Berrien County’s Best Buck Ever

The moment of truth came quickly for 33-year-old Tim Touchton of Nashville, Ga. It was Friday morning, November 24, the day after Thanksgiving last year. All week long, Tim had been hunting in a swamp bottom near the New River in western Berrien County. Having taken several days of vacation during the Thanksgiving week, he was hunting on private land that had seen little hunting pressure in recent years.

“I knew I was going to see something that morning,” Tim remembers. “I just had that feeling. I knew exactly where the deer were going when they came by me. They were coming up out of the bottom and going into an old corn and peanut field on another piece of property.”

This is truly a buck-of-lifetime! Tim Touchton of Nashville, Ga. shot this Berrien County 14-pointer last season. The buck had a gross score of 172 5/8 before deductions brought the net score down to 164 5/8, making it the third-best buck taken in Georgia last season.

Tim already had plenty of meat in the freezer. He had taken a doe and spike (mistaken for a doe) earlier in the season. Now he had his sights set on shooting a good buck.

“I had started hunting this particular property on Monday,” Tim remembers. “I was using a Gunslinger climbing stand, the kind that faces the tree. Itʼs easy to use and itʼs very comfortable to sit in once you get in position. It had been pretty cool all week. In fact, it was unseasonably cold. The particular area I was hunting was very close to the river — maybe 300 yards. I had moved my stand several times during the week, but I was still in the same general area.”

Tim always likes to be in the woods at least 30 minutes before daylight. He likes to make sure the woods are settled down by the time daylight arrives.

“Visibility was real good,” Tim says. “I was about 25 feet up a tree and there were a lot of large pines around me so the woods were pretty open. Over to my left, there was a lot of scrub oak and thick stuff. Thatʼs where the deer were coming from. I had actually placed my stand closer to the river near the scrub oak earlier in the week. But the deer were coming up out of the bottom so close to me that I was afraid I might get pinned by any big bucks that were using the area. So I moved my stand back to a safer distance, and thatʼs where I was on Friday morning.

“If I find a place that looks good while Iʼm scouting a new area, I donʼt spend a lot of time walking around,” Tim adds. “I like to sneak in and sneak out. I have a 4-wheeler, but I donʼt like driving it all over the property Iʼm hunting. I use it mainly to get game out of the woods. In my opinion, any buck that scores over 100 B&C points is pretty smart. If youʼve been in an area walking all over the place, heʼs going to know it. And if a mature buck winds you one time, you might as well forget it. He can be 50 to 100 yards away, and youʼll never see him. So Iʼm a fanatic about being careful and not leaving a lot of scent around.”

Thanksgiving week was actually the first time Tim had ever hunted on this piece of property. For the past four years, he had been hunting on other nearby tracts owned by the same man.

“The landowner had actually tried to get me to hunt on this property the year before,” Tim says. “At the time, though, I was hunting a particular buck on another tract, and I didnʼt want to give up on him. In addition, I wasnʼt sure where the property lines were.”

However, just before the 2000 season got underway, Tim went to the tax office and got an aerial photo of this new tract so that he could make sure he knew where the boundaries were located. He did some preliminary looking around early in the season, but he never actually hunted the property until the week of Thanksgiving.

“I was still hunting for the same buck on the other piece of property,” Tim says. “He had left some really good sign, and I thought I had a good chance of seeing him. But I finally got disgusted and gave up. I guess he was a lot smarter than I was. I never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe he was totally nocturnal. I finally decided to go over to the other tract to see if I could change my luck.”

Switching horses in the middle of the stream is a hard thing to do, especially when a hunter knows a big buck is living in an area. For Tim, however, this proved to be one of the best deer-hunting decisions he ever made.

“I had only been in my stand for a short time on Friday morning when I heard something coming,” Tim remembers. “I was facing south, and the deer were coming up out of the bottom to my left. The way I was situated, I could hear a deer moving through the thick stuff several minutes before I could actually see it. There was one little opening in the woods that the deer would usually move through, and it would take three or four minutes for them to reach it.”

The opening in the woods was at least 150 yards from Timʼs stand. As mentioned, though, he had purposely placed his stand this far back so that a smart buck could not wind him. Apparently, his strategy worked!

“I waited several minutes, and then I saw a nice buck appear,” Tim says. “He looked like a good 8-pointer, with a good spread and a heavy set of horns. His back tines were 8- to 10-inches long and I figured he would score 120 plus. He was a shooter by any standards. He was also very skittish, and I couldnʼt get a good shot on him. He moved through one little opening and all I could see was his neck and the very front of his shoulder. I knew Iʼd have to try for a neck shot, but at that distance (by now, around 160 yards), I didnʼt feel right about it. So I didnʼt pull the trigger.

“There was another opening that he was headed toward, and I decided to wait until he reached it,” Tim continues. “I figured I could get a much better shot there. But he never reached that spot. Instead, he must have turned and gone back down in the bottom. I waited at least 10 minutes with my rifle up and ready, but I never saw him again. I hoped he would reappear, but he never did.”

