Thursday, October 02, 2008
Hunter kills trophy deer, then puts bag over its head
Bill Cochran
Recent columns
James Taylor with 18-point buck.
When James Taylor killed a massive 18-point buck in Culpepper County on opening day of the firearm’s season last year, he knew it would attract a crowd of gawkers when he took it to a big game checking station.
His brother Russell, who was hunting with him, told him it would be “like a Christmas party at the back of your truck.”
Taylor, a 59-year old agribusiness worker who lives in Rochelle, wanted to avoid that.
He decided to use his cellphone and check the deer through the new Got Game system. Just as the call-in system was about to issue him a verification number, his cell phone battery died.
So it was off to the check station.
Taylor had been hunting much of the day from a tree stand that overlooked a patch of private woodland. About 4 p.m., when daylight was just beginning to fade, he spotted doe coming through the woods.
“She crossed a little opening. I thought to myself, there is a deer. That is a good sign. At least I am starting to see some deer.”
Ten yards behind the doe was a buck.
“I could see the tines sticking up on his right antler,” said Taylor.
It was a big buck. Taylor guessed 10 or 12 points. “A shooter,” he thought. As it turned out, it was Taylor’s ticket to the record book.
“The buck followed her across that opening and they both disappeared into the dense part of the woods.”
Ten minutes passed. Nothing. The shadows were lengthening as the sun dropped lower.
Then Taylor spotted the doe coming around the right side of his stand.
“I saw her come up and cross this logging trail. I kept looking for the buck, but I didn’t see him. I knew wherever she goes, he goes. When she crossed that logging trail, I saw this rack coming through the bushes.”
Taylor picked a spot on the logging road where he would take a shot when the buck reached it. Things worked perfectly. The buck walked up to the spot and stopped broadside. Taylor squeezed the trigger on his .270.
“He went down like a ton of bricks. I walked down there to make sure he had expired and I stood there in amazement. He had a huge body on him (172 pounds field dressed).”
The buck’s massive antlers had a spread of 28 inches. The right main tine was palmated, measuring 4-inches across.
At the 69th annual State Big Game Trophy Show in Harrisonburg Sunday, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries officials verified 18 points and scored the buck 245 4/16 under Virginia’s measuring system. It was the biggest buck of the 2007-08 hunting season, good enough to make the national Boone & Crockett record book, scoring 201 7/8 under that system.
Now back to the trip to the big game checking station, located in a country store. When Taylor loaded the deer into the back of his pickup, he covered its head with a large leaf bag, so as not to attract attention.
“I went into the store and there was a young girl there, and I said, ‘You guys are still checking deer here, right?’ ”
“Oh yeah, we check deer. Why? You got one?”
“Yeah, I have a nice one.”
Taylor said he was trying to keep things calm. He didn’t want to create a circus. The young lady filling out the check card asked how many points the buck had.
“Well, the best I can count them is 17,” Taylor said.
“SEVENTEEN,” shouted the clerk. “I’ve never checked in a 17-point buck. That thing must be huge.”
A nearby man dressed in camouflage asked Taylor if he could go out to the truck to see the buck.
“When I pulled that bag off, and those horns came out, the man backed up and said, ‘Mister you weren’t kidding. I’ve never see a buck that big in my lifetime.’ ”
That started the show, Taylor said. People in every car and truck pulling into the store parking lot came over to see the buck. Others streamed out of the store. Cameras and cellphones were pulled out to take pictures.
“It took me an hour and a half before I ever left the check station,” said Taylor. “I bet I had 30 men and women around me asking about that deer. They wanted the whole story.”
SHOW RESULTS: Ranking second to Taylor’s buck was a 20-point Surry County deer killed by Scott Zyglocke. It scored 236.
The third largest buck in the show was a muzzleloading-season kill by Dennis Myers. His 19-point Rockingham County buck scored 235 13/16. This was followed by a 13-point Roanoke County buck killed during the firearm’s season by William Garst of Roanoke. It scored 223 8/16.
The biggest bow/crossbow kills was a 14-pointer taken by Timothy Ware in Amherst County. It scored 199.
The biggest deer ever scored in the contest is a 31-pointer that measured 296 6/16 in 1993. It was killed in Warren County during the muzzleloading season by Jim Smith of Front Royal.
