At least two large deer taken in Avoyelles this season

One may be a new parish record

Deer hunters in Avoyelles enjoyed a successful year, aided by several weeks of cold weather that brought more deer into the parish’s hunting lands.

Two Avoyelles hunters ended their seasons with large multiple-point deer.

Amanda Smith of Brouillette shot a huge 25-point buck on Jan. 13. The buck green-scored 240 5/8 and had a net score of 228 3/8 on the Boone & Crocket Scale. It weighed 250 lbs.

Jonathan Bordelon scored the deer. Bordelon is in charge of the the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries big game records.

Based on the Big Game Registry’s list as of Jan. 9, Smith could become the highest-ranked hunter in Avoyelles Parish for “non-typical” white tail deer taken with a firearm, Bordelon said.

“The deer hasn’t been officially measured,” Bordelon said. “There is a 60-day required drying time.”

The preliminary measurements are unofficial.

He said Smith plans to have the deer officially measured next month.

Smith named her prize trophy the “Rougarou buck.”

Smith said the deer was taken on private land in the Brouillette area. She hopes the deer will qualify for fourth place on the LDWF list of non-typical white tail deer taken with a rifle. The record in that category belongs to James McMurray, ,who killed a deer scoring 281 6/8 in Tensas Parish’s Big Lake WMA in 1994.

The deer currently holding the No. 4 spot in that category was killed in Concordia Parish in 1969 and scored 227.

Avoyelles’ other “giant killer” of the season was Zach Roszell of Effie, who got an early Christmas gift when a hunting trip on his family farmland brought a 13-point buck into his sights on Dec. 22.

Roszell, 28, had decided to skip hunting on leased land near his home and tried his luck on his own property after a trail camera caught a photo of the large deer.

Using an old ladder stand left on the property, Roszell climbed into an abandoned and uncomfortable deerstand, and waited.

“The stand was one nobody wanted to sit on because there was a big limb that had never been trimmed -- a limb that if you sat on it, you’d have to twist around to allow for the limb in the way,” he said.

After the deer failed to show in the morning, Roszell scouted the area before deciding to return to the same place that afternoon.

“The weather was anything but suitable that day,” he said. “The temperature hit near 80 degrees. Not only was the stand uncomfortable, I had to swat mosquitoes all afternoon.”

After a yearling appeared to feed on the corn, rice bran and soybeans, Roszell noticed a large doe follow behind. When he turned, he saw the big buck.

“I really don’t know where he came from,” he said. Roszell took the deer with a Remington 7mm.

The deer was 13 points on a rack with heavy palmation on one side, three main beams and a kicker off the back. The inside spread measured 17 1/2 inches, with base circumference over 7 inches. The buck weighed 255 pounds, with antlers that green-scored 167 4/8 inches. 

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