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| Mike Casstevens and his Hampton County trophy ten-point in full velvet |
Hunters seeking a big buck encounter must practice patience
for the right mature whitetail to come along at the right time. Being a
professional land manager enables Mike Casstevens to take a long-term look at
habitat management and the trophy bucks that go with it. On the fourth day of
the 2013 deer season, after a sleepless night, the conditions were right for
Casstevens to take a long-range shot at this dream buck. This
same buck was in the fallow field known as Big Causey in 2012, but Casstevens
passed him up as having greater potential to be a trophy buck with another year
of growth. With main beams that measure 22-inches in length and G2-times that
are 12-inches long, it is evident that his patience was rewarded. The rack has
good mass, carries a 15 and 3/4-inch inside spread and was green-scored at 152.
This BIG bruiser of a buck also weighed in at 226-pounds. The
450-acre tract that Casstevens hunts along with one other partner contains a
long and narrow field that goes for nearly one mile. No longer used for
agricultural practices, Casstevens makes use of it as a place to encourage deer
browse and bedding areas by discing the fallow ground every other year in a
rotational basis. The same area is adjacent to Pleasant Hill Plantation and
other large tracts of land that uphold strict quality deer management
standards. The
Big Causey field buck was on game cameras as being in the area for opening day,
but Casstevens did not like the East wind that was blowing on August 15 and 16,
electing not to hunt.
With the wind shifting to the
Northeast on August 17, Casstevens went to his deer stand, located 400-yards
from where the big buck was likely to be. Though he spotted the buck before
dark, he did not have a clear shot due to dog fennel and other vegetation near
the buck. That night Casstevens was preoccupied with the image of the big buck
in his crosshairs and he knew that he was on the eve of a potentially great
hunt. Like any other excited sportsman, he did not get much sleep in this
state!!
Then on Sunday August 18 Casstevens was back
in his stand at Big Causey, and when the ten-pointer in full velvet stepped out
at 400-yards he was in the clear. Letting the big buck graze towards him, it
was about 8:10 p.m. when the 376-yard shot rang out and his trophy buck went to
the ground. Congrats!
To view my feature story in the newspaper click on Colletonian.
To view past blog entries about bucks in velvet click here.
To view past blog entries about BIG bucks click here.
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