Bear Island WMA buck with massive Droptine

John Mucha with his trophy droptine buck

Charles Hrabanek and John Mucha are hunting buddies

Ross Catterton is the long time manager at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area in Colleton County. Located between the Edisto River and the Ashepoo River, this property is a haven for wetlands and the birds and ducks that seek them out. However, each fall Catterton stays busy running draw hunts for deer by those who would seek to hunt deer in such a beautiful place. On October 16, John Mucha of Beaufort stopped the best buck he has ever seen while on the Bear Island draw hunt. Catterton insists that there are bigger deer under his watchful eye, but Mucha and others will have to respectfully disagree. This very unique 12-point buck has a droptine that measures 11-inches! Any downward pointing protrusion from a typical rack of antlers is considered a droptine, and anything over one-inch can be counted as a tine. The story begins with hunting buddy Charles Hrabanek getting Mucha to join him in applying for the draw hunt. Mucha used a climbing stand to go up a pine tree at 4 p.m. almost directly across Bennett’s Point Road from the entrance to Bear Island WMA. Mucha was overlooking a persimmon tree and a small field which used to welcome dove hunters back when Bear Island was holding dove hunts. About 5:30 a big cowhorn buck with tall tines stepped out and quickened Mucha’s pulse. Thirty minutes later something began to make a commotion in the bushes very near to his stand and the 12-point buck with the 16-inch spread stepped out. “I guess that racquet was all those antlers trying to come through the thick cover,” said Mucha. “He was only 20 yards from my stand, and this was right at sunset, but I didn’t have a shot because a branch was in the way.” Five long minutes later the buck stepped into a shooting lane and Mucha’s Remington 30.06-rifle bellowed.

           

To view my feature story on the Mucha buck click Colletonian.

To view past blog entries about big bucks click here.