Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 13, 1995 TAG: 9511140020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It carried nine tall points, had just over a 19-inch spread, weighed 180 pounds field dressed and was roughly scored at 144 under Virginia's measuring system.
This week, Meier, who lives in Blue Ridge, will be back in the same woods looking for the buck that was big enough to beat up on the one he killed.
When taxidermist Don Williamson began working with the head and cape of Meier's trophy, he found bruises and punctures.
``He had been in a pretty good battle,'' said Williamson, whose shop is in Blue Ridge.
That set Meier to thinking. To take that kind of punishment, the deer must have been battling a buck at least the same size, if not bigger. Maybe the deer's foe was king of the mountain.
``If there is another one like him, I'm going back every day,'' said Meier.
Meier was hunting a stretch of national forest land in Botetourt County when he made his kill. This is his first year of muzzleloading. He had purchased an in-line rifle and mounted a four-power scope on it for the occasion.
He took a stand overlooking a saddle, where white oak trees had dropped their hard fruit to the ground. There were scrapes and rubs nearby left by a buck, or maybe bucks in this instance.
Early morning, Meier sat beneath a tree watching the woods around him until a cold wind ate through the seams of his clothing and he had to move.
``I had gotten up and was moving into the wind,'' he said. ``I would stop and look, then move a little, then stop and look. Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and all of a sudden all I could see was horns.''
The buck had been moving down a ridge toward Meier, pausing to pick up acorns. It gave no evidence of detecting anything out of the ordinary.
``It couldn't have been more than 25 yards,'' said Meier. ``I really didn't need a scope for this one.''
Meier has until Saturday to catch up with the second buck. That's when the early muzzleloading season ends, giving way to the modern firearms season, which opens Nov. 20.
by CNB