If Avoyelles Parish is the “hot bed” of big bucks in Louisiana, then Madison Parish has got to be right on their heels as Louisiana’s top producing “Big Buck Parish”.  Since BayouBucks.com has been covering big deer killed in Louisiana, we have had approximately 760″ of head gear from four deer killed around Tallulah, La., and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.  Teri Henely is the latest hunter to take down a big Madison Parish bruiser, and her story is one that she is proud to tell.

Teri is a novice bowhunter by many standards, but the tenacity she showed on October, 7, 2010, showed the signs of a seasoned veteran.  When her birthday rolled around in August of this year, she got the best gift a person could imagine; a new bow.  “I got my bow for my birthday and everyday I would just go out back and shoot.  I would increase my poundage here and there, and finally got comfortable pulling back 48lbs.” explained Henely.  The lady huntress was now ready for action, and her first year bow hunting would be a doozy to say the least.  After killing a doe on opening day, she followed suit the next day with an eight point, but those were just warm ups for what would happen to her a week later.

Teri missed a full velvet buck by one night as shown in this picture.

On October 6th, Teri decided to hunt a ladder stand that she had, to see if she couldn get a shot at some deer she had on her Cuddeback trail camera.  “It’s a 12′ ladder stand, but it’s kind of in a ditch, so I bet it isn’t 12′ off the ground where the deer will be,” said Henely.  As fate sometimes does to a bow hunter, she saw the buck she wanted, but there just wasn’t a shot that could be taken.  “I saw this deer the day before with a spike and an eleven point, but he was facing me at ten yards and never presented me with a shot,” said Henely.  As light faded, so did her hopes of bringing home the large typical nine point in full velvet.  The next day, even though the wind was not right for hunting the ladder stand again, Teri went back to see if she could get another chance at the massive deer.  “I knew the wind wasn’t right, but I had to try anyway.  I was scared that someone else would get a shot at him if I didn’t.  I had so many pics of him, that I just knew other hunters were after him too,” Henley laughed.  Sure enough, at the same time that they strolled in the day before, 6:45 PM, the trio of bucks made their way towards Teri.  “The spike came in first, followed by the eleven point.  They walked right in front of me, not five yards away, but the big deer just stayed back.  I just closed my eyes and held my breath until I could hear that they made it past me.  I just knew with the wind like it was, that they’d smell me,” Henley excitedly explained.  When the big buck finally presented her with a shot at 18 yards, Henley pulled the full 26 inch draw that her new Hoyt Maxxis 31 had, and sent a Muzzy MX3 right into the deer.  “I saw part of my arrow break off in him and watched him run and wobble for about 100 yards, and then he went down.  I got out of my stand and called for some help and we found the blood trial pretty quickly.  It didn’t take long to find him in the grass where he fell,” explained Henley.  The deers antlers were huge but the body was just as impressive.  The buck tipped the scales sat 295 pounds, but this lady didn’t have a bit of trouble loading him up on her bike.  “I had just order a power loader from Great Day right here in Tallulah, so loading the buck wasn’t a problem at all,” laughed Henley.

The bucks rack was a sight to behold.  Nine typical points that would encompass 182 3/8″ sat atop the head of the massive deer.  “The first time I saw him, he was in full velvet, but when I killed him the next day he was hard boned.  I checked my camera and there he was.  The velvet was gone and his rack was bloody,” said Henley.

As we parted on the phone, Teri told me something that I think all hunters could relate to.  ”You know, I’m an animal lover, but I also sure do love to deer hunt.  I hunt everyday.  It’s my ‘Calgon, take me away’”, laughed Henley.

Madison Parish is becoming known for large deer in the state of Louisiana, and for good reason.  With deer season barely being in a month, there have already been two deer taken that scored over 180″ that have showcased on BayouBucks.com and I bet that we’ll see a few more.  The members of BayouBucks.com send out a big congratulations to Teri Henely of Tallulah, La and glad the she shows the folks that are new to bow hunting that no matter your skill level, you can get the buck of you dreams with a bow.