Trail camera pictures can be a hunter’s best friend for obvious reasons.  Whether it may be what time, how big, or how many deer you may have, a trail camera can be a deadly tool in the pursuit of a large whitetail buck.  For “Little” Michael Hanlon of Talullah, La, a trail camera is probably the best friend this hunter has ever had.  “We had pics of this buck in July in a soybean field, and we hoped that we could get on him,” explained Hanlon. 

Knowing that the deer was in the area, “Little” Michael put an Ameristep ground blind in place for a stealthy set up and patiently waited for opening day.  Sure enough, October 1^st found him in his set up early, and it’s a good thing he was punctual.  “The deer was there as soon as I could see.  I had to watch for a good 20 minutes before I could see my pin.  It felt more like an hour,” laughed Hanlon.  As he waited, he could hear two buck in the distance fighting, which made the big buck start quartering to him. 

This Madison Parish bruiser has something most hunters only dream of; a monster buck in full velvet.

Finally it was time, and Little Michael didn’t waste a minute.  “I finally was able to see my pin and knew the shot was the one I was waiting for, so I took it,” Hanlon explained.  His brand new Hoyt Maxxis sent a Carbon Express arrow tipped with a G5 Striker broad head into the deer, but the shot was a little far back.  “When I got to my arrow, I knew the shot wasn’t the
best.  I knew to give him a little time, so I went back to my truck.  As I got to the road, I saw good blood in the road itself where the deer crossed, but I still wanted to give him a little bit,” Hanlon said.  After two hours of waiting, the Mile High Hunting Club search party got on the trail.  The first 200 yards was older blood, but as they got closer, they started finding fresh blood, so again the search was delayed for another two hours.  After a total of six hours of searching and stopping and searching again, they found the massive twelve point in full velvet laying in some tall grass.  “It was the longest six hours of my life!  But it was worth it.  I killed a deer that scored over 200 inches two years ago, but I’m as excited about this one as I was about him,” laughed Hanlon.  The deer was scored by a close friend of Little Mike, and it streached the tape to 185″, and is the third deer in just over a year that BayouBucks.com has broken the story on from Madison Parish that scored over 180″.

Getting on big deer takes work, but the pain staking hours of scouting can be cut in half with the use of a trail camera.  The images captured there can and will light the fire under any hunter that sees them and for “Little” Michael Hanlon, the fire was burning like never before on opening morning 2010.  BayouBucks.com sends out a huge congratulation to “Little” Michael on a great opening day monster Louisiana buck.