Pickup trucks filled the parking around Wattsville Center this misty Saturday morning.  Gathered inside, in addition to the regulars with the pancakes and coffee, a group of men waited for the announcement of the winners of the third annual Wattsville Big Buck Contest.

In the back of the room on the floor and counters were the trophies they’d brought in, standing side-by-side, looking like a forest of antlers rising out of the bags that contained them.  Dan Taylor with a measuring tape in hand took on the responsibility of grading the whitetail deer trophies by the Boone & Crockett standards of width, mass and length.

This is the third year of the contest, explained store owner and contest sponsor Ken Bates.  All of the deer were shot in western Winn Parish.  The winning score has increased ever year and for 2024, there were 27 entries.  Bates noted that any contestant had to register for the contest before they killed their deer, meaning they were betting on their personal hunting kills rather than on a trophy they already had.

Saturday’s winner was Shannon Perot whose trophy scored 143-6/8 points.  Second went to Kayden McNaughton with 132-7/8 points.  Third went to Burch Gill with 114 points.

Showing the increase each year that Bates mentioned, the first year’s winner was Mike McNaughton with 122 points.  The second year’s winner was Shannon Perot with 133-6/8 points.  And the current repeat winner was Shannon Perot with 143-6/8 points.