Bayou Bucks Magazine July 2012 : Page 10

Sixth Sense by Greg Hicks the Because sometimes it's best to hunt where your gut tells you to. hunt for Tensas NWR. e only thing seen on that outing was other hunters scout-ing for the lottery hunt. Knowing that he needed to scout a new area for his evening hunt, the bowhunter knew just where to start looking, “I went back to where I’d seen that buck the previous January and saw a little sign but nothing like it was the year before,” he explained. While his eyes showed him little, his gut told him to hunt what little sign he saw. e hunter ascended to his perch for the evening hunt, not knowing that his hunch would pay oﬀ in a large way. As the clock struck 4:00 PM, Dickey saw movement in a nearby thicket. Soon he saw legs, and then he saw what he came for— the horns. “I could tell he was a pretty good deer (at ﬁ rst), but when he started feeding in the acorn ﬂ at, I could tell he was a dang mon-ster,” exclaimed Dickey. Trying his best to focus his attention away from the buck’s massive headgear, Dickey waited for the buck to come within range. “He was facing me and feeding on the acorns for a while. It was 50 yards and head on, so there was no way I could shoot,” he explained. e buck’s mannerisms reﬂ ected his keen senses that had allowed him to reach ma-turity. Every few minutes, he would pause from feeding only to raise his nose into the air prospecting for a single molecule of human scent. But this was Dickey’s day, and Mother Nature was on the hunter’s side. “ e deer was dead north of me, and I had a north wind that day. He had no chance to wind me because the setup was perfect,” he added. After teasing the waiting hunter for nearly 30 minutes, the buck ﬁ nally presented a shot opportunity. As Richie watched the deer feed towards an opening, he knew just how far the deer would be once he hit the shooting lane. “When he ﬁ nally reached that spot that I’d picked out and turned broadside, I knew that it was now or never,” explained Dickey. As the cold rain began to fall from the late January sky, only one thought raced through Richie Dickey’s mind. He gripped his bow and prayed that the approaching monster buck would go to the left of the nearby treetop bringing him within bow range. When the deer instead chose the path leading away from the waiting hunter, Dickey knew that the early 2011 hunt was not going to end as he had hoped. Within 10 minutes of the buck’s leaving, the drizzle intensiﬁ ed into a downpour, and he was somewhat relieved that the buck had chosen the path it did. “I realized that if I had shot him, I might not have ever found him,” explained the Winnsboro, Louisiana native. e bad part about not harvesting the buck of a lifetime late in the season is that you have all summer long to let it fester in your mind, and nothing you can do makes it go away. With the buck on his mind, Dickey’s 2011-2012 hunting season didn’t start oﬀ the way that he had hoped. Although his work schedule didn’t allow for much hunt-ing, Richie headed straight for the woods when ﬁ nally given the chance. Dickey’s ﬁ rst morning hunt of the season was just before the second lottery gun 10 | Bayou Bucks Magazine July 2012

Trophy Talk: The Sixth Sense

Greg Hicks

As the cold rain began to fall from the late January sky, only one thought raced through Richie Dickey’s mind. He gripped his bow and prayed that the approaching monster buck would go to the left of the nearby treetop bringing him within bow range. When the deer instead chose the path leading away from the waiting hunter, Dickey knew that the early 2011 hunt was not going to end as he had hoped. Within 10 minutes of the buck’s leaving, the drizzle intensified into a downpour, and he was somewhat relieved that the buck had chosen the path it did. “I realized that if I had shot him, I might not have ever found him,” explained the Winnsboro, Louisiana native. The bad part about not harvesting the buck of a lifetime late in the season is that you have all summer long to let it fester in your mind, and nothing you can do makes it go away. With the buck on his mind, Dickey’s 2011-2012 hunting season didn’t start off the way that he had hoped. Although his work schedule didn’t allow for much hunting, Richie headed straight for the woods when finally given the chance. Dickey’s first morning hunt of the season was just before the second lottery gun hunt for Tensas NWR. The only thing seen on that outing was other hunters scouting for the lottery hunt. Knowing that he needed to scout a new area for his evening hunt, the bowhunter knew just where to start looking, “I went back to where I’d seen that buck the previous January and saw a little sign but nothing like it was the year before,” he explained. While his eyes showed him little, his gut told him to hunt what little sign he saw. The hunter ascended to his perch for the evening hunt, not knowing that his hunch would pay off in a large way. As the clock struck 4:00 PM, Dickey saw movement in a nearby thicket. Soon he saw legs, and then he saw what he came for— the horns. “I could tell he was a pretty good deer (at first), but when he started feeding in the acorn flat, I could tell he was a dang monster,” exclaimed Dickey. Trying his best to focus his attention away from the buck’s massive headgear, Dickey waited for the buck to come within range. “He was facing me and feeding on the acorns for a while. It was 50 yards and head on, so there was no way I could shoot,” he explained. The buck’s mannerisms reflected his keen senses that had allowed him to reach maturity. Every few minutes, he would pause from feeding only to raise his nose into the air prospecting for a single molecule of human scent. But this was Dickey’s day, and Mother Nature was on the hunter’s side. “The deer was dead north of me, and I had a north wind that day. He had no chance to wind me because the setup was perfect,” he added. After teasing the waiting hunter for nearly 30 minutes, the buck finally presented a shot opportunity. As Richie watched the deer feed towards an opening, he knew just how far the deer would be once he hit the shooting lane. “When he finally reached that spot that I’d picked out and turned broadside, I knew that it was now or never,” explained Dickey. Upon flinging an arrow from his Matthews Switchback XT, he knew the shot was good. Still, when he got a good look at the fleeing deer, he was somewhat worried to see the fletching still protruding from the buck. As soon as the deer got out of sight, Dickey got down and didn’t even look for blood. He raced home and got his tracking dog, a few buddies, and immediately returned to the area. “With the gun hunt being that next day, I didn’t have much of an option but to go look for him,” he said. As darkness approached, the search party arrived back at the stand. They began to look for blood, but there was none to be found. When they finally reached the point where Dickey had gotten a good look at the wounded buck, there was sign of a lethal hit. With the help of the dog, they found the giant buck several yards ahead of where the blood trail began. The deer sported 12 points, a spread of 17 inches, and main beams that hovered around 25 inches. Simmons Sporting Goods scored the deer at just over 178 inches. “That could have been the deer that I saw the year before, but I’m not sure. I don’t shoot the first thing that I seenout there on the refuge. The thing about Tensas is, you may not see a ton of deer out there but when you do, it could be the deer of a lifetime. I’ve hunted a stand 20 straight times before and not seen a hair, and then turn around and kill a deer like this,” added Dickey.

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here