BY LYNN BURKHEAD

HERALD DEMOCRAT

While out of town trying to write my own big buck story, it would seem that a couple of local hunters have been more than busy enough penning their own big buck tales.

On Nov. 7, the opening day of the Grayson County general deer season, 60-year old grandmother Joyce Ooten was hunting the evening shift on a small farm that she and her husband Donnie own.

As sundown approached, two deer in front of her stand suddenly got a little bit nervous.

And it wasn't because they were afraid of the dark either.

Instead, it was because a 17-point behemoth soon appeared, a buck that the Ootens had seen previously only on trail camera photos.

"I only had a small window to shoot through, and I got my crossbow up just as the buck walked out," Ooten told the Dallas Morning News' Ray Sasser. "I made a bleating sound to stop him and then took the shot."

Reportedly scored last week at 176 5/8 B&C points, the 4 1/2 year old non-typical buck is undboutedly the largest whitetail ever shot by a woman with a crossbow in the state of Texas.

For that matter, it is also likely one of the biggest ever shot by a woman with a crossbow anywhere in the United States.

Ooten's buck will also rank highly in the Region 5 Texas Big Game Awards program standings for this year.

Not to be outdone is Grayson County resident Taylor Strawn.

A well known farmer with a couple of Pope & Young class bucks to his credit in recent years, Strawn may have outdone himself with a big non-typical buck that was taken with archery tackle a few days ago.

While the deer has yet to be scored for the TBGA program, an initial green measurement of Strawn's deer reportedly put the buck's score into the 175+ non-typical range.

From the photograph Strawn supplied me with, I have little doubt that his buck will be another November non-typical buck destined to perch high up in the Grayson County record book along with Ooten's big deer.

And it's not even Thanksgiving yet here in North Texas best big buck county.

Stay tuned for more big buck tales -- I'm sure local hunters have a few more to write before this season is over.