The One-Eyed Moby Dick
Bow hunter Preston Mullings of Madill finally harvested this buck after a four-year chase
Preston Mullings finally got his white whale. Or in this case, his whitetail.
For four years, the 24-year-old bow hunter from Madill has been chasing his Moby Dick, or as he liked to call the elusive Marshall County buck, “the one-eyed big boy.’’
The buck with the deformed or damaged eye had teased Mullings for the past four years, always staying just out of shooting range of of the hunter’s bow.
Finally, on late Saturday afternoon, just before dark, Mullings was able to arrow the 14-point buck.
“It’s the biggest deer I’ve ever killed,” Mullings said. “It was the best shot I ever made on a deer. He didn’t run 70 yards. I finally got in the right place at the right time.”
Mullings was in his stand in Marshall County when the buck appeared 15 minutes behind two smaller bucks who had come out of the woods to graze.
““He came in there like he owned the place. I had never had him in the open before. He always would be in an oak thicket or at the edge of briar thicket,” Mullings said.
The buck green scored 176 and 4/8 non-typical.
“He shrunk a little bit this year,” Mullings said.
The buck’s antlers were wider (22 5/8) but shorter than past years, he said.
In fact, Mullings would not have been able to tell that it’s the same buck he’s been seeing for four years on his hunting lease if not for the deformed eye.
Mullings, who has been admiring photos of the one-eyed deer all summer, said while he is ecstatic about finally harvesting the trophy buck, he also is somewhat saddened that the chase is finally over.
“I’ve been hunting him four years…I am actually kind of sad to get him this early (in bow season).”
Now, Mullings will spend most of the remaining bow season shooting with a camera and trying to get a buck for his fiancee.
Oklahoma’s deer archery season opened Oct. 1. It remains open statewide through Jan. 15.
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