Whitetail deer have an uncanny knack for eluding humans. Any deer hunter who’s spent any time chasing whitetails knows this very well, but it still amazes me when I hear of an old monster buck being killed in an area where he should have been seen many times. In this case, I’m talking about Plum Creek, in Caldwell County, about two or three miles outside the town of Lockhart. Most land holdings there are less than 200 acres and have a lot of human traffic all year round.
You’d think someone would have seen the buck. Winn Schroeder had never seen it, though, and neither had any of his neighbors. At least not until the evening of November 26, 2007. On that day, Schroeder added an historic event to that area of Plum Creek.

The area east of present-day Lockhart made history for the first time in 1840. The unrest between the Comanche and Kiowa tribes and the white settlers was approaching the unbearable. Little Matilda Lockhart had been captured by the Comanches when she was 13, and had just been united with her family after three years of captivity. The squaws, who were not friendly with captured girls, had put coals of fire to Matilda’s nose to punish her. When she was recovered from the Indians, her nose was burned down to the bone.
Such atrocities didn’t set well with the settlers. After a pow-wow between the Indians and the Anglos, in which several Indians were killed after a fight broke out, the Indians gathered in the Hill Country and made bad medicine against the whites. In August, some 500 Indians descended upon the coastal towns of Victoria and Linnville. They burned both towns and stole nearly 900 horses and mules before heading back toward the Hill Country and safety. On the morning of the twelfth, 87 Anglos intercepted the long string of Indians and horses just east of present day Lockhart, on Plum Creek. The battle lasted all day and spread over an area 15 miles wide, as the Indians scattered and flew north. Fifty Indians were killed, and the Anglos lost one man. This historic battle would be the last big Indian fight on the frontier. It was also about the last landmark event of any note in that area of Texas for a long time to come.
Caldwell County was established in 1848, 12 years after Texas gained its independence from Mexico. Parts of Bastrop and Gonzales were cut off to form the new county. It lies in the extreme southern tip of the Post Oak Belt that runs from the Red River down between the Backland Prairie and the Pineywoods and ends just south of Austin.
Practically all of the Post Oak Savannah, as it’s called today, was put to the plow in the early 1800s; it never has been much for deer country. There probably aren’t much more than a thousand deer within its borders today. With so few deer, hunting pressure is light, allowing what few deer that are there—especially those around Plum Creek—to grow to older age with little competition for food. In such a setting, a lucky deer hunter can make hunting history.

Winn Schroeder has hunted whitetails for 37 years. Most of the bucks during the last few years have been taken in South Texas.
“I’ve gotten past shooting at bucks just to be shooting a buck,” said Winn. “If he doesn’t meet the criteria of a trophy buck, I don’t pull the trigger.”
He has a few mounted heads gracing his office at Caldwell County Farm and Ranch supply in Lockhart that attest to his philosophy.
Winn’s mission for the evening of November 26, 2007, was to go out to the family place on Plum Creek, look at the cattle, and shoot daughter Cassie’s .22-250 rifle to make sure it was on target. Cassie, 14, had told Dad that she might want to go hunting.
After Winn got through with the cows and had shot the rifle, he went back to the store. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, so Winn decided to go back to Plum Creek and sit a while. He had never killed a deer on the 200-acre home place, and as a rule he would have taken a 7mm Mag. or his .300 Weatherby. But on that day all he had was Cassie’s .22-250. He didn’t think it mattered much. Sitting Plum Creek was really nothing more than a half-hearted effort—Winn hadn’t killed a deer in seven years.
“About 5:45 I noticed some movement in the brush, and out stepped the biggest buck that I had seen in some time,” Winn recalled. “I hadn’t planned to kill a deer, but when I saw how high his antlers were—and how massive—I knew I had to take a shot, even with the little .22-250.” 
It wasn’t a long shot, so Winn decided to aim for the neck. At the crack of the rifle, the little 55-grain bullet found its mark and the buck crumpled. But not for long. The buck was back on his feet and heading elsewhere. Winn put another bullet in the buck’s neck fast, and that time he went down for good.
When Winn walked up to the monster buck, little did he know he’d just killed the biggest buck ever taken in Caldwell County and, no doubt, the biggest buck ever killed in the Post Oak Savannah.
I live about 40 miles from Lockhart, in Gonzales County, and when a big deer is killed in our part of the world, word spreads quickly. A few days after Winn killed the big buck, I heard about it in the local Taco Hut while eating a Robert Special with several of my friends.
One of them mentioned that a huge buck in the 170 B&C class had been taken somewhere near Luling or Lockhart by a hunter named Winn. I immediately began to try to locate the hunter, but someone along the way told me he lived in Houston. I kept trying to find out more, but finally gave up on the matter.
About three months later I was visiting with Rick Schmidt, owner of Kreuz’s world famous BBQ in Lockhart, and we spent a little time talking about deer. I mentioned the big buck I’d been thinking about and kind of lost track of, and Rick asked, “You want to talk to the man who killed that buck?”
“Of course,” I replied.
“Well, he owns that farm supply store across the street there.”
I could hardly believe what I’d just heard. After all this time trying to find the deer hunter, and it turned out he was right there in Lockhart. Needless to say, I was visiting with Winn Schroeder soon after that. And then Winn and I loaded up and went to Terry Rheinlander’s World Class Taxidermy business on East Burleson in Austin. I wanted to see those antlers.
The buck was a 13-point that grossed 1753⁄8, even with three broken points. I figured that the buck had scored over 180 before damaging his rack. Winn told me that the deer had field dressed 140 pounds and they’d guessed his age at 61⁄2 years.
“He’s the best buck I’ve ever killed, by far,” said Winn. “And he’s the only buck I ever killed that got bigger the closer I got walking up to him. When I pulled his head up to take a look at the whole thing, the long points and mass of his antlers were just hard to believe.
“I’m not the only hunter around here who’s killed a good buck,” Winn said humbly. “Bubba Hahn, Thomas Blackwell, James Lipscomb, and Wayne Babbs have all killed bucks that were extra good.” 
I admired his modesty, but said to him, “Well, yes, but those hunters’ bucks were chiquito compared to yours.” Winn looked the other way—these guys are his friends. Like I said, he’s modest.
Well, now we have two historic events for Plum Creek. The Battle of Plum Creek in 1840 and Winn Schroeder’s record buck for the Post Oak Savannah of Texas in 2007. No doubt, someone will come up with another piece of history in the area at some time during the next 167 years. We’ll just have to wait and see.