‘Rocker’ - persistence helps archer capture evasive East Texas buck

East Texas archer Clayton Corley of Lufkin shot his first deer with a bow when he was only 8 years old. Corley claims he has brought down close to two dozen other whitetails since, but none to compare to the 12-point bruiser he arrowed shortly after daylight on October 22.

Veteran Pope and Young/Texas Big Game Awards scorer Ben Bartlett called the buck the highest scoring archery-killed whitetail he has ever taped from Angelina County. Bartlett green scored the buck at 161 gross and 152-2/8 net as a non-typical, according to the Boone and Crockett scoring system. Green scores are tallied before that antlers are allowed to dry for 60 days.

Cat and Mouse

Corley, 24, nicknamed the handsome whitetail “Rocker,” but “Dodger” may have been a more fitting title. The salty ol’ buck liked to play games. Cat and mouse was apparently one of his favorites.

The hunter says Rocker was a doctor of deception and a master of trickery that managed to give him the slip for nearly two straight seasons. Corley claims he laid eyes on the buck only once in 2020 as a 3-1/2 year old.

The only evidence he has of the buck from 2021 is a library of trail camera pictures. Most were captured in close proximity to a wooden trough, where Rocker and his running buddies enjoyed a free choice diet of protein, corn and other goodies throughout the year.

The trough is located at a remote location within his family’s 1,100-acre low fence property. He fondly refers to the area as “The 50.”

“I probably got 500-700 pictures of him last year — night and day — but never saw him the first time,” Corley said. “I’m pretty sure he was seeing me going in and out.”

On several occasions, Corley says he found pictures of the buck on his cameras that were taken minutes before he arrived at his hunting area. Other were taken right after he left — a good sign Rocker had his number.

“I hunted him really hard — probably too hard,” Corley said. “I can’t put a number on how many sits I made, but do know I didn’t duck hunt last year as much as I normally do. It was all because of that deer.”

A Special Buck

Rocker was special, all right. Corley found the buck’s antler sheds in 2020 and scored him as a 125 inch 8 pointer.

He said the buck blossomed into an 11 pointer as a 4 1/2 year old. Corley found one of its sheds in Spring 2021. The antler rough scored 74-2/8. Allowing the deer an 18-inch inside spread and a duplicate score for the shed he didn’t find, Corley believes the buck may have scored upwards of 166 last season.

“He really blew up last year,” he said.

Rocker may have lost a little antler this season, but he was shrewd as ever. Corley, a senior Agriculture Science major at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, hunted the buck multiple times during the first three weeks of the archery only season with no success.

He knew the deer was was still around, though, because his trail cameras told him so. Clearly, Rocker still had Corley pegged and was always a step ahead. “He didn’t get that big by being dumb, that’s for sure,” he said.

Throwing a Change Up

Certain the deer was giving him the slip, Corley decided to throw him a changeup. He made a new access route to his hunting area out of an old fire lane and relocated his lock-on stand to what looked to be a good funnel point along a creek drainage. He placed the stand about 17 feet above ground in an oak tree.

Corley said he had hunted the spot five times before Rocker finally made a fatal mistake. The deer showed up about 7:10 a.m. and offered a broadside shot at 22 yards.

“He came in downwind,” he said. “I actually heard him before I saw him, but he was on me before I knew it. It was an experience I’ll never forget.”

The buck’s green non-typical net score of 152-2/8 will stand for TBGA entry. TBGA is run jointly by the Texas Wildlife Association and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The program provides a recognition outlet for hunters who harvest quality big game animals and the land managers responsible for producing them, while stressing the importance of our hunting heritage and the achievement of young and firsttime hunters. It’s free to enter. To learn more, check out texasbiggameawards. org. Bartlett said he will rescore the antlers for official P&Y entry after 60 days drying. P&Y is official registry for North American big animals taken by bow and arrow.

The rack will be rescored as a typical 10 pointer because it does not satisfy a P&Y rule requiring non-typicals to have at least 15 inches of abnormal antler growth. P&Y requires that non-typicals have a net score of 155. The minimum typical net score for P&Y is 125.

Other Texas Whoppers

While Corley’s buck is sure to rank among the top archery bucks from eastern Texas this season, hunters from other regions of the state have reported some whoppers, as well.

One of the best free ranging bucks reported from North Texas belongs to Nathan Martin. According to the Texas Buck Registry Facebook page, Martin’s Cooke County whitetail grew a magnificent set of antlers that gross 207 Boone and Crockett inches. Martin’s post indicates the 23-point buck was only 4-1/2 years old. Cooke County is located just west of Sherman along the Red River.

Two other outstanding free ranging bucks were reported in October from Collin and Grayson counties near Dallas, according to the TBR page. The Collin County whitetail was taken by archer Tanner Smith. The 15 pointer scores 183-2/8 and was 5-1/2 years old. Jamie Legg arrowed the Grayson County buck, a 13 pointer. The 5-1/2-year-old buck grosses 164-3/8.

Big Buck Contests

The Los Cazadores Big Buck Contest has also scored a couple of free ranging giants taken by archers. The legendary contest based in Pearsall is always dominated by South Texas whitetails.

Jerry Wascom currently leads the low fence, archery division with a Webb County 16 pointer that scores 207-4/8. The buck has an inside spread of 22 inches. Michael Wascom holds down the No. 2 spot with a Webb County 11 pointer scoring 184-5/8. The deer has a 25-inch inside spread. Both Webb Co. deer were taken off the Cactus Jack Ranch.

Currently third in the low fence archery division is Shawn Phifer with a 159-inch 11 pointer from LaSalle County.

The contest also has categories for high fence gun, low fence gun, high fence archery, open, youth, crossbow, Hill Country high fence, Hill Country low fence, exotics, West Texas, Mexico and disabled outdoorsmen. Visit loscazadores.com for regular updates.

Another popular South Texas big buck contest to keep in an eye on is the Muy Grande Big Buck Contest (muygrandevillage. com.) Based in Freer, the Muy Grande has been around since 1965 and is advertised to be the oldest deer contest in the world.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.