Tim was disappointed, but he firmly believed he had done the right thing by not taking a risky shot. He sat there for another hour without seeing or hearing a thing. Then, another deer came up from the bottom. Once again, Tim raised his rifle and prepared to shoot. After waiting several minutes, he discovered the second deer was a doe.

By now it was 8 a.m. Tim watched the doe until she went out of sight. Shortly after 8 a.m., he heard a third deer moving up from the bottom. He sat there, on ready — longer than the usual three or four minutes it took for a deer to appear — but nothing happened.

Where did it go? Tim wondered.

Then Tim saw movement. He saw a large-bodied animal, and he saw antlers! Giant antlers!

“He had real dark-colored horns and he was just ambling along,” Tim remembers. “He was in no hurry, browsing and just taking it slow and easy. He could have been following the doe. He was going right toward the spot where the other buck had been. I said to myself, ʻMan, if he steps through the same opening this time, Iʼm gonna have to take a shot.ʼ My heart was beating so hard I could hear it. I just knew I was going to get a case of buck fever.”

Timʼs tree stand faced the tree, and fortunately he was able to prop his rifle on the side brace of the tree stand. Shooting a 7mm Magnum Remington Model 700 topped with a Simmons 44 magnum scope, Tim aimed and waited.

“It took him forever to reach the spot,” Tim says. “I knew he couldnʼt wind me because I was 25 or 30 feet up my tree. He kept stopping and taking a step here and there. By this time, Iʼd been holding my rifle on him for seven to eight minutes, and my arm was beginning to ache. It was dead quiet in woods.

“I donʼt know if he actually stopped in the spot where the other buck had been or if he was still walking. All I do know is, when he reached that spot, I had the crosshairs of my scope right on his neck, and I squeezed the trigger. My bullet broke his neck, and he dropped dead in his tracks. I sat there for a couple of minutes to make sure he wasnʼt going to get up, then I came down out of that tree like a squirrel!”

Timʼs buck had great beam length with both measuring more than 25 inches, plus an inside spread of just under 20 inches wide.

Tim couldnʼt believe his eyes when he reached the buck.

“I never dreamed Iʼd ever kill anything that big,” Tim says. “I sat there in awe for a few minutes and then I thanked the Good Lord.”

Timʼs 4-wheeler was parked about 250 yards away. “I was afraid to leave him in the woods, but I knew I couldnʼt get him out of there without my 4-wheeler,” Tim says. “I had to make a path through the scrub oaks just to get it down there where he was. Since I was alone, I had a devil of a time getting him loaded on the back. He weighed around 220 pounds live. When I finally got him tied on, I smelled more like a deer than he did! Then I had a problem trying to get my 4-wheeler back to the logging road.”

When Tim reached his truck, he immediately loaded the big buck in the back and drove home to show his wife. After taking some photos, Tim took his trophy over to Fordʼs Taxidermy in Nashville. Henry Ford took one look at Timʼs buck and said, “If he doesnʼt make the all-time Boone and Crockett Record Book, heʼll certainly make the 3-year awards period record book (which requires a score of 160). ”

Timʼs buck, which turned out to be Berrien Countyʼs best buck ever, was a main-framed 6×5 with three additional abnormal “sticker” points. The buck sported an inside spread of 19 4/8 inches and had several tines over 10-inches in length. With both main beams exceeding 25 inches, Timʼs buck later tallied up a gross B&C score of 172 5/8 typical points. After deductions, the antlers netted 164 5/8 typical B&C points.

Berrien County Best Bucks Of All-Time

In addition to being Berrien Countyʼs best buck ever, Timʼs trophy also ranked as the third-largest buck taken in Georgia during the 2000-2001 season. The No. 2 contender, taken by Grant Allen of Moultrie and scoring 167 3/8 typical B&C points, was killed in Crawford County. Georgiaʼs No. 1 buck from last season was killed in Brooks County. Scoring 168 7/8 typical B&C points, it was taken by Mickey Tillman of Morven, Ga. (see Dec. 2000 issue of GON).

At the time he shot his record buck, Tim thought he was a GON subscriber. Much to his disappointment, he learned that his subscription had recently expired.

Tim has been an avid deer hunter most of his life. He grew up near Adel in Cook County. Over the years, heʼs taken a number of bucks that heʼs had mounted, but never anything as big as the Berrien County monster he shot the day after Thanksgiving last season.

“Deer hunting is something I love to do,” Tim says. “Looking back, last year was kind of a strange year as far as the rut was concerned. Maybe it was all of that hot and cold weather we had in November. I never saw much rutting sign, and I never saw a buck chasing does. But Iʼm not complaining. On the day I killed my trophy, I was really worn out at the end of the day. But it was a great day to be in the woods. The best!”