The New Year’s Eve (2019) arrest of four poachers near the Galleria mall in Hoover, Alabama, opened doors for B.J. Davis.
After the incident with the illegal aliens from El Salvador, one of whom had been previously deported, the Alabamian acquired permission to hunt several small tracts close to his home.
“A friend of mine owned 50 acres in that block of woods the poachers had hunted. After that fiasco, many property owners asked me to watch over their lands, too, to notify them if I saw something questionable, and to pick up trash. In return, they gave me access to hunt 30 small plots all around Birmingham,” B.J. told John E. Phillips, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine.
B.J. first became aware of the buck he shot last year in 2018, when a neighboring landowner shared a trail cam photograph of it. It was so big that he thought the image must’ve been Photoshopped.
The deer, which had lost both weight and antler size, was late to appear on B.J.’s cameras the following year. Fortunately for the hunter, he had already taken his limit by then.
When the mostly nocturnal deer was photographed in June 2020, however, it had regained its fighting weight. Its rack was far bigger, too.
B.J. didn’t retrieve any photos during the state’s bow season. He feared someone else might’ve shot it, or maybe it had been hit by a car.
On Thanksgiving Day, however, the deer stepped in front of a camera and gave B.J. renewed hope. The photo was blurry, but he recognized the animal immediately.
Two nights later, B.J.’s wife, Kasey, suggested they attend “late church” on Sunday. Not one to turn down and opportunity to squeeze in a hunt before the service, he was quick to agree.
When he ventured out the next morning, B.J. went to his No. 2 spot in some hardwoods. The 15-foot-high stand overlooked an old roadbed and a creek, and the breeze that was so wrong for his first choice was perfect for the Plan B setup.
Soon after he’d settled in, B.J. heard a deer snort and cursed his luck. But that was before he saw the legs of an approaching deer about 65 yards distant.
When the buck eventually closed to within 12 yards, B.J. drew his bow as its head passed behind a tree.
“I soon had to let my bow down, though, because my arm was shaking too much,” he said.
The next time, his resolve held. The giant buck lost its breath, permanently, after bolting 50 yards.
“I’ll be honest,” he said. “I cried for about five minutes after seeing that buck fall. I’m not too proud to admit it. I thanked God for having the opportunity to take a trophy buck like that.”
With a BTR score of 199 4/8 inches, B.J.’s Jefferson County whitetail is the new Alabama record for Semi-irregulars felled by compound bow.
— Read Recent Blog! Georgian Gets Second Chance, a Year Later: Colby Johnson's rut-worn, Worth County buck was estimated to be 5 1/2 years old. Its BTR score is 199 2/8 inches.