A Va. Public-Land Giant
By Mark Melotik
A 200-inch buck on heavily hunted public land? That lofty dream became a stunning reality last fall for longtime Virginia outdoorsman Dennis Lawson, 54. But he’d known for years he was hunting the right area to get it done.
The thousands of acres of remote public land in and around Bath County might not hold a high density of deer, but the steep ridges and expansive dry drainages offer deer certain advantages.
“The areas we hunt on public land, sometimes just to see a deer is like seeing a white buffalo,” Dennis said. “It’s not easy.”
Perhaps that’s why the area has seen a steep decline in deer numbers, maybe in part due to the forest maturing and choking out underbrush.
“I’ve spent a lot of days in there not seeing a deer. But it’s so rugged and so remote, they have a chance to live for several years. And so the chance to see a book buck is there. But I’ve hunted there for three-year stretches and not killed a buck.”
Dennis has been hunting deer since age 15, concentrating on the remote Bath County and surrounding wilderness areas since 1988 after hearing exciting tales from a high school friend. During Dennis’s first year hunting the area, just before leaving for a stint in the Marines, he got an 8-pointer. He’s been hooked ever since.
“We walk a good piece back in there,” Dennis explained “I’ve always been a jogger and have done several triathlons. I try to stay in shape because I’d like to be able to hunt with my three grandsons. I don’t want to be one of those guys who can’t.”
While Dennis admits to the hunting being tough in the remote stretches he favors, his many years in the area seem to be paying off. During the three-year stretch spanning 2020 to 2022, he bagged three 8-pointers and was eager to add to that roll on Nov. 4, 2023 — opening day of muzzleloader season. There was no question where he would hunt; it would be the same stretch of remote, dry creek bed where he’d bagged the three previous bucks.
That morning, after a long hike in by headlamp, Dennis arrived at his destination at about 7:30 with daylight breaking. Almost instantly he saw a flicker of movement up ahead and snuck slowly toward it when, suddenly, a squirrel scooted noisily up a tree. Embarrassed at his apparent mistake, Dennis paused to regroup.
“It wasn’t just a minute, and I could hear a buck grunt,” he said. “It was more like a loud growl. He had heard me moving, and he had come toward me, likely thinking it was another deer. When I saw the rack pop over the hill, I could see it was a good one.”
As the deer closed, still quartering toward him, Dennis had time to get a good rest on a nearby tree trunk. In seconds he squeezed off the 70-yard shot with his trusty muzzleloader — aiming right at the buck’s near shoulder.
Believing he had made a good shot and with the deer out of sight and apparently down, Dennis remained standing for some 20 minutes. He took time to quickly and quietly reload and assess the situation.
“Then I took a few steps toward him, and just as I got close to where I thought he was, he jumped up and took off running. I threw my gun up and shot, and he ran away through the creek bed. I was disgusted with myself. I reloaded, and this time I sat there for an hour. I thought surely he went down; I could see his blood trail from where I shot the first time.”
Turns out both of Dennis’s shots had been lethal, the first quartering-to shot had been placed just as he had aimed, the second followed nearly the same pathway through the fleeing deer, but from the opposite direction. Dennis was beyond stunned when he soon glimpsed the white belly, and then slowly walked up on a true big-woods giant.
“When I first walked up to him, I thought, no way,” he said. “I couldn’t even look at him at first. I was just thinking, no way. Naw. You know, I’m not a true-blue dyed-in-the-wool trophy hunter; I just try to do the right thing. But you learn what not to do the hard way. My buddy’s son was hunting deer for the first time with us last fall, and when he saw it, I was sure to tell him, ‘you don’t kill a buck like this every time.’”
Dennis’s amazing buck ended up scoring 200 2/8 in the BTR’s Blackpowder Irregular category. The 18-point rack features a greatest spread of 24 inches, with the two longest tines measuring 11 2/8 inches and eight irregular points that total 26 inches.
To learn more about the hunt for this public-land bruiser, including Dennis’s meeting with the man who captured it on trail camera, found one of its sheds and had been hunting it for years, be sure to check out the upcoming Winter 2024 issue of Rack magazine.
Don’t forget Rack digital magazine is FREE to everyone, no strings attached! Just go to this link to sign up and you’ll receive a quarterly email to notify you when the new issue is ready:
https://www.buckmasters-store.com/products/rack-digital-subscription