Big Buck 411 Blog

No Time to Spare

No Time to Spare

By Mike Handley

What began as just another sweaty afternoon stint in a shooting house for William Vickers ended 22 deer later with a puff of smoke.

Because he was baking inside an enclosed box blind, the 36-year-old engineer from Marianna, Arkansas, didn't realize how cool it was beyond his four walls. He'd unwittingly chosen to babysit a food plot on the coolest day since the 2016 muzzleloader season opened.

William couldn't feel the stout north wind responsible for dropping the temperature from the upper 70s to the mid-60s, but the deer apparently noticed.

For that, he's eternally grateful.

William almost left his .50-caliber rifle at home on Oct. 21, even though he got off work early. He was primarily interested in running his trail cameras and checking food plots.

By the time he finally climbed into the stand, it was between 3:30 and 4 p.m.

The first does appeared about 5:30. Thirty minutes later, William spotted a nice buck chasing two does across a cotton field 430 yards distant.

"By 6:30, I was looking at 13 does and five bucks feeding. None of the bucks were shooters," he said. "Instead of watching them, I kept scanning the woods line, hoping to see the one I really wanted.

"Well, 6:44 rolls around, and out steps the woods' big papa," William continued. "It was 250 yards out, and I'm thinking Please get to moving.

"I looked at my watch and thought You got six minutes, sucker, to get to 150 (a comfortable distance for his muzzleloader)," he added. "Sunset was at 6:20, by the way, so shooting hours would stop at 6:50."

While the bull of the woods began coming across the cotton field toward the food plot where the other bucks were grazing, William's eye alternated between his crosshairs and his watch.

It took three minutes for the deer to cover 100 yards, but that left three minutes of legal opportunity.

BOOM!

White smoke obscured William's view downrange, at first. When some of it had dissipated, he saw the buck struggling before it took its last breath.

The rack has a BTR composite score of 186 6/8 inches.

— Read Recent Blog!
Not All Rumors are Unfounded:
Tom Wingate / BTR Composite Score: 180 1/8 inches.

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd