I started 2019 by killing my biggest buck ever.
It happened Jan. 4 at Cottonwood Farms, a few miles south of the Arkansas line near Lake Providence, La. Primos Hunting, Savage, Bushnell and Federal sponsored the hunt. The Primos staff films most of its deer-hunting videos at Cottonwood Farms, a showcase facility for progressive deer management.
My hunting partners were Jake Edson, public-relations manager for Primos, Bushnell and Federal; and Josh Dahlke, a multimedia hunting personality and host of "The Hunger," a hunting series dedicated to the pursuit and preparation of wild game for food.
Accompanying Dahlke was videographer Sam Moore. Edson, Dahlke and Moore are from Minnesota, and this was their first exposure to the land between the levees, which was under assault from a rapidly rising Mississippi River.
Jeffrey Taylor, caretaker for Cottonwood, explained the situation when we arrived Jan. 2.
"The river is up, and when you've got high water, you've also got less land," Taylor said. "Deer are going to be somewhat easier to hunt, but they're also going to be smarter, so we're going to be challenged, and they're going be challenged. We're going to have fun, and we're going to make some memories."
What an understatement that was.
Our instructions were to take one 4½- to 5-year-old, 8-point buck apiece, and does if we wanted. Ten-point bucks were off limits.
I took Taylor aside and confided that I don't see many 5-year-old deer.
"What should I look for?" I asked.
"A 4½- to 5-year-old whitetail buck is going to have really dark fur, not the light gray that younger deer have," Taylor said. "He's going to have a really deep chest and a very large, thick neck. He's not as sleek and as streamlined as a younger buck.
"The rack generally goes outside the ears, with tall tines. If you're used to seeing 2½- to 3½-year-old deer, you'll know him when you see him."
Like many islands between the Mississippi River levees, Cottonwood Farms contains land in at least two states -- in this case Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. It has many acres of food plots planted in winter wheat and brassicas. With their nutritious mix of sugar and protein, brassicas are excellent late-season forage, and deer are hitting them hard.
High water concentrated disparate herds of deer. They don't like being around each other, Taylor said, and bucks from different groups are prone to fight. North Louisiana's deer were also rutting in early January, so bucks were doubly aggressive.
On Jan. 3, Dahlke and Moore occupied a Primos Double Bull ground blind beneath a tower stand in the middle of a field. I was in a Double Bull at the corner of the field about 600 yards away amid a windy, torrential downpour.
At sunset, I heard the soft crack of Dahlke's noise-suppressed Mossberg Patriot rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmore. Dahlke shot a 9-point buck at 50 yards with a 140-grain Nosler Accubond bullet.
The next evening, Dahlke moved to the far edge of the field. I manned a lean-to stand at the opposite corner, about 1,100 yards away.
The temperature was about 40 degrees, but an 11-mph WSW wind sliced through multiple clothing layers. My nose and eyes flowed, and I was very cold and uncomfortable.
All of the deer entered the field about 400 yards away, but I could plainly see big antlers on several bucks that patrolled the field edge.
Only a young 6-point buck entered my end of the field. I said a little prayer and asked the good lord to send me one of those big bucks.
About five minutes later, a big one pivoted and walked straight to me. It had the barrel chest, thick neck and dark coat, and while his rack stretched well outside the ears, I saw only five big points and traces of a sixth. As the temperature plummeted, a dozen more bucks and half a dozen does joined him.
Two young 8-point bucks locked horns about 75 yards away. The noise they made was startlingly loud, but the big 6-point rushed over and broke them up.
Another big 8-point surveyed the scene from the edge of the woods and aggressively rubbed a tree.
Shaking from cold and excitement, I texted Taylor for permission to take the big 6-point. The accelerating urgency in the ensuing text string makes me laugh every time I read it.
Hendricks: "Looking at a massive dad bod, dark six pt. Should I take?"
Taylor: "Is he a Big Body deer."
Hendricks: "Very."
Taylor: "If he is 4.5 years old or older. Yes. You can take him."
In my anxiety, I did not want to sell Taylor on a possible nonshooter buck, so I waited. I stuffed my phone in my coat pocket, unaware of Taylor's plaintive queries.
"What you thinking?" Taylor texted.
Later, "What you thinking, Bryan? Talk to me!"
"The one I want just showed up," I finally responded.
There was no doubt about this buck. Its rack was very narrow but very tall, like the Statue of Liberty's crown. It walked toward the herd in a deliberate, stiff-legged gait.
My neck shot should have dropped the buck on the spot, but it trotted unsteadily to the middle of the field. It stood swaying as it gazed toward distant deer. I fired an insurance round that jellied the lungs, but the buck hustled another 100 yards into the woods. I felt on the verge of illness.
I accompanied Jeffrey Taylor and Frankie Taylor to the spot where I last saw the buck.
"Here's some tracks of a big deer running hard," Jeffery Taylor said. "Looks like he turned into the woods here. You sure you hit him?"
"Positive," I replied, "but he went in the woods farther up."
I took them to the spot.
"I got blood," Frankie Taylor said. "Good blood!"
We found the buck 30 yards in the thicket.
"Ground shrinkage" is a phenomenon when a buck on the ground is smaller than it looked on the hoof. This buck actually looked bigger on the ground. I stood paralyzed from awe, but also from relief.
"What's the matter?" Jeffrey Taylor asked. "You too big to give a grown man a hug?"
Jubilation erupted as Jeffrey, Frankie and I exchanged hugs, handshakes and giddy laughter.
The buck had only seven points, but its main beams were 18 and 19 inches long. Their base circumferences were 5 and 51/4 inches, and the body weighed about 235 pounds.
On Saturday, Edson killed the big 6 from that stand, ensuring that our last night at Cottonwood Lodge was the happiest of all.
Sports on 01/13/2019