On Oct. 29, Bull was hunting on the side of Cedar Mountain, located seven or eight miles south of Aplin inside Winona Wildlife Management Area. Winona is one of those huge WMAs lying within the Ozarks and Ouachitas, consisting of some 160,000 acres stretching through Garland, Perry and Saline counties.

Bull spent the early part of the morning in a tree stand along a hillside, but a little after 9 a.m., he decided to get down and take a look around. Moving slowly into the wind, Bull had gone less than 100 yards from his stand when he jumped a buck -- a big buck -- from his bed.

“I had taken my Horton crossbow that day because I knew I would be moving around, and it’s easier to carry in brush than a regular bow.” Bull said. “When that buck came up, he ran a little ways then stopped. He was looking right at me and I figured he would break and run, but instead he just stood there!”

As Bull raised the Horton to his shoulder, disaster seemingly struck.

“I was trying to keep my eye on the buck and flip the safety off at the same time, and I hit the pin that raises the sight up and down,” he recalled. “When I got it to my shoulder, I knew it was going to be off, but the buck wasn’t that far away and the bolt actually hit just a few inches high. He ran less than 200 yards and then went down.”

The long-tined 6-by-6 grossed 180 1/8 and netted 173 4/8 B&C typical points. The buck ranks as the first B&C whitetail from Perry County, and as far as anyone knows, it is the largest buck ever taken on Winona WMA It is also graphic evidence that even though trophy opportunity on public lands may be limited, it is still possible to take a buck of a lifetime there. Just ask Tommy Bull!

A TRUE 8-POINT TROPHY
Larry Heavner is a 61-year-old garage owner from Little Rock. Like many Arkansans, he is a life-long deer hunter, having taken more than 100 deer during a career that now stretches back some 48 years.

On Oct. 13, opening day of the state’s blackpowder deer season, Heavner was hunting on a tract of property he co-owns near Clarendon in Monroe County. As the sun broke over the trees, he was 16 feet up in a climbing stand, watching a well-used scrape some distance away.

“About 9:30 a.m., I heard a deer antler hit a limb behind me,” Heavner said, “and as I turned my head in that direction this buck walked out of some brush maybe 12 steps away.”

Naturally, the buck came out on the wrong side, and he was also so close that Heavner was afraid to move. With his Remington muzzleloader on his lap, all he could do was wait while the buck stared at the scrape.

“Finally, he walked toward the pawed spot, and while he was making noise moving I was able to get my gun up,” Heavner said. “When he got there, he turned broadside and I centered the crosshairs on his shoulder, then pulled the trigger.”

The big buck went down on the spot. Moments later, Heavner lowered his weapon and climbed down, but when he reached the ground, the buck was gone.

“My shot had gone through both shoulders,” Larry said, “but somehow he had made it up and disappeared.”

Before the ordeal ended, Larry and his son Glen spent four hours looking for the wounded animal, which had managed to flee for nearly a quarter mile.