Rack Magazine

Bowhunter credits homemade mineral and real estate for the bony trophies on his wall.

Garnering Buckmasters’ prestigious Golden Laurel Citation for his state-record 2014 whitetail should have been the epitome of David Howard’s fantastic deer hunting career, but the retired coal miner apparently isn’t ready to lay down his bow.

The soft-spoken Kentuckian has been harvesting book-class bucks with archery equipment for most of his life. He’s collected nearly 739 inches of antler (composite scores) during the last three seasons alone.

His best is the Kentucky record. His 2015 buck is No. 3 among the Bluegrass State’s top bow kills. And his 2013 deer comes in at No. 6.

David gives a lot of the credit to a homemade mineral.

He and his hunting partner, Tommy Hembree, gave up trail cameras several years ago, after deciding the monitoring only added unnecessary disturbance to the woods. Besides, pulling image cards required a six-hour round trip.

The friends now rely on something without batteries.

Every February, David and Tommy brew and put out between 400 and 500 pounds of a mineral formula. They prepare sites by digging into the ground, and then layering in the mineral with the dirt as they refill the holes. Several sites are refreshed each winter in pretty much the same places as previous years.

In the fall of 2015, David once again made the three-hour trip to his honey hole deep in the woods of western Kentucky, where he has hunted for most of 30 years. David’s philosophy has always been that big deer will live in the same area where previous big deer have lived.

“In 2014, I killed a monster buck at the back of this farm that scored 2581/8 inches, composite,” he said. “I knew another monster would take over the location as soon as the first one was gone.”

Understandably, David and Tommy rarely miss a chance to hunt that ground.

“We pull my camper trailer out to the farm, level it up on blocks, and then leave it there for the duration of the season,” David said.

As for hunting, Davis says he always goes to the property’s farthest reaches, as far away from a main road as possible. But he doesn’t always take the shortest route from point A to point B.

“I travel a dirt road that circles the farm, rather than bulldoze my way through the woods in the dark. It keeps my noise to a minimum and also my scent,” he said.

It was mid-afternoon by the time the guys arrived on opening day.

“I was slipping through quietly, just looking for sign, not really expecting to do any shooting. I basically wanted to check out my blind from the previous year to see if it was still usable,” David explained.

“I happened to see a deer bedded and as I took a closer look, I realized we had met eye to eye at the same time. We were both frozen in place for a few seconds before the buck took off. It was bedded up just 15 yards from the old blind. There was no doubt this boy was gigantic.

“I found a tree to climb and hung out there to see what else might come through that afternoon. After a time, though, I walked over to the old blind to determine whether I could use it again or if I needed to hang a stand in a nearby tree.

“While I still had daylight, I walked out to the truck and gathered up a hang-on stand and climbing sticks, and then I trekked back,” he said. “I hung the stand, then sat in it for the remainder of the evening. I wasn’t hunting; just watching, without my bow.

“The stand was about 25 feet high. I like to get as high above the scent stream as possible,” he continued. “I hunted that stand for the next two days, but I never saw the buck again.

“It was much too warm for hunting anyway, so we went home,” he added.

“I hunt all day, never leaving the stand once I am in it,” David said. “I try to be in the stand about one and a half hours before daybreak, and I usually remain there until an hour after dark, not wanting to bust deer on the way in or out.”

The pair returned for another three-day hunt a week or so later, but neither man saw a shooter.

Another 8 to 10 days passed before Tommy and David made the trip once more. After arriving, the pair noted the wind was completely wrong and it would be counterproductive to hunt the farm, so the guys went fishing in Kentucky Lake instead.

A few more days passed, and the pair traveled west once again.

“It was drizzling rain when we arrived, but I have one of those umbrellas that wrap around the tree above the stand. I was relatively dry and more than comfortable.

“I saw the buck approaching late that afternoon, but it was behind me and on the wrong side. As a right-hander, I couldn’t get a shot, and the buck eventually disappeared into the thicket. Me and Tommy hunted four more days, but I never saw it again,” David said.

The thicket was inside a strip of woods that had been clear-cut a few years earlier. The guys had deemed it off-limits as a deer bedding sanctuary.

“The next trip was similar weather — drizzling rain, similar hunt. The buck slipped in behind me much the same as the first time; I had no shot. Just seeing it was worth the effort, though. It was quite impressive,” David said.

“When gun season came in, I went back for four more days with the bow. I didn’t see anything. Not one deer. It was like a broken record. I knew that buck was there. I could feel it.

“I just never could see it,” he said. “I think the deer had me pretty well patterned.

“It was starting to get old. We had racked up hundreds of miles traveling back and forth from London to the farm,” he continued. “Another trip was fruitless.”

It was a Saturday, Dec. 5, when David and Tommy took to the road once more.

When they arrived at the farm, there was still plenty of daylight for hunting, so the men went to their respective stands for the afternoon. Another big zero.

“We hunted long and hard for the next three days, but my luck changed on Tuesday afternoon,” David said. “It was a mild afternoon for December, between 50 and 60 degrees with a very slight wind in my favor.

“As I sat there, I saw a deer come out into the grain field to my left at quite a distance. It didn’t take long for me to recognize the antlers and realize it was indeed the big one coming toward that thicket once again.

“I was sure the buck was going to get away once more, but for some reason it turned and headed straight for me. I don’t know how long it took, but it came right in to 25 yards where I took the shot,” David continued.

“The buck whirled around and took off back to the left. It ran out into the field about 100 hundred yards and collapsed,” he added.

“I made a couple of calls to share the news with friends and family, and also to ask for some help getting the deer back out to the camp.

“When I was about ready to start dragging, a couple of young fellows came and offered to take it out with a four-wheeler, so I agreed,” David said. “I’ve known one of the boys since he was 5 or 6; just barely knew the other. I trusted them to get the buck back to camp.

“I piled some of my gear on the ATV and proceeded to walk out myself. Well, the buck wouldn’t stay on the ATV, so they dragged it behind them as they zig-zagged all over that grain field and out to the road. Then without another thought, they dragged it down the gravel road!”

By the time the boys got back to the camp, there was no hair left on the deer’s one side, and David’s essentials bag was gone along with a camera he had just bought. The guys searched all over, but the bag was never found.

“Altogether, I hunted that deer for 25 days over a four-month period,” David explained. “I’m pretty sure this was the 10-pointer I saw back in 2013. It would have been about 51/2 years old back then, as it was aged at 71/2 when I killed it.

“The buck had very long beams back then that curled all the way around in front of his nose. It also had pretty long P2s and 3s back in 2013. I had judged it to be a 190-inch deer at the time,” he added.

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

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