Texasbowhunter com Blanco Lease Live Hunt

[Devin]

Update plz.

[bboswell]

Update plz.

based on pics I have seen there is a story coming!

[Casey]

Well, it all came together last night for me. Actually, it didn't feel like it came together, and the outcome certainly could have been better. Regardless, a door that had remained open far too long was finally closed.

I first encountered the Big 8 on October 8th and shared as much in a post on this thread. A mistake on my part sent the handsome buck trotting away from me. My next encounter with the buck occurred on October 10th when I buried an arrow high and forward in his shoulder. I assumed the best way to catch up with the deer would be to call Carroll Kelly and get his dogs on the trail. Honey and Rocky appeared to pick up the trail with ease, but were never able to close the gap. Two hours later, there was no blood on the tailgate.

Five days later, the Big 8 was back at the feeder. I hunted every chance I could for the deer, mostly evenings after work. I'm fortunate to live 30 minutes from the lease. Over the next 15 days, I failed to be in the blind when the buck visited. The cell trail camera continued to confirm his presence occasionally, making it difficult to pattern him

I climbed into Bomb Shelter North last night hoping to wrap things up with the buck. I was not confident as he had typically come in after last light in the evenings. Additionally, I was blanked at this spot several times. As light faded, I watched a doe and fawn mill around the feeder. It became apparent by the doe's behavior that something was approaching from the north. Eventually, the fawn peered that direction as well. I leaned as quietly as I could to look that direction from the Krivo Blind. Sure enough, the Big 8 was marching into the feeder. I started recording with my Gopro in the blind, and hit record on my Canon R5 to capture the shot...or so I thought. The buck settled in perfectly where I needed him and I prepared for the shot. My draw startled the deer somewhat, causing the buck to raise his head. This has never concerned me as evidence has proven they cannot duck as low or as quickly with their heads raised. I settled the pin on him and tripped the release. What felt like a good shot suddenly appeared poor as I watched him flee with most of the arrow protruding from his shoulder. I was sick. What could possibly be going on that keeps me from getting an arrow buried deeply in, or put completely through, this buck?

I quickly reached for the R5 to review the footage. There was a red circle on the screen where I expected to see a red square, indicating it was recording. I failed to record the shot!! It is hard to imagine how much value there is in shot footage, especially on "questionable" shots. My GoPro recorded my draw and the associated audio of the shot. A quick transfer of footage from the camera to my phone had me reviewing the audio to make sure it sounded like a solid hit and not something like the smack of the shoulder bone. As far as I could tell, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, other than sight of the waving nock blasting through the cedars when the buck departed.

Texts flew to my hunting buddies and anyone else I could find that would want to hear the news. I decided to back out and wait for Les and Colette to show up at the hay barn where I had parked. The three of us went to the scene and quickly picked up the trail. We found a decent blood trail that allowed us to piece together his direction of travel as he weaved through the open areas and cedars. We found 25" of a 29" arrow laying in the open on the trail. Some distance later, the blood stopped. Les had done a great job of piecing it together as he's an excellent trailer. However, it eventually ended at the edge of a clearing. We scoured the area, discussed other options and eventually decided to back out of the pasture. I thought about calling Carroll again but decided to let it go for the night and figure out a plan for the morning.

During our track, I was getting texts from folks with encouraging words, questions and all manner of advice. I got the GoPro footage uploaded to Youtube and shared hoping someone in my text strings could confirm something positive from the audio of the shot. Trey Powers (Tex_Cattleman) responded after watching the video to tell me the shot had been captured in the GoPro footage. Knowing the angle of the camera and the shot, I disagreed with him. However, he pointed out that it was my video monitor in the blind that was visible in the footage. I now had a small amount of footage that might help us understand where the arrow impacted. Trey is a full blown detective.

I checked my phone to realize i had a trailcam pic of the buck from just before the shot. Hoping the ten seconds of the video the Reveal Tactacam records might be useful, I sent a request through the app for the download. I triggered the cell camera and that sent the video to the app. A quick review of the footage revealed the trail camera had captured the shot!! This footage was the only decent coverage I had of the placement of the arrow.

Here is that trail cam shot:


I got home and began piecing the evidence together and continued to communicate with my circle of expert hunter friends. It seemed the best course of action was to hit the trail again in the morning and see what I could find.

Here is the footage from the Reveal Tactacam

This is the video where Tex_cattleman found the shot recorded on the GoPro. It's there in the lower right corner.

After editing the trailcam footage, and doing some frame grabs, I was convinced the shot was not that poor and that there was a better than average chance that the buck didn't survive. I shared with those still up last night and got enough confirmation to convince me success might come in the morning.

Here are a couple of those screen grabs.






That last screen grab was what I needed to see to lift my spirits. My daughter's boyfriend and I headed to the lease this morning and I called Carroll on the way. He met us there and turned Honey loose. Rocky was left behind to give Honey time to get fully on the trail. Ten minutes and a couple hundred yards later, I heard Honey bark. My cell phone rang and Carroll was on the other end telling me Honey had found my buck. Disappointment came when he told me that the coyotes had gotten there first. However, I'm happy with the ending. We inspected the carcass as best we could and determined the shot was likely decent enough to do the work and that we might have found the buck last night with the dogs. There is some possibility that we might have spooked the buck across the road that was nearby, but we can second guess things until the cows came home. What is important is that the buck was found, the trophy collected and the lessons learned.

I can't thank Carroll enough for his help. If you need a tracking team in the Hill Country. He's the guy to call. I won't post his number but will share with anyone that reaches out.

My best guess right now is that this buck will score around 130". I will get a tape on it soon and will then hand off to Trey for one of his quality euros. At some point, I might collect a cape from another deer and get him mounted properly. This tough buck deserves it!


Now for the less than glamorous LDPs. I wish there was more one could do with the pics in such a situation but it's sorta a mess all the way around. Thanks for reading this far. More hunting to come this weekend.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Wow those yotes did a number on him!! Glad you were finally able to get closure on that buck.

[MASTERS]

Congrats Casey, glad yall found him.

[Texas Grown]

Man, that tracking dog was hungry! She done ate half your deer!

Congrats on finding and closing this pursuit, Casey! You've had a tough time with this one.

[Kevin]

Glad you tagged him Casey! Doesn’t always work out how we like, but it worked out!!!

[M16]

Congrats on closing the deal on a fine buck!

[MooseontheLoose]

Great detective work on that one. Not the ideal outcome, but at least you were able to close that chapter. That's a great hill country 8!

Would still love to know what that arrow hit

[7sdad]

Congrats on a good buck and finding him.

[simek]

Glad you were able to complete this chapter. Might be time to go to a heavier arrow set up.

[Casey]

Glad you were able to complete this chapter. Might be time to go to a heavier arrow set up.

Arrow weighed 456 gr. What would you suggest?

[simek]

457. Just kidding. Did the autopsy reveal a shoulder hit?

[Casey]

457. Just kidding. Did the autopsy reveal a shoulder hit?

Video evidence from cell cam and the noticeable spot on the hide where coyotes began chewing indicate it entered behind the shoulder. Hard to to a necropsy on that carcass, actually. I do believe that the opposite shoulder/leg bone stopped the arrow but was unable to confirm. The broadhead end was laying under the carcass so no idea from that either. Likely pulled out with removal of innards by the coyotes?

[Dru]

Congrats Casey.