Bowhunter Bucks

FLW pros are as skillful in a stand as they are in a bass boat

Many – if not most – FLW anglers are outdoorsmen who enjoy both bass fishing and deer hunting. And as might be expected, when they go into the woods, they don’t aim for anything less than a big payoff in the form of a trophy buck. Here are a few examples we rounded up – and these are just the guys who hunt with archery equipment.

Big Hoosier Bruiser

If it’s bowhunting season in Indiana, you don’t have to ask Billy McDonald if he’s gotten a buck yet, just how big it was. McDonald, of Greenwood, Ind., has been an avid bowhunter for years and never fails to bring home venison or antlers – usually it’s both. The Hoosier pro got his Thanksgiving treat early on the morning of Nov. 7 when a typical 10-point buck that scored 141 inches Pope and Young walked by his stand.

The buck was following a doe, and McDonald took the shot when the deer cleared some saplings about 40 yards away.

“It was a cool hunt,” says McDonald. “He came in, and everything went right. It wasn’t my biggest bow buck, but it was the longest shot I’ve ever attempted. I practice at 40, 30 and 20 yards, so I felt confident when I released.”

McDonald says the buck ran about 60 yards from where it was shot before going down. His biggest archery buck, which scored 149 inches, also had split brow tines like his most recent trophy, which suggests a genetic link. Coincidentally, McDonald took that first buck also on Nov. 7, though in 2008.

He hunts with a Hoyt bow and 100-grain Montec broadheads.

Southern Illinois Stud

Wes Strader is another archer who takes his hunting seriously. He even has a bowhunting sponsor: The Harvest Archery Pro Shop in Dayton, Tenn. Strader can always be counted on to bag a trophy whitetail each season. This year’s bragging-size buck was taken on a friend’s farm in southern Illinois, and scored in the low 130s.

Strader took the 8-point buck on the afternoon of Nov. 19 as it walked directly under his stand.

“This was one of those deals where the third time was the charm,” says the pro from Spring City, Tenn. “I saw him the first day I hunted. He was just cruising around looking for does, but not close enough to shoot. The second day I saw him he was locked down with a doe, and I didn’t have a shot then, either. On day three he came by heading for a bedding area to check out the doe situation, and that’s when I got him.”

Though the buck is Strader’s biggest this season, it’s not his biggest overall. That distinction is accorded a 140-inch 9-point he took a few seasons back. Strader hunts with an Elite Impulse 2 compound bow with 100-grain Muzzy broadheads and Gold Tip arrows.

No Buck is Safe

It’s been said that Andy Morgan (pictured with Elite Series pro David Mullins) fishes in order to give himself something to do in between hunting seasons. While that’s not exactly accurate, Morgan’s penchant for bowhunting approaches the level of being an obsession, but that’s OK with him.

Morgan has been successful everywhere he’s hunted this fall. The tally of Pope and Young records book-quality bucks he’s harvested includes a mule deer he shot in Utah that scored 174 6/8, a 130-incher in eastern Tennessee and two whitetails – a 9-point and an 8-point – that scored 142 1/8 and 140, respectively. Those came off the hunting lease he has in Nebraska.

“I’ve just had one of those good years where everything has fallen into place,” says the Dayton, Tenn., pro, who knows a thing or two about good years. “Besides the deer, I also got a 31-inch Axis buck while hunting in south Texas near Del Rio. I’ve been blessed with my hunting this year, for sure.”

Morgan shoots a New Breed Blade compound and Swhacker mechanical heads. Except for the mule deer, which was shot in midmorning, the bucks were taken on afternoon hunts. Three of them – with the exception of the Tennessee buck – are going on Morgan’s trophy wall.

Second Time Around

JT Kenney has developed quite an affection for southern Illinois, and why not: He’s hunted there the last two years and scored two Pope and Young bucks. The Florida pro has even figured things out to the point that he knows exactly where he needs to hang his stand.

“Not only did I kill this year’s buck [an 8-point that scored 140 inches] on the same farm as last year, but out of the same tree,” notes Kenney. “I’ve got a hang-on stand on a tree in a real good travel corridor between a bedding area and a feeding area. When the rut starts the bucks move back and forth through that pinch point, morning and afternoon.

“The tree has lots of limbs around the trunk so it breaks up my profile, and it’s right for the prevailing wind and the trails. It’s just a natural setup,” adds Kenney.

Kenney’s 8-point “has lots of mass,” and its main beams spread to about 2 inches beyond its ears. Each of the buck’s G2 tines was more than 13 inches long. His 2014 buck was a 10-pointer that he killed on the first day of his hunt. This year, Kenney sat in his stand from daylight to dark for three days, then shot the buck at about 9:30 a.m. on the fourth day.

“On the second day I counted 14 bucks that came through, but there wasn’t anything I wanted. The big 8-point was definitely worth the wait. I’m lucky to have a buddy with a farm in Illinois who will let me hunt,” says Kenney. “Next November, if you come looking for me, I’ll probably be sitting in that same tree.”

Kenney hunts with a Hoyt Carbon Spyder, Carbon Express shafts and Rage 100-grain mechanical broadheads.

Making Do

Travis Fox filled his Oklahoma tags without ever getting the buck he was after, but that’s still not bad. The Arkansas pro got two 8-pointers that each scored 140 inches. Fox, who hunts with a TenPoint crossbow and Wasp Jak-Hammer broadheads, got both bucks while hunting from the same stand near the Grand Lake shoreline.

“Actually, I got some photos of four bucks running together, and one of them was an old buck whose rack had stayed in velvet,” says Fox. “He was definitely the biggest of the bunch and the one I really wanted to get. The smallest buck was an average 8-pointer.”

Fox eventually shot one of the bigger 8-point bucks (with 14-inch G2s) and then focused on the velvet buck.

“I spent a lot of stand time on him,” says Fox. “I had him at about 50 yards on two different occasions, but didn’t really have clear shots. Where I hunt is a grown-up pasture that’s really bushy at the end where my stand is. That’s why they like to travel through it. Anyway, I had to wait for the buck to come closer, if he was going to, and he never did.”

Fox grunted in the first buck he tagged, and the strategy worked on the second buck as well.

“A couple of weeks after I got the first buck, I was sitting in my stand and texting somebody on my phone when I heard a buck grunt. It was about an hour after good daylight,” recalls Fox. “So I put up the phone and grunted back. He ran right at me grunting, and then stopped. I shot him standing there broadside at about 15 yards. I wanted the old velvet buck, but what was I supposed to do?”

A bird in the hand … and all that. Fox did what the vast majority of hunters would do. His second 8-pointer of the season had 14-inch G2s.