Some of you followed along on the live hunt that me and SaltwaterSlick had a few weeks ago from his lease in Del Rio. I was fortunate enough to get an invite to bowhunt this beautiful ranch again.
I was able to kill a nice doe on a frosty morning hunt. She came in at about 17 yards and my trusty 4 year old Bowtech Tribute put a Simmons Landshark broadhead through both lungs. She went down on video!
Full .mov version for Quicktime
Here's the youtube version:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMyHr2B6EPI"]YouTube - DelrioDoe2010[/ame]
During this same hunt Charlie got some great footage of a beautiful 140 class 10 point that skirted the edge of the feeder pen. He was making a scrape and showing off. This lease has much bigger bucks so Charlie never picked up his bow.
Then something amazing happened that I've never had the privilege of seeing. I heard something flapping and causing a ruckus out in front of the blind. I figured it was a hen turkey since they had been in earlier. I peeked out of the window and there was a huge hawk on the ground with his wings spread out. That would be cool enough…except that he was also on top of a big fox squirrel that he had just landed on. He was killing the squirrel with his "large talons" (thanks Napoleon Dynamite)
. You could see the squirrel making his final twitches. A few seconds later the hawk took off in flight with the squirrel in his grip. Awesome stuff!
Full .mov version for Quicktime
Here's the youtube version:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i24VsBt6lmk"]YouTube - Del Rio Big Buck and Hawk Grabs a Squirrel[/ame]
And then the hunt got even better! We got out of the stand around 10 am or 10:30. We were pretty cold and things had slowed down. We went over to the downed doe and dragged it back towards the blind where we could take some pics and gut her. We were just about through when I saw a big doe walking along the base of the cliffs about 60 yards away or so. I motioned at Charlie and showed him the deer. Somehow she didn't see us or hear us and kept walking from our left to right. I went into autopilot mode. I wiped off my hands, strapped on my release, and nocked an arrow. When the deer was out of view behind a huge pecan tree, I crept up to about 37/38 yards or so (stepped off later).
She saw me when I drew back and stopped behind some trees. I stayed at full draw for what seemed liked forever when she started walking again. I stopped her with a loud "maaaaaah". She stopped right on cue….right behind a dang big old pecan limb that was blocking her vitals. I forgot to mention that Charlie didn't have his video camera with him but he had whipped out his handy Iphone and was filming me at full draw. I wasn't really aware of this at the time or I would have sucked in my gut!
So……I held at full draw for another couple hours and the doe finally started walking again. I didn't have a range finder but I was confident that she was at 40 yards. I stopped her again with another loud bleat and she was perfectly still and broadside. I tripped the release and watched the arrow zip through her. I thought the shot might be a little low but it happened so fast I wasn't sure. She took off running straight up the hill and disappeared. Charlie said he didn't see the shot since he was filming me with the iphone, but said that it "sure sounded good"!
After the feeling came back to my arms, we walked over and found my arrow…covered in bright red blood! It was the only archery shot on a deer that I've ever taken at more than 22 or 23 yards. But I felt great about it and was very excited about how the whole thing went down.
The blood trail started out slow so we decided to back out, finish taking care of the first doe, go get the truck, shed a few layers of thermals, and then decide whether or not to go back to camp and get "Sandy The Wonder Dog" to blood trail for us.
We got back on the trail about 30 minutes later and it started picking up nicely. Soon we were finding blood all over the tall grass and then several big splashes on the ground. We made it up to where the cliff leveled off a bit below an irrigation canal. And there she was! It was the biggest doe that I've ever shot. We didn't get to weigh her but I would guess about 300 lbs. Not really..but she was a P&Y doe if I've ever seen one.
The shot was great….her lungs were jelly and she was ran up the hill on borrowed time. Charlie and I high-fived and sat back and soaked in that wonderful experience. The whole morning was perfect…from a doe, to a buck, to a hawk & squirrel, to another doe.
Thanks again Charlie for inviting me to that little slice of heaven. It came at a perfect time since deer are avoiding my Schleicher County lease like a nuclear waste zone.
Here's the iphone video of a fat boy at full draw forever (not all of the duration was on video, but the good part is). If you watch closely at the very first few seconds of the video, you can barely see the deer to the right of the big tree in the middle of the shot. If you listen closely you can hear me "maaaaaah" a couple times and then see me shoot.
