Ray Vaughan had just settled into his stand when several does and young bucks started moving into the green field and feeding. Eventually the field was full of does and young bucks, but they suddenly vacated the premises and Vaughan wondered if his hunt was over. Minutes later a nice eight pointer stepped to the edge of the food plot but before Vaughan could pull the trigger he noticed movement behind that deer. To his amazement a massive buck with antlers sprouting out from all directions appeared in full view. Vaughan centered the crosshairs, squeezed the trigger and the rifle roared. The result was the shot heard around Mississippi.

    Vaughan had killed a massive buck that scored 196 Buckmasters on the opening Monday of the November rifle season in Clarke County, Mississippi. Later in the season Vaughan also harvested a trophy 10 point that is also going on his wall.

    Blake Benefield harvested a 23 point non typical buck that scored 183 7/8 on the Buckmasters Trophy Scoring System in Lauderdale County on January 2nd of this year. Benefield and his hunting partners had been after this buck the last couple of years after spotting him on game cameras. The old buck didn’t have an ounce of fat on him and it was worn down from chasing does, which was his weakness and final downfall.

Biggest recorded

    Ricky Sullivan was about to run out of time on his deer season so he hunted the last few days of the season pursuing one buck. Down to his last day, Sullivan had one last trick to pull out of his hat. He had been chasing a monster buck for nigh onto two years now, one so big that nobody would probably believe it unless he killed it. “I got into the stand about 20 minutes before daylight and decided I’d hunt the whole day,” said Sullivan.

    As soon as it got light the veteran hunter started glassing the area with his binoculars and looking for the trophy buck that had been eluding him so far. “I spotted him and quickly got my rifle up and touched off the trigger when the crosshairs hit his shoulder,” Sullivan said.

    Sullivan’s trophy buck turned out to be an eight and a half-year-old buck that had eluded all comers for several years, narrowly escaping Sullivan and his hunting partner for the last couple years with numerous sightings and a few misses. The massive buck was even bigger than Ray Vaughan’s Clarke County Monster and scored 201 4/8 Buckmasters.

    Sullivan’s buck was taken with a .308 caliber Remington 700 rifle and was the second and ever louder shot heard around the Southeast. The Lauderdale County behemoth was the biggest ever registered in the county to date and sent shock waves throughout the state.

    The harvest of these two massive bucks coming out of the Mississippi Foothills area has sent a resounding statement across the state and around the South that this area is now producing quality whitetail bucks almost unrivaled anywhere else.

Averaging bigger

    In addition to these monsters, local taxidermist’s shops are teeming with trophy bucks that would have won any contest just a few years back. And perhaps the best thing about the deer hunting in the area is the fact that almost anybody that hunts the foothills area has the opportunity to harvest a buck of a lifetime; maybe even two if they play their cards right.

    Sullivan has harvested more than his share of trophies, harvesting a solid eight pointer with a 20 inch spread just last year. However, as of late, he has passed on deer that most folks would shoot and mount. Due to the good fortune of capturing the buck on game cameras, Sullivan passed on the lesser trophy bucks and it paid off with a last day monster buck! “We had no idea that such a buck existed around here but after we spotted it on camera, we dedicated our season to harvesting him,” Sullivan admitted.

    Do you want to harvest the buck of a lifetime? Then look no further than our local Mississippi Foothills area and you just might harvest the buck of your lifetime! Vaughan, Benefield and Sullivan did.

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net.