Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Earl Donaway will always remember Dec. 11, 2004. That is the day he took a trophy 10-point buck off the Citrus Wildlife Management Area in Citrus County.

"I was hunting the first muzzleloading hunt," Donaway recalls. "I was up in a climbing stand, and it was about 8 o'clock in the morning. It was during the rut, and this buck was chasing a doe. I heard the commotion behind me, and then I saw the doe running about 15 or 20 yards behind me. She came to a stop for a moment and then took off."

Like every good deer hunter who has spent enough time in the woods to understand a bit about deer behavior, Donaway knew to be still and keep watching that same spot. Sure enough, his patience was rewarded in just a little while.

"Shortly thereafter, the buck came right down the same path," he continues. "He stopped right where the doe had stopped before she took off."

It was cold that morning, and when Donaway brought his muzzleloader up, he had to put his left arm under the support bracket on his climbing stand and swing around to try to shoot behind him. When he put the gun up, the scope was fogged up, so he could not see the crosshairs. He could see the deer, but the image was fuzzy and not optimal for shooting. Nonetheless, because he could see the deer clearly without the scope and knew he had a clean shot, he centered the muzzleloader as best he could and fired.

"The deer took off and ran maybe 50 yards," Donaway says. "I waited about 30 minutes. When I got down, I walked to where I had heard it fall. I wasn't too sure how big a deer it was at that point."

What Donaway found is one of those unique stories that make for good late-night fireside tales in hunting camp.

"The deer had hidden in a little thick area, like a bedding area," he says. "When I found him, he was lying down like he was bedding. And his head was straight up and stuck between two little trees that made a 'V.' He was looking right back toward my stand from where I'd shot.

"I thought he was still alive when I first saw him," the hunter notes. "Once I figured out that he wasn't still alive, I walked up to him and started counting the points."

When Donaway got to 10, he knew he had a really nice buck.

"I took the deer to the check station and got the live weight on it," he says. "He weighed 162 pounds."

But this was not the only deer that Donaway took out of the Citrus WMA during the 2004-2005 season.

"I hunted there the last weekend, which was Jan. 8 and 9," he points out. "That weekend I shot a 4-point buck that weighed 125 pounds and had a nice symmetrical rack that was really pretty. It was a nice way to cap off the season. And when I took it to the check station, I found out that the big deer I killed was the biggest buck taken during the season."

He also gave a friend a shot at a good buck.

"I had actually found four different bucks when I was scouting," he notes. "I put a friend on another one, which he saw. It was a 6- or an 8-point, but unfortunately he missed it."

As you might guess from what has already been revealed, Donaway isn't a novice at hunting on the Citrus WMA. He had been trying for seven years to take a trophy buck off the management area.

"I've been hunting the area a long time," he admits. "Typically I make several trips a year to the area, which is about an hour and a half from my house. I start making trips in the spring, and do some scouting then. I'm also trying to find sheds that time of year."