Rack Magazine

The road to this Oklahoma behemoth was paved with Rice Krispies.

Both whitetails and wapiti were fair game on private lands during Oklahoma’s 2015 rifle season, which spanned Nov. 21 through Dec. 6. While elk roam 30 of the state’s 77 counties, they’re more plentiful in the southwestern counties.

Even where they’re thickest, however, the animals aren’t as widespread as the deer are. Many ranches have none.

Eric Bowlin of Carnegie, Oklahoma, and his buddy, Tanner Kelly, gained permission a couple of years ago to hunt a tract just because it held some elk. Eric had known the woman who owns it for as long as he can remember.

Eric and Tanner put a trail camera on the property in mid-July 2015. When they checked it and reviewed the photographs two days later, they were gleeful.

“We had a good bull, a 7x8, and a giant buck on camera. Tanner said ‘I want that elk,’ and I said ‘I want that deer,’ so we kind of made a pact,” Eric said. “We got five or more photos a night from mid-July through October, when bow season opened.”

Eric put in a lot of hours during the bow season, but he never saw the buck in the flesh.

Several people knew about the deer. The neighbors to the north had been hunting it for two years. One posted photos of the buck’s shed antlers on Facebook.

Passers-by saw it regularly, too.

Eric called one of the county’s two game wardens one day about a motorist who took a shot at the buck. He saw five vehicles stop so the drivers could stare at the hefty whitetail dart in and out of the limited cover. But the buck grew less cautious each time.

“It walked back into some cover the first four times,” Eric said. “The last time, it stayed out in the open – only 100 yards from the road – for four or five minutes.”

The temptation was too great for whoever was in the fifth car.

“I was talking to that deer the whole time: ‘Go back in the woods. Go back in the woods.’ And then I heard the gunshot and saw the dirt kick up next to it. I was sick,” the 28-year-old said.

Fortunately, the buck was not scathed.

On Thanksgiving morning, five days into Oklahoma’s rifle season, Eric was standing on a ladder stand.

“That’s basically what we have for deer stands. We don’t even have a mesquite tree big enough for a stand. The ladder is taller than the trees,” Eric said.

He’d seen the buck in that area two mornings earlier, which is why he put the ladder in that spot.

“I got down on the ground and rattled, left the antlers on the ground, and climbed back up. About two minutes later, this deer popped up,” he continued.

The buck went into a low area full of sunflowers. It was only 75 yards away, plenty close enough, but Eric could see only the deer’s head and neck.

“The last thing I wanted to do was wound him. Plus, it was raining that day. To wound him and have the rain wash away a blood trail would not be good. So I thought No, that’s not a good shot. I’m not going to shoot in brush,” he explained.

He says he can still remember when his father would shoot at bucks through sumac brush he hadn’t seen, because he’d get tunnel vision. As a result, Eric had vowed to always make sure he had a clear shot.

The buck eventually left the high sunflowers and wound up crossing the road onto the neighbor’s ground, which has more cover and the allure of wheat fields.

“That was one disappointing moment,” Eric sighed.

An ice storm hit western Oklahoma that night, and the landscape changed for the next several days.

Eric and Tanner hunted the following Monday, Nov. 30, before and after work. While driving down the road that afternoon, they saw the buck chasing does atop a hill. They parked and got out as soon as they could.

“We started putting a game plan together; discussed how we were going to put a move on the buck with the wind. We had to somehow sneak close enough to get a shot.

“Ice was all over everything, so it was crunch-crunch all the way,” he continued. “No surprise, the deer were nowhere to be seen.”

Before cresting the hill, Tanner split off and took a side hill. Eric plowed ahead.

When Eric reached the ridgeline, he saw two does across the valley on the opposite hillside.

“They took off running, and I raised my rifle, thinking they might be the same two does we’d seen earlier, one of which the buck was chasing. They went over the next ridge,” he said.

“I took a couple more steps so I could see down into the valley, and there it was, down there looking at me. As soon as I lifted my gun, buck fever hit me.

“It wasn’t so much a physical shaking. It was all inside,” he said. “I was a mess.”

A split second after they locked gazes, the buck bolted. Had instinct not taken Eric’s wobbly wheel, he might never have even raised his gun. Without thinking, he raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger.

There was a solid thwump, and the buck flinched and stopped running. But it didn’t fall.

“As my buddy was coming up the ridge, I attempted to throw in another cartridge, but I pulled the bolt out of my gun and dropped it on the ground. It has a release on it, but it’s messed up,” Eric said.

While Eric was trying to regroup, Tanner fired the insurance shot. When the 22-pointer surrendered to gravity, the guys started whooping.

Hunter: Eric Bowlin
Score: 205 5/8
View Scoresheet

This article was published in the October 2016 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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