Question for all TBH,and comments

[Bish]

Was just reading threw some of the threads and wanted to know how all of yall felt about something. I have been hunting for 37yrs and have hunted bow only for the last 22 years. I saw a post where someone ask where to get a 170" or 180" buck and someone said the King Ranch. I went on a Nilgi hunt at the King Ranch about 12 yrs ago, and the Bucks that my brother-in-law and I saw were all 150'' to 180" bucks, and I thought boy I would like to get one of those in bow range. But then we started walking threw the woods and all these Monster Bucks just would stand there and look at us, we keep walking closer and closer and they still would not move. I then told my brother-in-law to get the camera out of my back pack and lets just see how close we can get. I walked within 5' to 10' of an 160" 12 point and 150" 10 point and several more threw out the day that were even bigger. That took the excitement out of the hunt for me, I could of paid $8,000.00 to $10,000.00 and shot one of those bucks but that was to easy, like someone said its not all about the inches, its you one on one with nature in its own element and trying to find that buck on his turff and out witt him and to try and get that shot. This is how I feel about hunting, just wanted to know how all you guys felt and please do not take this the wrong way, I am not judging anyone.

God Bless All.
Bish

[JHT]

What if they charged distance of the shot rather than bone length?

You could have handed them a $5'er and asked for change!!!!!

[River Bottom Hunter]

That would be shopping not hunting right?

[DrenalinJunkie]

I agree, might as well go to the store and get it. I have been on the King and had the deer walk up to the truck.

[TimHicks]

Bish...
Great to see you posing again..to me it would be something to hang on the wall but no memory or have a special place in my heart..yes it was a bow kill but in my heart I know the difference.
A true trophy comes from within..yes you will see me dissapointed with some hunts results..from my competetion factor to make myself better. I will gripe when I think oh hes a big one/hogs I am learning more patience as I get older..
A hunt comes from my soul..yes I like to succeed and I like to be bigger better and have the biggest,..aint always going to work like that and I know that so it makes me try that much more.

[Legdog]

Those King Ranch deer are like that (well there are always exceptions). They are the ultimate spot and stalk deer.

I'm sure it has a lot to do with pressure and the size of the pastures, but it has been my experience, that they are just not as wary as deer from other parts of the State. Still, I don't think you can diminish a deer just because it came off the King.

The nilgai are a whole 'nother enchilada... It can be done, but you don't see a lot of nilgai with the bow.

[Buff]

I would shoot one in a heart beat....... but thats just how I am. I have never set out to shoot a sheep ever... but they just keep walking by me and the temptation is more than I can bare I have a 1/2 dozen on the wall... So if I had a deer walk by me I know I would shoot him

[Mudshack]

In some areas of the King, deer haven't seen humans before. They don't know to run. They are at the top of the Toddem pole, so why should they run.

But my experience on the ranch was....some pastures...the deer bolt at the slightest sound. Others, will sit and watch the white KR F250's and not bat an eye.

[Fowlhooked]

I might shoot one, but I wouldn't pay 8 or 10 thousand to do it. I am like you Bish, I love the hunt, and being out in nature and see all it has to offer. I have killed a few descent bucks with my bow, but my best kill ever was a stalked doe on public land. Awesome!

[trophy_taker]

Bish, I agree totally!

[Coon]

While I somewhat agree, I wonder how hard does it have to be before it is a trophy? Is sitting in a blind beside a feeder where the deer come out regularly hard enough? Or hunting along a road that has corn scattered along it? Or does it have to be on public land without bait with all their restrictive rules? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a private lease with feeders and blinds. I wish I could afford one or that TP&W would allow bait on public land. I just wonder how hard it has to be to be a trophy and who is it that decides that. I think that while I respect each person's view and opinion, I think it is up to each of us to decide for himself, and wrong for anyone to take away from it as long as its not illegal or grossly immoral. Maybe Tred Barta can tell us. Just something to think about.


Dave

[Texas Grown]

The "True Trophy" is not in how large the animal is, but the experience gained in acquiring it. - MikeB.

Hi Bish!

[BO-N-ARO]

Just think how easy it would be if they had an 8 foot fence around the King Ranch!!!

[qzilla]

Was just reading threw some of the threads and wanted to know how all of yall felt about something. I have been hunting for 37yrs and have hunted bow only for the last 22 years. I saw a post where someone ask where to get a 170" or 180" buck and someone said the King Ranch. I went on a Nilgi hunt at the King Ranch about 12 yrs ago, and the Bucks that my brother-in-law and I saw were all 150'' to 180" bucks, and I thought boy I would like to get one of those in bow range. But then we started walking threw the woods and all these Monster Bucks just would stand there and look at us, we keep walking closer and closer and they still would not move. I then told my brother-in-law to get the camera out of my back pack and lets just see how close we can get. I walked within 5' to 10' of an 160" 12 point and 150" 10 point and several more threw out the day that were even bigger. That took the excitement out of the hunt for me, I could of paid $8,000.00 to $10,000.00 and shot one of those bucks but that was to easy, like someone said its not all about the inches, its you one on one with nature in its own element and trying to find that buck on his turff and out witt him and to try and get that shot. This is how I feel about hunting, just wanted to know how all you guys felt and please do not take this the wrong way, I am not judging anyone.

God Bless All.
Bish

That is extremely exagerated. I have hunted on the King Ranch, having our own lease, for 9 years and that is just bologna.

There are places that you can walk up to deer as they are sort of raised in areas as pets. In otherwords, no hunting, ever and every time they see them they feed them. These are not hunting areas and most of the time they are legacy pastures.

I here this all the time and while some of the deer (usually younger deer) can be somewhat docile due to the lack of hunting pressure, you cannot walk up and shoot these deer.

Now, you also need to figure in that 10-12 years ago the deer at the King ranch are nothing like they are now, I seriously doubt you were seeing 180" deer. They shoot very few of those each year on the entire 825,000 acres. I very seriously doubt you were so lucky as to be walking up to those deer on your 1 or 2 days there. I would believe that you saw some great deer and that they were docile but, not big giant 150-180 class deer.

I know too many people that have leases down there and I have been on too many acres for too many years for that to make any sense at all.

[Ricky T]

I've bowhunted the King for whitetails. Back when I was there (when the Peeples had the bowhunting concession) a buck was $2500. It was an experience I will never forget. Shot a little too far forward on a 150 nine point the first afternoon and jumped him the next morning but he got away. I want revenge at the King but can't pay eight to ten grand to do it. There's plenty of people that do have the money or some that really want a big whitetail enough to save or scrimp for a hunt on that ranch. I wish ALL the deer in Texas acted the way deer down there act. Probably how they were meant to behave. I walked up on two or three mature bucks, one a 160 twelve point at spitting range while looking for the deer I had hit. I wouldn't consider it a gimme to hunt deer like that, just fortunate.