranging bucks reported for Region 6 this year. Rusk taxidermist David Clifton unofficially taped the antlers buck 163 3/8 gross Boone and Crockett inches. The buck is believed to be 6 1/2 - 7 1/2 years old.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo. com.