For The Record - West Virgina

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For The Record

Ray Ward

West Virginia

Vernon Huff

Brook County W.Va.

Rifle Season 2003

Non-Typical Green score 190+

Vernon claims he is just another avid hunter who is out there trying to find a wall hanger like everyone else. He has been deer hunting for more than 20 years and taken many deer but the big boys have always eluded him.

About two years ago Vernon had the opportunity to buy a 155-acre farm. With three boys who love to hunt, he jumped at the chance and bought the farm. In archery season last year Vernon’s cousin spotted the buck for the first time. He told Vernon the buck had more points on one antler than all the other bucks they had been seeing. They decided to nickname the buck Brutus.

This past summer while Vernon was groundhog hunting he saw Brutus standing at the edge of a field about 400 yards away. Looking through his 20 power binoculars the deer’s antlers seemed to cover its whole body. In velvet it really looked massive. The buck trotted up to some trees that Vernon had purposely left standing to put treestands in and raked the branches with its massive rack. Brutus at this time had a small drop tine on his right antler.

The farm is mostly open fields with only a small patch of woods. The neighboring property is all wooded and the deer congregate around Vernon’s crops for their smorgasbord of food. With 155-acres and at least a half of dozen hunters, Vernon assigns everyone a designated area to hunt. He has found that if everyone moves around it drives the deer off his property onto the neighboring land. It is better for his hunters to take stands and let people hunting the adjoining properties drive deer to them.

On that first morning, Vernon rode his 4-wheeler to his ladder stand located near a power line. Two hollows merge together into one at this stand and it creates a perfect funnel for the deer to travel. When daylight broke he caught a glimpse of a large bodied deer in the bush across the hollow. It was so thick he thought the deer would move on through and he wouldn’t see it again.

A short time later he again could see a deer moving on a logging road in the thick brush. After moving along the road another 50 yards or so he could catch small glimpses of antlers.

At about 125 yards he could tell the antlers were large and guessed it to be at least a good 10-point. Vernon took his eyes off the huge rack and started looking for a clear shot. Once again, the buck walked into thick brush and disappeared. After what seemed like an eternity Vernon saw the buck continuing up the logging road. He stepped into the opening on the power lines at a distance of about 80 yards.

Not wanting a moving shot Vernon considered making a noise to get the buck to stop but was afraid the buck might spook and run. Instead, he took a broadside shot at the buck when it was walking. Down it went! Vernon watched the motionless deer afraid to take his eyes off it for fear it would get up and run away.

When he decided to get out of the stand he didn’t bother to use the rope to lower his gear. Everything but his rifle went flying to the ground.

Vernon was nervous as he walked toward where the buck lay. He couldn’t see the deer as he crossed the hollow. As he reached the top of the hollow he realized the deer was still lying motionless. He finally had a chance to relax and admire the buck. It was then he realized what he thought was a big 10-point was Brutus.

Editors note: Brutus has a 10-point mainframe with another 10 non-typical points. With 20 scoreable points, Brutus green scores over 190 Boone and Crocket points.