Taking a Canadian 158 Pope & Young 8-Point with Mossy Oak’s Bucky Hauser
Editor’s Note: Mossy Oak ProStaffer Bucky Hauser lives in Claudville, Virginia. During the early years of his hunting career, he was a multi-state hunter and often hunted 4 days per week or more from October until deer season ended. He hunted on two farms in Virginia and also Canada, taking many fine bucks and enjoying great outdoor adventures. Bucky lived the hunter’s life we all dream of, but after he turned 40, his hunting focus changed drastically.
Before I got married at age 30, I hunted every opportunity I had. When I opened my own business, Hidden by Design, (I bought a Line-X Spray-on truck bed liner franchise), I started hunting about 4 to 6 weeks during hunting season. My wife, Kelly, ran the business and my brother worked for me part-time. My wife was okay with this until we had children. Then I started hunting around home more and only traveling out of state maybe one time per year.
When I first got my business and was able to hunt a lot, I went to the Turtle Mountain in Alberta, Canada and hunted with an outfitter. We had scouted the area we planned to hunt and knew there was a big deer using this region. We stayed in the stand for 13 hours each day, from daylight until dark, 18-miles from camp. The closest road access to my stand was 1-1/2-miles away. About 2-hours before daylight, I was dropped-off at a gate, and then I hiked in to my stand, stayed 13 hours and hiked back to the pickup spot. I hunted that stand for 3 days and never saw a deer until about 15-minutes before dark each day.
We were hunting in scrub oaks, and I am 6’3” tall. I almost could bend over and touch the bottom of my stand. I wasn’t much more than 7 feet off the ground, so I pretty much was skylighted every day in the stand. I believe when you’re hunting from a tree you need an open pattern that blends-in with the sky as well as the tree. Whether I’m hunting at home or on the road, I hunt in Mossy Oak Treestand camo. Our archery season opens a little late, so most of the time when I’m hunting, the leaves have fallen off the trees. Mossy Oak’s Treestand pattern blends in so well with the leaves and the trunks of trees, a deer can look right through me.
The buck I took finally came in late on the third afternoon. There were two big scrapes close to my stand. I had three-different shooting lanes. When the deer stepped into the first shooting lane, I watched him. As he moved to the second shooting lane, I had time to get my bow up and come to full draw. The buck was at 22 yards. At that time, I was shooting a BowTech Black Knight with a Wasp Jak-Hammer broadhead. When the buck stepped into the second shooting lane, I released the arrow. I knew the buck only was an 8-point, but he was the biggest 8-point I’d ever seen in my life. He took the arrow and only went a few yards before he piled-up. That buck scored 158 points as an 8-pointer on Pope & Young. I thought I’d like to hunt in Canada for the rest of my life.
Tomorrow: Mossy Oak’s Bucky Hauser Says to Get Off the Couch and Go Hunting Buck Deer