Full .mov version for Quicktime
Here's the youtube version:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19d1uVDTFm8"]YouTube - 2010 Del Rio Doe #2[/ame]
Thanks for following along!
I was able to kill a nice doe on a frosty morning hunt. She came in at about 17 yards and my trusty 4 year old Bowtech Tribute put a Simmons Landshark broadhead through both lungs. She went down on video!
Full .mov version for Quicktime
Here's the youtube version:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMyHr2B6EPI"]YouTube - DelrioDoe2010[/ame]
During this same hunt Charlie got some great footage of a beautiful 140 class 10 point that skirted the edge of the feeder pen. He was making a scrape and showing off. This lease has much bigger bucks so Charlie never picked up his bow.
Then something amazing happened that I've never had the privilege of seeing. I heard something flapping and causing a ruckus out in front of the blind. I figured it was a hen turkey since they had been in earlier. I peeked out of the window and there was a huge hawk on the ground with his wings spread out. That would be cool enough…except that he was also on top of a big fox squirrel that he had just landed on. He was killing the squirrel with his "large talons" (thanks Napoleon Dynamite)
. You could see the squirrel making his final twitches. A few seconds later the hawk took off in flight with the squirrel in his grip. Awesome stuff!Full .mov version for Quicktime
Here's the youtube version:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i24VsBt6lmk"]YouTube - Del Rio Big Buck and Hawk Grabs a Squirrel[/ame]
And then the hunt got even better! We got out of the stand around 10 am or 10:30. We were pretty cold and things had slowed down. We went over to the downed doe and dragged it back towards the blind where we could take some pics and gut her. We were just about through when I saw a big doe walking along the base of the cliffs about 60 yards away or so. I motioned at Charlie and showed him the deer. Somehow she didn't see us or hear us and kept walking from our left to right. I went into autopilot mode. I wiped off my hands, strapped on my release, and nocked an arrow. When the deer was out of view behind a huge pecan tree, I crept up to about 37/38 yards or so (stepped off later).
She saw me when I drew back and stopped behind some trees. I stayed at full draw for what seemed liked forever when she started walking again. I stopped her with a loud "maaaaaah". She stopped right on cue….right behind a dang big old pecan limb that was blocking her vitals. I forgot to mention that Charlie didn't have his video camera with him but he had whipped out his handy Iphone and was filming me at full draw. I wasn't really aware of this at the time or I would have sucked in my gut!
So……I held at full draw for another couple hours and the doe finally started walking again. I didn't have a range finder but I was confident that she was at 40 yards. I stopped her again with another loud bleat and she was perfectly still and broadside. I tripped the release and watched the arrow zip through her. I thought the shot might be a little low but it happened so fast I wasn't sure. She took off running straight up the hill and disappeared. Charlie said he didn't see the shot since he was filming me with the iphone, but said that it "sure sounded good"!
After the feeling came back to my arms, we walked over and found my arrow…covered in bright red blood! It was the only archery shot on a deer that I've ever taken at more than 22 or 23 yards. But I felt great about it and was very excited about how the whole thing went down.
The blood trail started out slow so we decided to back out, finish taking care of the first doe, go get the truck, shed a few layers of thermals, and then decide whether or not to go back to camp and get "Sandy The Wonder Dog" to blood trail for us.
We got back on the trail about 30 minutes later and it started picking up nicely. Soon we were finding blood all over the tall grass and then several big splashes on the ground. We made it up to where the cliff leveled off a bit below an irrigation canal. And there she was! It was the biggest doe that I've ever shot. We didn't get to weigh her but I would guess about 300 lbs. Not really..but she was a P&Y doe if I've ever seen one.
The shot was great….her lungs were jelly and she was ran up the hill on borrowed time. Charlie and I high-fived and sat back and soaked in that wonderful experience. The whole morning was perfect…from a doe, to a buck, to a hawk & squirrel, to another doe.
Thanks again Charlie for inviting me to that little slice of heaven. It came at a perfect time since deer are avoiding my Schleicher County lease like a nuclear waste zone.
Here's the iphone video of a fat boy at full draw forever (not all of the duration was on video, but the good part is). If you watch closely at the very first few seconds of the video, you can barely see the deer to the right of the big tree in the middle of the shot. If you listen closely you can hear me "maaaaaah" a couple times and then see me shoot.
Full .mov version for Quicktime
Here's the youtube version:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19d1uVDTFm8"]YouTube - 2010 Del Rio Doe #2[/ame]
Thanks for following along!
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