LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015
When John Feazell stood in the hunting department at Wal-Mart prior to the 2009 hunting season, he was faced with perhaps the biggest decision of his life. Okay, not really. But he was faced with the decision of whether or not to buy a new grunt call, not just any grunt call, the new Flextone Bone Collector. “I have about 20 different grunt calls at home, so I don’t think I need another” said John, as he put the call back on the shelf and began to meander through the aisles. As he was walking away, however, he recalls, “Something in my head just told me to go back and buy it, so I bought it. I figured that call, capable of the snort-wheeze sound, would work on a mature dominant buck.” Little did John know that his impulsive acquisition of a new grunt call would lead to a new state record in the state of Virginia.
John Feazell harvested this monster Virginia whitetail last fall. With over 220 inches of bone, he is easily the largest whitetail ever taken by bow in Virginia.
Saturday November 7th, 2009 was the second Saturday of the Virginia Muzzleloader season. The evening prior, John headed afield with his Muzzleloader to a spot where he usually experienced good deer activity. Luck was on his side that day, as he harvested a “solid 8 pointer.” The following day he and his father decided to head to their hunting property in Botetourt County, Virginia. Since he had just harvested a nice buck the day before, he lent his Muzzleloader to his father, who does not own one. “I figured I would let my dad use my Muzzleloader since I just shot a good buck. I told him that I had plenty of time left to get a good buck with a bow,” says Feazell.
As much as John Feazell loves whitetail hunting, he says it’s not his favorite animal to hunt. “Turkey hunting is my bread and butter, I live for Spring Gobbler Season,” says Feazell. However, when bow season comes around, he takes the sport very seriously. “I wouldn’t call myself a serious bowhunter, but when I bow hunt, I’m serious,” Feazell aptly describes. “I’m extremely cautious when it comes to my scent, especially. I like to wash my clothes in unscented detergent, dry them in earth scented dryer sheets, then they immediately go in my scent free tote. I leave little room for error when it comes to the whitetail’s nose,” he says. So with bow in hand, Feazell headed to one of his bow stands, since the rest of his hunting party were carrying muzzleloaders. Perched just below the crest of a mountain, Feazell made mention of this being a good place to experience activity as two giant rock formations funnel deer to two different saddles in the ridgeline.
John Feazell with his new state record.
After settling into his stand well before daylight, Feazell sees his first deer at 7:45 a.m. “I see it’s a big bodied deer, but I can’t make out what it is. It takes 5 steps and I see antlers. Oh man, golly what a deer!” The buck, then in the open, broadside at 50 yards and Feazell remembers thinking, “There is no way I am taking the shot, I am not screwing up this deer.”
But just as quickly as he came he was gone. The monster buck had topped over the mountain and out sight. Feazell recalls two sobering thoughts, “First of all, no one is going to believe when I tell them of the buck I just saw, and I just wish I had my muzzleloader.” A little over an hour goes by, and Feazell jokingly remembers contemplating going back to camp and getting a Muzzleloader and “sitting on that mountain for a month, or however long it takes for me to get that buck.” In the meantime a doe and a half racked 4 pointer make their way to Feazell’s location. “That doe came by at 20 yards, and for a split second I thought about drilling her. But I thought don’t be stupid, don’t shoot this doe,” he says.
A truly once-in-a-lifetime buck! From drop tines, to mass, to bladed brow tines, this buck has it all.
Feazell’s will power proved to be strong as he elected to pass on the doe. With the doe and 4 pointer still in sight, he noticed the young buck staring off in one direction, “looking shaky.” Feazell then turns and sees the big buck coming back from behind a Chestnut Oak tree. “No way, there is no way it’s that buck. You just don’t get second chances like this. No way, I’m going to shoot this deer,” Feazell recalls. As the big buck makes his way back towards the younger buck and doe, the doe beds down and Feazell remembers, “I just KNEW that as soon as that doe bedded down, the buck would do the same thing. And, 5 seconds after the doe laid down, the buck plopped down 30 yards behind me.”
Sitting in his ladder stand, Feazell had a limited viewing window of this buck. The bowhunter had to stand for nearly 45 minutes, peaking around the tree his ladder stand was hung on. After time, the younger buck, which had been browsing on acorns, angles from Feazell’s left towards his stand. This grabs the attention of the larger buck, and feeling threatened that this youngster is going to steal his doe, stares down the younger buck before they both eventually shift their attention to the doe.
It was then that Feazell remembered about his grunt call. “If it would ever work in a million years, it will work right now,” he says. Grabbing his Flextone Bone Collector, Feazell calls, and on the second snort-wheeze the larger buck comes to full posture on the younger buck. With ears back and hair bristled, the bruiser buck makes a false charge at the younger buck, and that’s all it took for the younger buck to “get out of dodge.”
The John Feazell buck officially scored 221 2/8″ as a non-typical and was believed to be at least 5 1/2 years old.
Making his way from the Chestnut Oak towards the doe the buck stops at 30 yards broadside. “I’d rather all my shots be 20 yards or less,” Feazell says. “But I’m comfortable out to 30.” With a window the size of a circular dining table to shoot through, Feazell had to bend his knees just a tad to fit the arrow through. He draws releases and misses! The arrow deflects off a small twig and harmlessly flies off. With his entire focus and attention on the doe, the missed shot confuses, but doesn’t alarm the buck. Unaware, of what just had happened the buck settled down, and the doe began to walk away.
Feazell, remembering of another call in his arsenal of gear, grabs his Primos The Great Big Can call and turns it over. The doe then comes back towards the tree stand within 25 yards in Feazell’s shooting lane, before angling back down the mountain. In the meantime, the monster buck began rubbing, or as Feazell put it, “thrashing and tearing up and down” a young Chestnut Oak. In the process the buck had lost sight of his doe.
What a gorgeous whitetail. Fortunately, this buck was harvested by an ethical, hardworking sportsman in John Feazell. Congratulations, John!
Remembering his Flextone Bone Collector call again, Feazell snort-wheezes twice in succession. Immediately the buck’s hairs bristle up and he goes into full posture walking stiff legged broadside. “Two more steps, two more steps,” Feazell recalls will put his buck at 18 yards. Feazell then draws his PSE Firestorm Lite and releases his Carbon Express arrow tipped with a Two-Blade Rage. Thawck! “You drilled him, you drilled him,” Feazell says. Watching his buck tear down the mountainside some 100 yards, Feazell saw his buck begin to stagger then fall down. An avid sportsman, Feazell said he simply couldn’t wait to claim his trophy. “I know about the 30 minute rule on even lethal hits, but I couldn’t help it. I let out a war holler and ran straight down to my buck, I saw him go down,” he says. With a 200+ plus inch deer on the ground within sight, I think we can all forgive Feazell’s eagerness to recover the fallen giant. After having sat and listened to John Feazell tell the story of his buck, I am convinced that it could not have happened to a better person. “I was just meant to kill that deer, it was 99% luck. All the cards had to fall together and they did, the Good Lord just wanted me to kill that deer,” he concluded. The John Feazell Buck ended up officially scoring 221 2/8 Pope & Young inches as a non-typical, making him the biggest buck ever taken by bow in Virginia. With 38 5/8 inches in non-typical points, the buck still grossed 189 2/8 inches as a typical.
