The year of 1997 was a monumental one for the Highbanks Hunting Club and Barnacle Bill in particular. Previous to that year, the only deer killed by the club were two small bucks and a doe by Pedro as well as one doe by Barnacle. Those few deer were the meager results of much hard work over four hunting seasons.
This story begins in September of 1997, just one week before bowhunting's opening day. Throughout the summer months Pedro and Paco had seen some really big bucks grazing in a large clover field and finally decided it was time to take a closer look. So one evening they took two treestands and a video camera out to the big clover field and set up in an oak tree near the far back corner...with high hopes of getting some footage of big bucks. It didn't take long for their wish to come true. Shortly after the boys settled in, out came two very large bucks from the field corner. The two deer chowed down clover just 20 yards away from Paco and Pedro until dark...providing some awesome video! One of the bucks was a huge 13 pointer that the boys nicknamed "Lucky". The other one, Lucky's Brother, was a dandy 9 pointer. Both bucks had big tall racks and massive bodies. Well, as luck would have it, Paco and Pedro fell into some Packer tickets for the opening weekend of both football and bow season and were unable to hunt for Lucky and his brother as they had hoped. They had no idea of the disappointment that lied ahead.
While they were at the game, another hunter put up a stand in the corner of the big clover field and killed Lucky on that opening night. Paco and Pedro were sick about not even getting the chance to hunt for the big bucks. Nonetheless, the 1997 season continued on and Paco was able to bag his first Mudbrook deer, a six pointer, in October. Then, in early November, the members of the Highbanks Hunting Club planned a weekend "outing" to hunt the rut. The first evening of the weekend was cold and gray. Everyone went to their "hot spots", which meant Barnacle was stationed at the Honey Hole. After the hunt, Pedro, Paco, & Lefty all met up before heading over to the Honey Hole to get Barnacle. It was dark when they arrived so as the headlights from the truck shined upon Barnacle walking out of the ditch it was evident that he had blood on his hands and pant legs. The three hunters joked that Barnacle must have cut himself on a broadhead and bled all over himself because he just couldn't have killed a deer!There was no way anyone in the group was expecting the story Barnacle had to share.
Apparently Barnacle was on stand just minding his own business when this buck came walking into the Honey Hole area. It was on a trail that would take him in front of Barnacle's stand but out about 35 yards away. Well, Barnacle was not about to let the beast walk by without at least taking a shot, so he pulled back his bow and followed the buck with his arrow as it neared an opening. The buck was walking at a pretty fast "rutting" pace so Barnacle's window of opportunity was quite small. When the time was right Barnacle squeezed his release and watched his arrow hit it's mark perfectly...sending the big buck into a full speed death run. After just 40 yards he expired and Barnacle had his first ever Mudbrook buck and by far the largest in the club's four year history. After Barnacle was done telling his story all the boys followed him to where the buck was laying. Paco and Pedro immediately recognized him as "Lucky's Brother" and told Barnacle that they had videotape of his trophy if he wanted it. What a beautiful buck he was...sporting a 9 point rack and a huge body. Needless to say there was due cause for a celebration after such an exciting hunt and the boys of the Highbanks Hunting Club did just that. Barnacle had proven that the hours of scouting, hanging stands, and hunting was finally paying off for the Mudbrook boys. Since Barnacle's buck there have been three more "wall hanger" bucks taken by club members as well as two others that were hit and not recovered. Barnacle Bill and Lucky's Brother "broke the ice" for other big buck successes in the Mudbrook Valley.
