Thanksgiving week is usually a special time for a deer hunter who’s a Dad. Kids are out of school for the holiday that week, and it’s a great time for taking them hunting; it’s also a good time to be in the woods in and around Winn Parish. Darren Mouton, of Parks Louisiana, hunted everyday Thanksgiving week of 2009 at his lease near Dodson in North-Central Louisiana with his two boys—Dylan who is 13, and Cole who is 8—everyday except “Black Friday,” that is. The Friday after Thanksgiving was cold, and the two youngsters decided to stay where it was warm instead of sitting on a cold deer stand. “I knew the big boys would be up that morning because it was so cold, but my kids just wouldn’t get up. I hadn’t even taken my rifle with us hunting all week long, so when they said they were sleeping in, I hit the woods,” Mouton said. He had seen buck sign that led him to believe there was a big deer in the area, but what really caught his attention was the talk of the local loggers. “My stand isn’t too far from the sawmill in Dodson,” Mouton exclaimed, “and several logging truck drivers have told me they’ve seen a big buck under my feeder at times, so I knew there was a good one around.”

Mouton made it to his stand before daylight on November 27, 2009, in anticipation of an exciting hunt. At around 6:25 AM he saw a big deer going across his lane, but it wasn’t until he looked through his scope that he could tell just how big the deer was. “I could see that big main beam and man—I just started panting! I couldn’t stop doing it and fogged up my scope a bit,” he laughed. “I got my extra chair and pulled it close to me so to rest my elbow on and take a good aim.” After stopping the deer with a grunt call, Mouton squeezed off a shot from his 30-06 that sent the deer barreling into the woods.

Massive bucks of this caliber aren't reserved exclusively for alluvial floodplains of Louisiana anymore, as Darren Mouton can attest with this enormous piney woods beast from Winn Parish.

Thirty minutes and a half pack of cigarettes later, doubt started creeping into his mind. Before climbing out of his stand, Mouton took a range-reading of where the deer was standing at the time of the shot. 152 yards didn’t seem too far, but with a buck of that caliber, it was more than enough for Darren to second-guess his shooting skills. As he made his way to the spot where the deer was standing, Darren’s worst fears started to set in—there was no blood. He decided to look further down the lane, only to be met with more bad news—still no blood. After going close to 200 yards, he made his way back to the original 152 mark and saw a big track. Following the tracks lead to the defining moment we all look for after shooting a deer—he had finally found blood. The blood trail was easy to follow at first, when all of the sudden it stopped. “I couldn’t find any blood at all,” Mouton stated. “Then, when I looked over my shoulder, there he was in a big briar patch. All I remember saying was ‘Oh my God!’” The deer scored a solid 171 6/8″ BTR and sported ten typical points. It had 24″ main beams and an inside spread of 19 ¾”.

As Darren and I laughed about the story he told, his voice held a different tone when he spoke of a man who started it all—Mr. J.D. Rudd. Mr. Rudd began the lease Darren is in many years ago, and they lost him on October 28th of this year. “I would like to dedicate this deer to him. He started this lease and he was a good man. I feel as if I had someone watching over me that day and it was him,” Darren recollected. Congrats on a fine animal, and chalk another up for the Bayou State.