Bruce Barrie Whitetail

Bowhunting has numerous advantages, one being the opportunity to hunt velvet

bucks in early fall. Bruce Barrie, former owner of Rocky Mountain Broadheads and

Barrie Archery experienced this first hand in the fall of 2003 on a Montana

whitetail hunt. Bruce, his father Bob, and a couple friends were hunting in area around Whitehall, Mt. The outfitter they were hunting with had several

stands set up in key locations. Since it was the early season the strategy was

to cut the deer off as they moved from their bedding areas to the lush

alfalfa fields. Bruce drew a stand that was in the center of an old dried up

field that had not been farmed in years. It was in a good location but the

tree had died and had no cover. Without cover, any little movement he made was magnified.

With no confidence in the tree, the decision was made to move to huge cotton

wood tree that was located about 50 yards away where Bruce had seen several nice

bucks pass.

By mid-morning the stand was moved and with the wind in the right direction,

he decided to hunt from it that evening.

After several hours nestled in his new stand, Bruce watched as four nice

bucks walked within 35 yards of the recently vacated tree. As Bruce studied the bucks through binoculars, he got a feeling something was coming close to his stand.

        Sure enough, the biggest buck Bruce had seen this trip had just walked

through his main shooting lane.  Bruce said, “I couldn’t believe it, I never

use binoculars because of the extra moment they cause and now by doing so I

could have messed up on a true trophy. I knew he was at least a 10-point, but what got me excited and rattled was the fact he was still in velvet.  I heard of guys shooting whitetails in velvet but I had never seen one during

the hunting season”.

               Bruce positioned himself so he could shoot through the only opening he had. At full draw he waited and as the buck stepped out slightly broadside at 25 years, Bruce hit him perfect and watched as the velvet buck made his escape.

Confident of a good shot, Bruce watched the buck bed down about 150

yards way, but something seemed strange. The buck was acting like he was hit too

far back.  Bruce would later find that the arrow had taken a strange defection. Instead of exiting by his front leg it turned and exited by his back leg.

               With all the excitement of the big velvet buck, Bruce had forgotten that his father, Bob, was perched in his stand on the other side of the field. Like a spectator at a football game he was watching the events unfold. Within minutes the velvet buck managed to get to his feet and was slowly heading for his dad.  He could see through the binoculars that his father was ready in the event the buck got close enough. As luck would have it, the buck staggered to within 30 yards and Bob was able to put him down for good.

               “What a thrill to be able to shoot a ‘once in a lifetime buck’, but to have your father watch everything unfold and be part of the action was awesome”.

               The buck is wide and high and has 14 scoreable points including double brow-tines. The main frame 6x6 is a beautiful specimen and will gross score in the mid 160’s.

               Congratulations to Bruce!