Going into Louisiana's 2013 deer season, Jon Black and his son, Hunter, had a couple of bucks on their wish lists. They'd combed through thousands of trail camera photographs, and those two towered above the rest.
Hunter wound up taking one of the 1,200-acre farm's superstars in late November, a 14-pointer that scored in the 170s. By then, however, a third giant had started mugging for their cameras.
The latecomer looked like it might have 14 points, too ... on ONE side. And there were just as many on the other antler!
Father and son pulled the first photo of the buck when they returned home from a three-week Kodiak hunt. There were several images of the multiple-beamed deer, all nighttime shots.
"We decided it must be spending its days in a nearby thicket we sort of regard as a sanctuary, which meant we had no stands in there," Jon said.
The only way to hunt the thicket - or at least its perimeter - was to be able to approach the ground from the southwest, which happens to be the predominant wind direction.
When the necessary north wind ushered in below-freezing temperatures on Dec. 7, Jon headed out to a grassy road that cut through the sanctuary. About 2 p.m., he glanced down the 200-yard stretch and saw a buck running straight away from him at 140 yards.
"If the deer had simply crossed the road, I might not have even seen it," he said.
Certain he was looking at the backside of the deer topping his most-wanted list, Jon yelled and the deer stopped.
"It was not a good shot (target) at all, but it was clear that's all I was going to get," he said. "When the deer turned slightly to resume trotting, I squeezed the trigger."
When Hunter arrived to help him take up the trail, they found both hair and a few drops of blood. Rather than plow ahead, which could've pushed the deer into a nearby deep bayou, they opted to resume tracking the following day.
Hunter cut short his time in a stand and was connecting the dots shortly after 9 a.m., though he and his father had agreed to meet and start searching an hour later. He was standing over the animal when he sent the congratulatory text message to Jon, who was still in a deer stand.
With a composite score of 227 7/8 inches, the Bossier Parish buck is No. 8 among Louisiana's rifle entries. The full story will be in Rack magazine later this fall.