From Bass to Bucks

Sometimes even the bad things that happen to people have unintended consequences that are good. Famed bass pro Denny Brauer can vouch for that. A few years back, when he was experiencing worrisome health issues with his heart, he started visiting an east Texas doctor named Tommy Brown. Beyond the effective treatments prescribed by Dr. Brown, Brauer also discovered a kindred spirit. Brown shared Brauer’s love of the outdoors, including bass fishing and deer hunting on a grand scale.

When Brown was a lad, he became a guide on Toledo Bend, and vowed that if he ever had the money, he would own a ranch that grew 10-pound bass in its lakes and 10-point bucks on its forage. In time Brown did succeed. After paying for his medical school education with his earnings as a guide, he established what became a successful practice in Shreveport, La. Years later, he bought a ranch west of Shreveport, and called it the Heartland 10/10 – appropriate, considering he’s a heart doctor who achieved his goal of 10-pound bass and 10-point bucks.

It seemed only natural that he and Brauer would cross paths in some fashion one day, though neither might have guessed it would be because of the latter’s heart problems. Nevertheless, they did meet, and became fast friends. Now they’re hunting buddies, and recently Brown was sitting in the shooting house with Brauer when he shot a buck at the ranch that was his best ever.

The huge rack scored 240 inches as a nontypical, and no doubt tops the list of trophy bucks taken so far this season by FLW pros this season.

“The buck is a nontypical, but not one of those weird-looking ones with tines going every which way,” says Brauer. “It’s a mainframe 10 with about 20 points in all. There’s some extra trash – kickers, split brow tines, a drop tine – that sort of stuff.”

Brauer shot the buck on an October evening with a .300WinMag that was built on a Remington 700 action by Randy Fite, a Texan who forsook a career in pro bass fishing years ago to become a custom gunmaker.

“The buck actually came out on the far edge of a chicory and oat field, but it kept moving across,” notes Brauer. “When it was about 175 yards away, I grunted and it stopped, but at a horrible shooting angle. It looked around for a second, then started walking again. That’s when I shot, and it ran about 40 yards before dropping.”

Only when Brown and Brauer reached the buck did they realize how big its rack was. Brauer thought he had killed the buck of a lifetime, 226 inches, last year on Brown’s ranch and never figured he would get a shot at a bigger buck.

“Over the years I’ve got some good bucks in Missouri and Arkansas, and I’m proud of every one of them, but I’ve never put the crosshairs on anything like this before,” Brauer says of the Texas buck. “One of the first people I called was Tommy Biffle – just to rub it in. Of course, he came back that it was a high-fence buck, but Tommy Brown’s ranch is about 3,000 acres in size, so it’s not like you’re hunting in a pen.”

Brauer isn’t the only pro angler who’s experienced a successful hunting season this year. Here’s a quick look at a few more notable bucks and the hunters who got them.

Greg Bohannan’s Kansas Giant

Tagging a 173 1/8 buck with a good rifle shot is one thing, but when you do it with a bow, it’s extra special. That’s why Greg Bohannan of Rogers, Ark., is button-busting proud. He downed the 11-point buck in southeast Kansas in mid November. In fact, he shot it out of the same tree stand where he killed a 160-inch 10-point two years ago.

“Where I’m hunting is a farm of about 140 acres, but it’s very thick and just the kind of place a big buck likes to stay in when he’s not out feeding or looking for does,” says Bohannan. “It was Nov. 14, and I hadn’t had a trail camera photo of that buck all year.  That morning at about 7, I had been in the stand for 45 minutes or so when he pushed a doe by me, and then kind of lost track of her. There was a doe out in the little food plot I was hunting near, and he got interested in her.

“The next thing I know he’s about 20 yards away and standing broadside. I didn’t have to think about it. I shot and there was complete pass-through. He ran about 20 yards, stopped and looked over his shoulder, and then just went down.

Bohannan was using a Bowtech RPM 360 bow teamed with a Grim Reaper Whitetail Special three-bladed mechanical broadhead. He’s a trophy hunter, and has taken a number of Pope & Young Club-quality (125-inch minimum) whitetails over the years, while passing up lesser bucks. He has no secret formulas for success other than dedication and preparation. During the rut, he tries to stay in his stand all day, and he practices with his bow frequently to maintain his shooting ability.

What does a 173 1/8 Pope & Young Club buck look like? Bohannan’s 11-pointer had 27-inch-long  main beams, a base circumference of 6 inches on one side and 5 ½ inches on the other, 12-inch long  G3s and a spread just under 22 inches.

