‘It was getting darker and I had four bucks fighting in front of me. When he walked up he was on a march.’

A Mississippi teen first got a particular buck on camera two years ago and although it was a 10-point, it didn’t really stand out. Since the buck appeared to be young, the teen’s father said they should let him grow and two years later that decision paid off with a huge buck that unofficially gross-scored 167 inches.

“He was nothing special,” said Walker Hilbun, 18, of Starkville. “He was 3 1/2 (years old) and my dad said we should let him go and it was a really good thing we did.

“The next year I passed on the deer four or five times. It was extremely hard to do. It was hard to let him go last year.”

When the buck showed up on camera this summer, it was a different story.

“He was just a monster with tons of mass and tons of points on him,” Hilbun said. “I was extremely happy I let him go last year and immediately wanted to kill him this year.”

Acorns make hunting the big buck difficult

Harvesting the buck was easier said than done. Hilbun said Patterning the buck was difficult because the cameras on the Oktibbeha County property where he was hunting were set up on food plots and at a feeder, but the buck wasn’t frequenting those spots.

Instead, the buck appeared to be feeding on the early crop of acorns in wooded areas, so that’s where Hilbun focused his efforts, but the plan wasn’t working. A month into the season, Hilbun had not had an encounter with the buck.

On Nov. 1, the buck decided to eat something other than acorns. While Hilbun was hunting in a wooded area, the buck showed up on camera at a nearby food plot.

That prompted a change. Hilbun said his dad said he should hunt out of a shooting house at the food plot in case the buck came back. The following afternoon, that’s what Hilbun did.

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A food plot filled with deer

“I got in the stand at 3:15,” Hilbun said. “I saw lots of deer. I ended up seeing about 30 deer in the food plot.”

And soon enough, the big buck decided to join them.

“He did pop out at 5:30, 5:35 and I watched him,” Hilbun said. “He’d feed to me and then feed back.”

The buck continued grazing in the food plot for about an hour, but stayed out of range of Hilbun’s bow. Then something happened the buck couldn’t resist.

“It was getting darker, and I had four bucks fighting in front of me,” Hilbun said. “When he walked up he was on a march.”

Hilbun said he was nervous, but he managed to stay calm until he got a shot.

“It was right before dark,” Hilbun said. “I slowly drew back and when I shot he was at 27 yards, I think. I was really confident in my shot.”

Even though Hilbun was confident in his shot, his nerves finally got the best of him.

“I was really shaken up,” Hilbun said. “I was super nervous.”

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Long, sleepless night ends with buck of Mississippi hunter’s dreams

Hilbun said he didn’t track the deer that evening because he didn’t want to risk jumping the buck before it expired. He didn’t have to worry about the meat spoiling because the temperatures went down into the low 60s that night.

Even so, it was a long night. Hilbun said he didn’t sleep as he replayed the shot in his mind over and over. The following morning, a handler came with a tracking dog to help with the recovery and it wasn’t long before Hilbun put his hands on the buck.

“It was the best moment in my life, probably,” Hilbun said. “He was just as big as I thought he was. I was really shaken up and excited.”

And there was a lot to be excited about. The buck had 11 points plus a kicker on one of his brow tines. The inside spread was 17 3/4 inches. The G3s measured over 7 inches and the other nine points racked up inches as well.

And the mass was, well, massive. Hilbun said the total circumference measurements came to roughly 40 inches with a total rough score of 167.

The buck is the biggest he’s ever taken and he realizes he may never harvest another of that size. However, that doesn’t mean Hilbun won’t try.

“It’s probably not super likely, but I can’t kill one if I don’t hunt,” Hilbun said.

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Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.