Rowdy Galjour and a few of his searching buddies had lengthy been after the battle-worn buck, which they nicknamed “Holyfield” for its torn-up ears
The buck earned the nickname “Holyfield” for the gashes in his ears. {Photograph} courtesy of Rowdy Galjour
It was nonetheless darkish on Jan. 13 when Rowdy Galjour arrange behind a fallen tree on a ridge stuffed with oaks in southwestern Mississippi. Galjour, who lives in Minimize Off, Louisiana, might have chosen to hunt from a tree stand in a close-by draw. He’d hunted that stand loads of occasions. It was one among many setups on the 600-acre searching lease in Claiborne County the place he’s been a member for the final 20 years. However with temperatures within the mid-20s and the rut nonetheless in full swing, Galjour although he’d have a greater likelihood at catching a buck touring alongside the ridgeline.
The 59-year-old hunter additionally knew there was nonetheless a large within the space. Over the previous 5 years, he and another hunters on the lease had constructed a set of path cam photographs of a buck they’d nicknamed “Holyfield.” They’d all tried going after the buck at one level or one other.
“We acknowledged the buck in photographs by distinctive tears in each ears,” Galjour says, “which is why we nicknamed him ‘Holyfield’ — just like the boxer who Mike Tyson chewed on some years in the past.”
The sly, outdated buck not often confirmed itself throughout the daytime, although, and almost all of the photographs they’d captured have been taken late at evening. The final time anybody had seen “Holyfield” was earlier within the season, when a hunter missed the buck clear with a rifle. Galjour says it grew to become much more elusive after that.
So, when a buck instantly appeared on the ridgeline the place Galjour was searching on Jan. 13, he didn’t anticipate it to be the buck. The deer stood solely 30 yards away, and Galjour moved shortly to shoulder his 12-gauge Browning and snap off a shot. He squeezed the set off earlier than he might get a great take a look at its antlers, one among which contains a backward-facing kicker just like a typical elk antler. The buck fell useless in its tracks.
“I simply had time to seize my shotgun, get it on him, and pull the set off,” Galjour tells Outside Life. “I knew it was a buck, however I had no concept it was Holyfield till I walked as much as him. By no means in my wildest desires did I believe it could possibly be that deer as a result of he’d been so sly.”
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Galjour says his taxidermist gave the 12-point buck a inexperienced rating of 153 inches. He says Holyfield was worn ragged from the rut and he estimated the buck’s stay weight at lower than 150 kilos. “He was a battle-weary buck,” Galjour says, “and a tricky one to get.”
