Rack Magazine

Term of EnDEERment

Term of EnDEERment

By Rusty Johnson

In a perfect world, we’d all have plenty of time to evaluate antlers. But is there such a place?

Alberta deer guide Aaron Franklin will never forget the week he spent trying to make an Oklahoma hunter’s dream come true.

The moment Devin Moore told Aaron, “Let’s go find a big ol’ buck,” the pace for the next six days was set. The phrase stuck in Aaron’s craw, and he repeated it each morning when they got ready to go forth into the cold.

“Let’s go find a big ol’ buck,” he’d grin.

And they did just that, eventually.

Devin had always heard and read about the monstrous whitetails to be found in Alberta. That’s why he chose the western province and booked a hunt with Troy Foster’s North Alberta Outfitters.

When Devin arrived at camp, a very long way from Purcell, Okla., he was greeted by friendly and accommodating people and by weather less so: gusting winds, 18 inches of fresh snow and temperatures nowhere close to the worst thrown at hunters at his end of the continent.

Temperatures rarely rose above zero.

Devin was hunting a section of Crown (public) land, the whole of which encompasses 4,000 square miles. The game plan was to spot and stalk blocks that had been logged. Spotting was easier said than done, however, under the near whiteout conditions for most of the week. Still, they managed to see several whitetails.

Some of the deer they glassed were decent bucks, too, but none were big enough to trip Devin’s trigger. He had mentioned to his guide that he really wanted a buck that would score in the 160s, a reasonable goal for that part of the world.

About 1:00 on the last afternoon of the hunt, the weather had cleared, though the mercury was still below zero. Devin and Aaron were sneaking along an old logging road leading to one of the cuts when they spotted a buck in some willows about 200 yards distant.

Term of EnDEERmentThe buck’s rack was tough to judge in the mesh of willow limbs. It blended in so well that Aaron, an experienced judge of those Northern deer, thought the animal might go 155 inches. Only because it was the last evening, Devin decided a mid-150s deer was too close to 160 to allow it to pass on by.

He wanted it.

In response to their loud grunting with calls, the buck turned and came a few yards closer, more in the open. Devin raised and aimed his 7mm Magnum and squeezed the trigger, but the boom never came.

He quickly ejected and bolted in another round, but he got the same disappointing click after squeezing the trigger. The firing pin was frozen!

Devin cycled a couple more rounds before trying again, and the pin finally freed itself. The boom came, but without the telltale thud of a solid hit.

He’d missed.

The buck ran about 30 yards and, fortunately for Devin, stopped to look back at the hunters. Devin was ready, his last cartridge already in the chamber.

That time, lead met buck, and the latter collapsed after a short lurch.

Rather than go forward, Devin and Aaron went back to get the four-wheeler, which had a rough time in the deep snow.

When they finally reached the 155-incher and realized they’d underestimated it by at least 50 inches, they celebrated like gleeful little boys.

Hunter: Devin Moore
BTR Score: 215
Centerfire Rifle
Semi-Irregular

– Photos Courtesy Devin Moore

This article was published in the July 2014 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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