BIG BUCK CONTEST Simmons’ Sporting Goods Announces Winners of Their Annual Big Buck Contest
For the last 25 years, the largest independent sporting goods retail outfitter in the south, Simmons’ Sporting Goods, has organized one of the largest public hunting contests of its kind anywhere in the country. The Simmons’ Sporting Goods Big Buck Contest opens October 1 of each year and continues through January 31 of the following year. It began as a small local contest and has grown into a large regional contest attracting over 5,000 contestants in a single season. The contest accepts legally harvested whitetail bucks and they are measured and recorded under the Boone & Crockett green score parameters. Each entry is placed into its proper category ranging from Spike to Open, Largest Louisiana, Largest Mississippi, and Largest Arkansas buck as well as 21 other categories. All bucks harvested outside of a 200 mile radius of Simmons’ Sporting Goods in Bastrop, LA are entered into the Open category. All entries are entered into a drawing for the grand prize, which is awarded during the prize ceremony and usually takes place on the first Saturday in March each year. In recent years the grand prize has been a loaded Ford F150 4x4 from Hixson Ford in Monroe, LA. The contestant with the largest buck entered within the 200 mile radius is awarded a 2013 4x4 ATV. All others placing in the contest within their respective categories, some of which will have the top five places in their category while others result in the top two places in their respective category, are awarded prize packages made up of store merchandise such as apparel, firearms, archery products, footwear and accessories all worth more than $130,000. Product and media partners compete for the opportunity to co-sponsor the Simmons’ Sporting Goods Big Buck Contest to help promote one of the most exciting contests for the public that the tri-state area has ever seen. 32 BayouLife Magazine APRIL 2014
The winners of this year’s Simmons’ Sporting Goods Big Buck Contest were Joseph Pender, who won the Hixson Ford F150 4x4, and Jason Archer who won the 2013 4x4 ATV from Moeller’s. Contest sponsors capitalize on the buzz and excitement while supporting one of the most traditional and warmly coveted past-times practiced by tens of thousands of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas residents. Genera-
tions of hunters have enjoyed the Simmons Sporting Goods Big Buck Contest for decades and with the recent success ensured by the increased number of contestants, it will only get better.