“It all happened really quick,” says Bohannan. “He came out all of a sudden, I drew and shot, and that was it. Probably it was a good thing I didn’t see him coming from way off because I would have been shaking so bad and my knees knocking so loud he would have seen me or heard me.”

“The good Lord has really smiled on my stands for the last few years.”

A Buck for Sarah

Dan Morehead of Paducah has been a bowhunter since the days of stick bows, so it’s no surprise that his children have also been schooled in the sport.  His 14-year-old daughter, Sarah, has taken a few wild turkeys and deer, but she moved up to the big leagues on a cold, dreary November evening when she shot a trophy buck while hunting with her dad.

The Moreheads were set up in a ground blind on the edge of a picked bean field in the Ohio River bottoms when Sarah arrowed the 8-point buck, which scored about 135 inches. Unfortunately, after Dan used his mobile phone camera to take photos of Sarah with her buck, the phone got wet and crashed. The rack was taken to a local taxidermist for a wall mount, however, and Sarah will soon have an even better souvenir of the hunt and its results.

“I knew it would be a good evening to hunt because a cold front was coming through and the temperature was dropping fast,” recalls Dan Morehead. “Sure enough, the deer started moving around like crazy.

“We were sitting there watching the deer parade, when this one stepped out and started walking across the field about 20 yards away. It was just cruising the neighborhood, I guess, and not in any hurry to be anywhere. Sarah got ready, I grunted and the buck stopped. She shot it with a Rage Hypodermic mechanical head and that was it. It seems like it just happened in a matter of a few seconds.”

Though it was misting rain and getting dark, Morehead was concerned about tracking the buck back through the woods that lined the field. No problem, as the blood trail indicated a double-lung hit and the Moreheads found the buck within 60 yards.

“I’ve shot a lot of deer, and a few good ones, but Sarah’s buck meant more to me than any I’ve ever got,” says the proud papa.

Making the Right Move

Scott Canterbury never would have tagged the 12-point buck he downed on a crisp afternoon in early November had it not been for an 8-point buck he saw that same morning on the 500-acre Illinois farm. When the smaller buck made its appearance, Canterbury was about 75 yards away in his climbing stand – too far away for a bowshot.

After giving it some thought, Canterbury decided he would move several hundred yards away to another likely looking area for the evening hunt. While walking past the place where he had seen the 8-point, however, he noticed a well-used trail coming out of the woods that bordered the field he had staked out. Spotting a straight, limb-free tree, the Alabama pro decided to return later and hunt until dark.

“My gut feeling was that I should hunt where I had seen the 8-point. In fact, I was going to shoot the 8-point if it came back that way,” says Canterbury. “I knew that the bucks had started running does pretty good, so later that day I went back, hung up some wicks with doe pee, climbed up with my Ol’ Man (stand) and started grunting. About 10 minutes later, the 12-point came in on the same trail [as the 8-point].

“I mean he just walked up and stood there broadside with his nose up like he was smelling the wicks. I drew and hit him right behind the shoulder. He ran about 120 yards and piled up.”

It was Canterbury’s biggest bowkill by far, and scored about 140 inches. He was using a Mathews Switchback compound with a 100-grain Rage expandable broadhead. Canterbury notes that before the buck turned up, he had just about concluded that he was hunting in the wrong place. Sign was sparse, and deer sightings had been rare.

“The funny thing is, this place where I was hunting wasn’t just ate up with deer. I had only seen the 8-point and a couple of does – in three sittings,” recalls Canterbury. “It just goes to show that you don’t have to see a lot of deer, just the right one.”

Courting the Wrong Doe

About the same time Canterbury was drawing on his 12-point, JT Kenney wasn’t far away trying to close the deal with another big Illinois buck. The rut was running full-bore where the Florida pro was hunting, and he had decided to stay in his stand all day.

In midafternoon, a doe in heat walked near Kenney’s stand and laid down 20 yards away. It was trailed by an 8-point buck, which was safe from Kenney’s arrow only because it staid in heavy brush. A parade of smaller bucks also came along, hoping to woo the doe, but the 8-point wouldn’t let any come close. About three hours went by, and then a 10-point buck showed up just before dark. Kenney thinks it was cold-trailing the doe. Discretion being the better part of valor, the 8-point decided it was time to be somewhere else.

The bigger buck headed for the doe, but when it reached an open spot about 15 yards away from his stand, Kenney released the string of his Hoyt bow and sent the Rage expandable through the deer’s rib cage.

“He went down about 40 or 50 yards away,” notes Kenney. “His rack will score about 145, but his size was just as impressive – about 250 pounds live weight. It was the biggest whitetail I’ve ever taken with my bow, and all I do in hunting season is bowhunt.”