Rack Magazine

Post-Thanksgiving, peak-rut hunt proves father knows best.

When Lane Lawrimore of Hartselle, Alabama, told his 17-year-old son, Will, they stood a better chance of shooting a big buck off their land in Lawrence County, he had no idea he would soon be able to say “I told you so.”

His youngest son wanted to spend the day after Thanksgiving hunting family land in Marion County, farther southwest, because they always see more deer there. While agreeing with Will’s assessment, Lane convinced him their 500 acres in Lawrence County were the better choice because the rut was underway.

“Our place near Hamilton (Marion County) has more deer, but they’re not as big,” Lane said. “They just can’t compete with the Michigan deer we have closer to home.”

By Michigan, he’s referring to the origin of the deer that were restocked in parts of north Alabama in 1927. They tend to grow bigger, and the does’ estrus cycles begin earlier than native-born deer. Plus, the population is nowhere close to exceeding the land’s carrying capacity.

Theirs was a quality vs. quantity dilemma.

“Hunting in Lawrence County, you typically see only a doe or two; maybe a young buck,” he said. “But there’s always the potential to see a giant. That’s what I told Will.”

Lane’s other son, 23-year-old Blaze, was home from college, and the three of them planned to hunt together.

His wife, Kim, and her two sisters own the cove-like ground in Lawrence County. The land is low and flat compared to the hills of the adjacent and sprawling Bankhead National Forest.

Due to the hotter-than-usual fall in 2016, Lane wasn’t able to bowhunt as much as he normally would. He and his wife own a heating and cooling company, and autumn’s mild temperatures usually affords them a break.

That fall, he didn’t even have time to run trail cameras. So when he, his sons and his buddy, Greg Barnett, arrived before dawn on Nov. 25, they had no idea what sort of bucks were roaming the tract.

There was no hit list, so to speak. No expectations.

When the four hunters compared notes at lunchtime, it was clear the deer there were on the move.

“The rut was peaking, and everyone saw deer,” Lane said. “Young bucks were chasing does. They were really getting at it, hot and heavy.”

That 60-degree afternoon, Lane went to his lock-on stand at the base of a steep ridge. While everyone else was seeing lots of whitetail activity, according to their constant texting, the only deer he saw came onstage at 4:05.

“I heard rocks tumbling from the ridge behind my stand,” Lane said. “When I turned around, I saw this buck coming down the hill toward me at a 45-degree angle.

“It looked like it was worn out; just having a hard time walking,” he added.

Lane knew immediately the deer was a shooter, though he had no idea its antlers were pushing 200 inches. Even after he held the rack in his hands, he thought they might tally 170.

As the buck approached, Lane raised his rifle and waited for it to step clear of some thick undergrowth. When it was in the open, he squeezed the trigger.

“It happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to get shook up,” he said.

As the animal sped away, it crossed 30 yards in front of Lane’s tree. Only then did he realize the deer was the largest he’d ever seen while hunting. His previous best was a 130ish 9-pointer he shot in 2015, which he didn’t recover until three weeks after he shot this one.

The texts began arriving soon after he lost sight of the fleeing deer in some broomsedge and briars, but he didn’t answer the messages right away.

“Everybody wanted to know what I’d shot,” he said. “But I couldn’t tell them because my fingers wouldn’t work.”

The four guys took up the trail later, and Greg was the first to see the downed buck.

The 6 1/2-year-old whitetail was enormous in body, too.

“We’ve shot several 220- and 230-pounders. This one HAD to go 260,” he said. “The backstrap was 4 feet long!”

Nobody who hunts the tract had seen this particular buck before Lane shot it, although his brother-in-law claims to have seen other big deer. The previous year, Lane and son Will jumped a giant while heading out to check a trail camera.

“The drought brought out bigger deer in 2016. They were all coming out of the forest, looking for water,” Lane said. “Our property has creeks, streams, springs and ponds. The creeks were all dry.

“Everybody was hunting water sources,” he added.

This article was published in the December 2017 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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