By Mark Drury

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mark Drury, the founder of M.A.D. Calls and the co-founder of Drury Marketing in Bloomsdale, Missouri, which produces videos for Drury Outdoors, has been a part of Mossy Oak's Pro Hunt Team for a number of years. Mark's Outdoors with Drury, a longtime avid deer hunter, about the five toughest bucks he's ever hunted.

TOUGHEST BUCK #1: "CHIQUITA"
Mark's Outdoors: Why did you call this buck Chiquita?
DRURY: Stan Potts, Steve Stoltz, my brother, Terry, and I hunted on a farm -- that Terry now owns -- in west-central Illinois when we first spotted this unusual buck. We named him Chiquita because he was a mainframe 10 point with thick, inward-curving tines that resembled a bunch of bananas. The buck, which we saw frequently, probably was one of the main reasons Terry bought the farm.

Mark's Outdoors: Tell us about your experiences hunting Chiquita.
DRURY: We developed a five-year relationship with this buck. Chiquita was the most-visible big deer we'd ever hunted. Some years we'd hunt the farm and see him four and five times. We talked to the neighbors, and they said they'd spotted the buck six or seven times. The deer must have had nine lives. The first time we saw Chiquita, he was a 3-1/2-year-old, 145-class 10 point. Steve Stoltz and his brother, Glenn, had set up to take a buck. Steve successfully rattled in Chiquita, but Glenn hit the deer high and didn't make a clean lung shot. They saw the buck again two or three days after that first encounter, but didn't hunt him again until about a year later. We captured the second hunt on film. Steve set up in his tree stand in the front hollow on the farm, and Steve called Chiquita to within 15 yards. The buck was 4-1/2-years-old, probably a 165-type 10 point -- a perfect, beautiful big 10. However, Steve couldn't take a shot at the buck because he got himself twisted up in his safety belt and couldn't get to the right side of the tree. The second time Steve called Chiquita that night, the buck came right in, but Steve still couldn't get a shot at him. To our knowledge, no one ever bagged Chiquita. We don't know what happened to him.

Mark's Outdoors: How big and how old was Chiquita when you last spotted him?
DRURY: He was 6- or 7-years-old and weighed about 190 pounds.

Marks Outdoors: Why couldn't you bag this buck?
DRURY: We couldn't pattern Chiquita. He was a very challenging deer. Every time we saw the buck, he was doing something different. He never did the same thing twice, other than keep his does on the same little area on a hill. However, we couldn't hunt him on that hill because there were no hangable trees (a place to hang a tree stand) there. Although the buck was so visible, we never could get him within bow range -- except for one time. Terry and Steve had seen the buck on the hill with all the does, so they moved their tree stands closer to that spot. The next morning, Steve and Terry arrived at their hunting site about 9:00, determined to sit and wait all day because they knew the buck was in that area. They hung a new set of tree stands, a film stand and a hunter's stand. They sat and watched the hill all day, but they never saw anything -- not one deer. Around 4:30, Terry had had enough and announced, "I'm getting down." Steve asked, "Are you sure? This is peak deer-movement time." But Terry had promised to cut shooting lanes for another hunter, so he answered, "I'm tired. The buck's not moving. Let's get down, and cut the shooting lanes." Terry got down and then climbed up on a little limb to cut a branch. Steve had already lowered the camera. At that moment, Chiquita appeared about 15 yards behind Terry's shoulder -- a 190-class deer -- and walked right by him! Terry could've easily killed that buck if he'd been ready to make a shot. Chiquita was just standing on the hill tending a doe. Steve and Terry have the memory, but they didn't get any video footage or take the buck.

Mark's Outdoors: As far as you know, what happened to Chiquita?
DRURY: We don't know. Somebody may have poached the big buck, or he may have died of old age. We don't think he's still alive, but anything's possible.

TOUGHEST BUCK #2: "THE 144"
DRURY: I took this particular deer, grossing 144 points Boone and Crockett, in Iowa with a bow. I was lucky enough to be the one who shot him, and Terry filmed the hunt. For us, taking that deer was an incredible moment. The 144 was the first good-sized buck Terry and I harvested on video. Back then, both of us had experienced an evolution in our deer hunting. When Terry and I were growing up, we hunted little 1-1/2 to 2-1/2-year-old deer in Missouri in the big woods and the river hills of the Mississippi River. Then when we first started hunting in north Missouri and in other Midwestern states such as Illinois and Iowa.

Mark's Outdoors: Why was this buck tough to take?
DRURY: The 144 was difficult because that hunt was the first big-buck hunt we captured on video. Terry and I had videoed deer hunts for three years before we shot a deer over 110. Too, my brother and I were so used to hunting the big woods that when we got into the broken timbers -- the woods, fields, creek bottoms and agricultural pastures -- we had to re-learn how to interpret deer sign. We really had to be observant to pattern the deer's movement and learn how to hunt them. We found The 144 on top of a ridge in the middle of a clover patch. When the farmer had taken me to this spot earlier, he mentioned a little opening back in there. When I found the opening, I noticed deer trails crisscrossing the area, resembling a big wagon wheel. Terry and I sat right in the middle of that wagon wheel and shot The 144 deer about 4:45 p.m.

Mark's Outdoors: What made you think deer were in that location?
DRURY: The main reason we believed deer were in the area was because of all the deer sign. Also, the landowner showed me pictures of the bucks they'd harvested from that farm, and he pointed out some of the areas where he'd spotted numbers of deer. I went in the woods on foot and scouted as hard as I could in late September and early October. I found a bunch of trails, and I was hunting just like I would back home. I hung stands near some well-used trails on top of a ridge where everything came together. Terry and I saw a lot of deer from that tree stand. Besides The 144, we never harvested another good buck out of that stand. We don't hunt that farm anymore, but I'm sure you could go there in the fall and still see plenty of deer from that spot.

