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Choosing Eenie over Meenie

Choosing Eenie over Meenie

By Mike Handley

Pittman Edwards of Cleveland, Mississippi, began his 2016 deer season with his heart set on taking an exceptional whitetail that had no qualms mugging for his trail camera while the sun was shining.

He reset his heart on the night of Dec. 12.

Pittman was returning to his hunting club’s camphouse after a trip to town when several deer ran out of a roadside food plot, one wearing jaw-dropping antlers. The big one had to be the same deer that had gobsmacked a fellow club member.

Deciding to give his original Most Wanted buck a break after 10 straight days, Pittman took his climber, his bow and his son’s 7mm-08 to a pinch point between his club’s land and the adjoining property where the food-plot deer had been spotted more than once.

He hung the single-shot rifle and held his bow.

About 10:00, he was watching three bucks chasing does in a distant clear-cut when he heard a grunt to his left.

When one of the bucks he was watching looked toward the sound’s origin, Pittman followed its gaze to the giant standing only 60 yards away.

“Suddenly, a doe took off, and instantly the three bucks ran toward her. The monster buck sped to cut off the doe,” he told John Phillips, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine.

“I bleated with my mouth call and came to full draw, but the buck didn’t slow,” he added.

Rather than let the buck skedaddle, Pittman set down his bow and grabbed the rifle.

Three shots later, the deer was out of sight.

“I was shook up, although I’m an experienced deer hunter,” he said. “I was like a youngster who’d taken his first deer, shaking like a leaf.”

With the help of some friends’ tracking dogs, they found the animal after dark.

The Bolivar County 6x6 is the Magnolia State’s No. 5 Typical by rifle. Its BTR score is 191 3/8 inches.

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