Hunter tracks big Trinity County whitetail
Chuck Journee knew the big buck was out there -- somewhere. The deer had developed quite a reputation around the 18,000-acre hunting club located deep in the heart of Trinity County.
"We nicknamed him 'Bucky,'" Journee said. "When you saw him, there was no doubt that you were looking at a great deer. His signature was that forked G2 on his right side. It was one of those deals that was pretty easy to spot."
Bucky's celebrity status dates back to the fall of 2006, when Journee and several other club members reported seeing a promising young buck with no fear of corn feeders and a serious appetite for the golden kernels inside. The deer's body was slim and muscular with long, spindly legs, but it was the quality of the buck's rack that immediately grabbed everyone's attention.
"He looked like a doe with a rocking chair riding on top of his head," Journee said. "I have video of the deer from 2006, when he was a main frame eight-pointer with a forked G2 and an inside spread close to 20 inches. His antlers were thin, but we still figured he would score at least 140 B&C. The kicker was he was only 2 1/2 years old."
It was obvious the buck had a ton of potential. The worry was he might get shot before he was able to reach it.
"He was really pretty stupid back then," Journee said. "If he had lived anywhere else he probably would have gotten shot a long time ago."
Journee saw the deer live once in 2007, but only briefly as it barreled past on the heels of a hot doe. The only other encounter with the buck last season came in the form of a game camera photograph collected by another hunter, roughly 600 yards from where Journee saw the deer. Not surprisingly, the picture was taken at night.
"He had a home range that was probably 1-mile square, and he made his rounds," said Journee, a 43-year-old Coca Cola plant manager from Spring. "But it was pretty obvious he was making himself more and more scarce the older he got. To be honest, I really didn't expect to see him again this year. We got several more trail camera pictures of him, but they were all taken at night. We figured he had gone completely nocturnal."
It was plain to see from the photos that Bucky's antlers had grown significantly since last season. Not only had he grown more points, he had stacked on a considerable amount of mass. The buck had obviously grown smarter, too. That's why Journee elected to get crafty.
Acting on a tip from lease manager Joey Rowe, Journee slipped into a small section of the lease that hasn't seen much hunting pressure in quite a while. The area was riddled with rubs, scrapes and other reliable deer sign.
Journee erected a ladder stand against a small oak tree several weeks before the seasoned opened. The stand offered a good vantage point of an old logging road that bordered a yaupon thicket with mixed pines. He dumped out 150 pounds of corn before he left the spot.
"After that I pretty much left it alone," Journee said. "I went back every four to five days, dumped out another 150 pounds of corn and got out of there. I didn't drive in, either. I carried the corn in and wore rubber boots to mask my scent."
After spending opening weekend hunting with his 75-year-old father, Everett "Pops" Journee, the younger hunter went to the stand for the first time on the morning of Nov. 3. Two does and a solid cull buck appeared at 50 yards shortly after legal shooting light.
Journee said he was on the verge of shooting the cull buck when he detected the movement of another deer at the edge of the thicket, about 80 yards farther down the dim logging road. When he raised his binoculars for a better look, antlers filled his lenses. And they were big.
"I knew right away it was him," Journee said. "My stomach suddenly felt like it jumped right up into my throat. I couldn't believe I was getting a look at this deer. I started shaking, then the whole tree started shaking around me. I knew I had to get it together, so I took three deep breaths and said a little prayer and asked God, 'Please, don't let me screw this up.'"
Journee raised his Ruger .270, placed the crosshairs behind the buck's shoulder and squeezed the trigger. All of the deer, including Bucky, disappeared.
"They took off down a draw, and I could hear them crashing through the brush," he said. "Then everything went silent. I was pretty sure I had made a good shot, though."
Journee confirmed his accuracy roughly 30 minutes later when he discovered the buck piled up roughly 60 yards away. Not surprisingly, his emotions ran wild.
"It's hard to describe what it felt like," he said. "I had been down on my hands and knees crawling through briars looking for blood, and I couldn't find a single drop. I was just about ready to call for help. Then I looked up and saw those antlers. It was a pretty overwhelming feeling to take a deer like that after all this time."
Journee's buck, a 17-pointer, is sure to be among the top scoring whitetails reported across the Pineywoods this season. Texas Big Game Awards scorer Jimmy Harding of Huntsville taped the rack at 191 6/8 Boone & Crockett points gross and 187 5/8 net.
Matt Williams' e-mail address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
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