By Mike Handley

Twenty-eight bowhunters were allowed into the 13,000-acre Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge in early January, having earned the coveted permits by harvesting “cull bucks” during the Sept. 30-Nov. 17 archery season.

To qualify as a cull, by the refuge’s standards, the buck had to be either a 1 1/2-year-old with five or fewer points or (minimum) 2 1/2-year-old with less than eight points.

The reward to those who succeeded was a weeklong jumpstart — a chance to hunt Mississippi’s oldest national wildlife refuge before it was reopened to all comers. From Jan. 2-7, the tail end of the rut in that part of the Delta, the place was theirs. On Jan. 8, the floodgates would open to a sea of bow-toting visitors.

Angus Catchot was among the 28. The contractor from Wiggins, Miss., has prowled the refuge for the past 16 years. Not happy with the 230-mile commute, he even built himself a second home at the nearby fish camp on Lake Washington.

“I’m there every week, 52 weeks a year,” he says. “I scout that place year ’round. Some days, I’ll walk three to four hours in the morning and another three or four in the evening.”

Angus had good reason to familiarize himself with the resident whitetails’ habits in 2006. Almost everyone who hunted the refuge, as well as Tim Wilkinson, the man in charge of it, was aware that a world-class buck called the place home.

“Big Boy,” they called it.

Lots of points. Incredible mass.

Angus didn’t have to rely on rumor. He’d actually seen the buck for three straight seasons, just never close enough for him to stick it.

While scouting the week after Christmas, Angus discovered lots of buck sign. He picked out at least three places that might give him a shot at Big Boy or another decent buck. Two days before the hunt started, however, he noticed that the freshest sign seemed to be farther into the property.

If he wanted to be in the center of the action, he’d have to look for someplace else to hang a stand.

The hottest setup, he decided, was a scrape line skirting the edge of a former soybean field. He found a perfect tree along a well-worn trail, above a fresh scrape and about 20 yards from the field. He was 20 feet up that tree when Jan. 2 dawned.

The morning wasn’t very action-packed. Angus hunted until 11 a.m. before giving in to his grumbling stomach. He didn’t get back in the saddle until just before 3:00.

Between 4:30 and 4:45, Angus saw four skittish does crossing the field. Soon afterward, he realized why they were nervous, and it was not because they’d been spooked by another hunter. He heard the buck grunting long before he saw it. And as soon as he did lay eyes on the vocal deer, he knew it had to be the local legend.

It was time to nock an arrow.

Big Boy rushed into the group of does as if parting the Red Sea. The western sun illuminated the entire cast as the script unfolded.

“I tried not to look at it anymore,” Angus said. “Once I decide a deer’s a shooter, I can’t tell you how many points it has. Only when I’ve decided to pass on one will I even try to count them.
“Besides, I knew I’d get shook up,” he added.

The does continued down the field, in the wide open. But the buck entered the woods, apparently to check the line of scrapes. Angus drew his bow and waited.

And waited.

“It took the buck about two or three minutes to take those last 10 steps,” he said. “I wasn’t all that excited, but I still had to force myself to wait for the good shot.”

Eventually, Big Boy passed through a hole in the brush. Aware that he had to shoot around a single vine dissecting the hole, Angus released.

“It sounded like I hit the buck with a 2x4,” he said. “And the vine was shaking, which made me nervous. I was worried that I’d clipped it. I had no idea the arrow passed through the deer.”
The buck bounded away, but it gave up the retreat after 80 to 100 yards. That’s when Angus called the refuge manager.

“Did you kill Big Boy?” Tim Wilkinson asked.

“Yes, I did,” Angus responded.

“Everything was working in my favor that day,” Angus recalls modestly. “I believe the buck was cruising the does. Realizing that none of them was in estrus, it was coming to check out that scrape. It was standing there, looking at it when I shot.”

Editor’s Note: For more information about hunting opportunities on the refuge, write Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge, 728 Yazoo Refuge Rd., Hollandale, MS 38748; e-mail yazoo@fws.gov; or call (662) 839-2638. You may also log on to http://www.fws.gov/yazoo for more information

BTR Score: 175

–Mike Handley