TOUGHEST BUCK #3: "BOONER"
DRURY: In 1993, Steve Stoltz and I traveled to Iowa and got permission from some landowners to hunt on new property -- which was always exciting. On our first scouting trip, we went into the big woods and searched every inch of that property. But, we didn't find anything. We decided to get something to eat, and as we were leaving the woods, we noticed one draw that we hadn't inspected. We walked into the draw, and as far as we could see there were thigh- to waist-high rubs -- 20 to 30 inches around. The hairs on the backs of our necks stood up; we knew we'd witnessed something special. We hung our tree stand down in the bottom where we'd found the deer sign. When we filmed in the hollow that night, we couldn't believe our eyes -- the deer weren't on their feet. So, Steve and I returned the next morning, and we spotted five Pope and Young bucks by 10:30 -- including Booner, a 190-class buck. We filmed Booner as he came off a ridge following a little doe. We saw him four times in seven days while hunting that hollow. Every time we'd see the buck, we'd move our stand. Finally we ended up positioned at the top of the ridge -- the one place where we'd seen Booner all four times. My brother, Terry, and I hunted the hollow the last day. The morning was perfect, with high pressure and a west wind. As we talked and goofed off, Booner walked right by our tree stand. I was unprepared, so we lost him. I know I didn't get Booner. I hit him high in the shoulder -- a very bad mental mistake on my part. The buck was within 23 steps of us, quartering away, and I goofed-up the shot.

Mark's Outdoors: Why was this buck tough to take?
DRURY: We'd done our homework; we'd done everything right. We got on the deer, but we didn't close the deal. I hit the buck and lost him. I made a mistake and cheated us all out of a world-class deer.

TOUGHEST BUCK #4: "THE BIG APE"
DRURY: We have a four-year history with the deer we call The Big Ape, another massive buck with banana-shaped tines. The first year we saw him, he was a 3-year-old. Terry and Steve Stoltz filmed him. He had a doe hogged-up, and he wouldn't come in to the call, so they couldn't take him. The next year, Terry found the buck's shed in the spring. The reason we knew the shed was from the same buck was because we had video footage of him, and we could tell it was the same deer. The first time we hunted the farm where the Big Ape lived, Terry and I walked in, scouted the property and said, "This tree is perfect." We put up our stands, then waited for a southeast wind, went back in and filmed Terry taking a nice 153 B&C 8-point buck. The genetics of the deer he bagged were almost identical to those of the Big Ape. The 153 looked exactly like the big 160 buck. After that hunt, Terry said, "I bet we'll take another deer out of this tree." A few day's later, Terry's son, Matt, bagged a 130 out of that tree with a bow. Then we got on the Big Ape. We filmed this buck in the rain as he ran under our stand one morning because another hunter pushed him to us in a comedy of errors. If not for the rain, we would've killed that deer, but we never heard him coming. I looked down and spotted the 150-class 8-point right under us. I whispered, "Terry, Terry, Terry," and grabbed the video camera. Terry could've taken the buck. He was at full draw, but he didn't shoot because I didn't give him the signal. I thought he knew I was filming him with the camera. The deer was 12 or 15 steps away -- a dead duck. But Terry missed The Big Ape because he was waiting for me to give the signal to shoot.
The next year, we hunted the same farm. We realigned our tree stands, trying to find the best spot to take The Big Ape. But the buck walked right under the stand we'd hunted the year before, and we couldn't take him on that hunt either. The Big Ape was a visible but an elusive deer. We saw him one time every year for three straight years, and then in the 2000-2001 hunting season he disappeared. A neighbor said he saw a 165- or 170-class 8 point and described The Big Ape exactly. I'm betting that buck is still alive. So, we're still hunting him.
TOUGHEST BUCK #5: "THE 160-INCH 9 POINT"

DRURY: I bagged this buck during the 2000-2001 season. We call him the 160-inch 9 point, but he actually scored 156 points. Terry and I went up to the ridge to hunt this buck with our bows, but we never saw him. We built a box blind in the middle of the field so we could get on the deer better, and we returned during shotgun season. The wind chill was 40- below zero, and the straight-line winds were 25 to 30 miles per hour. Snow was falling, and the actual temperature was about 4 or 5 degrees above freezing. We didn't want to just sit there due to the cold. But the deer finally showed up on the ridge. The buck stayed out from us at about 220 yards. We needed him to come in to 150 yards to get a shot with the shotguns we were using. However, the buck never moved closer to us. Terry hunted that deer every day -- morning and evening -- for a week in those freezing-weather conditions. We never saw the buck again that week. On the following weekend, another brutal weather system came through our area. I went back to our stand, and the 160-Inch 9 Point came within range. That's when I bagged him.

Mark's Outdoors: Where did the buck appear?
DRURY: He was in the same spot where we'd seen him on other occasions. Almost every time we saw him, he'd come out from the same trail. But that trail didn't have hangable trees for tree stands.

Mark's Outdoors: You shot him from how far?
DRURY: I shot from about 182 yards with a slug gun. I'd probably shot 30 rounds that day at 180 yards until I'd shot three bullets in a 3-inch group. So, I was confident I could shoot him at that distance.

Mark's Outdoors: Did the buck drop right where you shot him?
DRURY: No, he ran down into the big hole where all the deer would exit. We had to track him in those conditions and pull him out by ourselves because the snow was so deep there was no way to get any type of vehicle to him. It was about 10:30 that night before we pulled the deer out of the woods. We were dog-tired but very excited about our trophy.

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