STATE RECORD MUZZLELOADER NON-TYPICAL

RAY JACKSON - Sheridan, AR

    On the second day of the 1981 Arkansas black powder season the weather was about as bad as it could get - at least from a deer hunter's viewpoint; not only was it dry, but it was also windy. It was almost enough to make a hunter want to stay home...almost!
    Hunting in Arkansas County, near Essix Bayou at the lower end of White Lake, then-36-year-old Ray Jackson of Sheridan had already had a misfortune befall him. Or at least it seemed so at the time. The previous day an unsuspecting forkhorn, preoccupied with the breeding urge and totally unaware of the man's presence, had trailed a doe to within a few yards of Ray's position. But a clogged nipple on his .45-caliber H&R Huntsman had 'let the little buck walk', while a disgusted hunter returned to camp to clear the obstruction with a straight pin! Though Ray could not know it at the time, that misfortune was certainly to be one of those times which would turn out for the better.
    The day before the season opened Jackson had been doing some pre-season scouting in the same area. At one point he had jumped two bucks from their bed along the side of a steep gully. The second buck, with massive and seemingly twisted antlers, had been the largest Ray had ever seen!
    It was about an hour after sunup, and as he eased carefully along the edge of an oak flat, Ray heard a crackling in the thick brush just ahead. Quickly dropping to one knee at the base of a large tree, he tried vainly to see through the tangled limbs.
    A minute later the same huge buck he had seen two days before trotted out of the thick cover, headed directly toward him! Ray remembers that the monster had his head down like he was trailing a doe, but if there had been another deer Ray never saw it.
    When less than thirty-five yards away the buck turned sideways, and the waiting hunter raised his weapon and fired! The shot turned out to be just a little high, striking the top of the shoulder, and as the startled brown form disappeared back into the thick brush Ray had that sinking feeling that only the primitive arms hunter can truly understand. Because of the limitations of your equipment, one shot is all you get.
    But in this instance the hunter's worries proved to be unfounded. The dead buck was found lying at the bottom of a small depression less than a hundred yards away. It really was a monster, with a dressed weight of nearly 260 pounds, and certainly proved to be a real load to wrestle out of the woods!
    Officially scored for the Longhunter Society (muzzleloader kills) by Todd Sharp at 186 1/8 points, the Jackson buck is still today the largest whitetail ever killed in this state by muzzleloader!