Thursday, September 30, 2010
Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Botetourt bow-killed buck tops record books
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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Last Nov. 7 was a perfect day for catching up with a deer.
“It was an awesome morning to hunt. The birds were chirping, the squirrels were feeding and I was seeing a lot of deer,” said John Feazell, a 35-year-old U.S. Forest Service timber technician who lives in Clifton Forge.
Feazell had no more lofty plans than to kill a doe on a chunk of private property in Botetourt County where he and family members have hunted since the early '70s.
The previous afternoon he had killed an 8-pointer, the kind that would provide a lifetime of pride for most hunters, especially since it was taken on national forest land with a muzzleloader.
“He was probably 17 or 18 inches,” Feazell said of the width of the antlers.
Feazell has killed a bunch bigger than that, mountain-born 20-inchers on hefty 8-point frames. Most people would call him a trophy hunter, but he is too modest to make that claim. He has had a passion for deer hunting since age 10 when he became big enough to carrying a gun and tag along with his dad.
On this hunt, it was payback time for dad. Because Feazell had killed a nice buck the day before, he lent his muzzleloader to his father, Mike. Feazell would take what he called a “bow stand” while Mike and some other hunting buddies moved on bearing more firepower.
What happened next was a hide-and-seek game with a huge buck that would put Feazell’s name in the national and Virginia record books.
“The first time I saw it that morning was probably around 8:30 or so,” said Feazell, beginning a tale that he has told hundreds of times in recent months. “I knew he was a substantial deer. He was about 50 yards. I didn’t get a real good look at him, but I could see he had a big drop tine. If only I had my muzzleloader!”
The buck moved away, leaving Feazell to wonder if he’d ever seen it again or if anyone would believe him when he described what he had seen. He began making plans on how to hunt the buck when he got his black-powder gun in his hands. Truth is, most likely you don’t get second changes at a buck of a lifetime.
An hour passed, during which a parade of deer of all sizes and shapes moved by, impervious to Feazell’s presence, crunching on chestnut oak acorns, the bucks chasing the does.
“I catch movement out of the corner of my eye,” said Feazell, who is standing alert in his ladder treestand. It is the giant buck and an accompanying doe! Thirty yards!
This 22-point Botetourt County buck put John Feazell in the state and national record book.
“That's when I really knew he was above average. For a second I said, ‘am I dreaming?’”
The buck bedded down. When a smaller buck moved in on his doe, the big buck’s hair bristles and he chases it off, returning to his bedding spot. That’s when Feazell let fly an arrow.
“I hit a limb. When I hit the limb, he just kind of jumped, just a little bit, like the noise had bothered him. He looked around, but really never paid a whole lot of attention to anything.”
Feazell reached for another arrow. Out of character, he had hung his quiver on a peg beneath his stand. He had to slowly bend down and feel for an arrow, his eyes locked on the buck. When he nocked the arrow he noticed that the band that holds the expandable broadhead intact had fallen off. He had to replace it.
“All the time the deer was just standing there, looking around. It seemed like forever. I tried to hug the tree and keep my silhouette down as much as possible.”
Then the buck’s ardor to rut kicked in. He moved farther from Feazell and began horning a tree.
“He is tearing this tree all to pieces.”
The doe began to move away. Feazell made a bleat call. The doe turned and came back. Feazell made a second bleat call. The buck’s head snapped up and he moved toward the doe on legs that had grown stiff. Feazell made a grunt call. The buck stopped in a shooting lane at 18 yards. Perfect!
Feazell doesn’t miss this time.
It is tradition for a bowhunter to wait 30 minutes before pursuing a deer struck by an arrow. Forget that.
“I jumped out of the treestand. Thirty minutes? I ain’t waiting 30 minutes. I looked for my arrow and I just happened to look up and out of the corner of my eye I saw the buck trotting along. Finally I saw his head go down and his white tail come up and he just did a summersault.
Feazell entered the 22-point buck in three major contests, and won them all. Sunday at the Virginia State Big Game Show in Harrisonburg his trophy was judged the top deer in the state for the 2009-10 season. Under Virginia’s unique measuring system, it scored 264-4/16. That is a state record for a bow-killed buck.
At the Virginia Deer Hunters Association Show in Richmond in August the buck scored 221 -/8 Boone and Crockett, setting a non-typical bow-kill record for Virginia.
“Everybody tells me, ‘Oh, you will quit hunting now. You can’t beat that.’
“You can’t quit hunting if you are a hunter,” Feazell said.
See Cochran Field Reports for more information on the Virginia State Big Game Show.
