Picture a Day

[AgBass01]

Cruising at 1500ft

[AgBass01]

[AtTheWall]

[SanSaba007]

Awesome pics.

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[Tony Pic]

Rob...Great pics. Thanks for sharing them. I drool looking at these deer you post pics of. Are these pics of Kerr and Gillespie county bucks?

[AtTheWall]

Thank you Tony!

Low fence, no protein, native genetics - Kerr County whitetail!

Those with ranches that border this 4000+ acre spread, hunt the fence line. I've followed this particular whitetail herd hard since 2007. Through these years, I've identified the various young buck offspring of some of the older and long gone big boys. Wide genetics is one group, tall tines and up swept main beams a 2nd group and the 3rd group are regular framed with kickers and drop tines.

It's been extremely educational to me and I've learned tons about native hill country whitetail and their unique diet and various herd interactions. There are definitive herd groups, with each group separating themselves from the other groups by a half mile or more. Even the big boys, during rut, become very predictable in their territorial areas and the biggest and most mature (dominate buck), will typically work heavy timber and cedar breaks forcing his competition out into more open and exposed areas, areas typically void of large whitetail groups and considering this ranch, the idiotic Blackbuck antelope who runs around breeding literally year round.

These known big buck territories deliver for me and it took a couple of years to dial in these key areas. Once I dialed them in, as the old boys die and the new generation take over, they predictably maintain a peeking order as well as frequenting particular areas of this ranch. There are some areas where big boys simply never linger and the odds of seeing there are very rare. I truly believe if one had the opportunity to study whitetail before purchasing a parcel of ranch property before buying, you will find out the best ranch and or property that naturally attracts big bucks. It's been very enlightening to me and areas that are high in grass and cover, have way more activity than areas with heavy cover and less grass. The common denominator is - there is no pressure on these whitetail from hunting of any kind. A very very unique wildlife sanctuary and essentially a true read of whitetail and their habits. I can see how our Native American Indian tribes were able to feed their families a steady diet of whitetail using longbows of that era. These animals are extremely laid back and as long as you maintain a predictable distance and allow them buffer zones, you can get away with stalking them fairly reliably.

I've learned a tremendous amount about some of the free range exotics in Kerr county as well. You can stalk a whitetail buck tighter than you can a Blackbuck antelope. Unpressured whitetail deer will let you close to within 100 yards...Blackbuck antelope - 250 yards at best with many of them clearing at 300+ Axis are pretty much the same....maybe 200 yards at best and once contact is made, they move versus holding and ghosting like a whitetail. High plains American pronghorn antelope in New Mexico, pre-gun season, you can close to within 120 - 150 yards...as another example.

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[kmlj9491]

That's a beautiful picture

[AtTheWall]

Thank you KMLJ9491

American Black Vulture

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