Originally posted by jooger17
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I'll throw one into the hat that Steve put me on.
Dog Tired Buck
I was pestering Steve and Mr. David on day during bow season after a slow morning on my lease in Houston Co. It's over an hour to my house and only 15min to Steve's so I'd usually end up over there after a morning hunt. Not to mention if I put my order in Mrs. Barclay would have a spread fit for a king coming out of the stove when I got there.
Anyways, we'd just got a belly full of greens and chicken and Steve and I decided we'd better get to moving around or we'd be piled up in the living room with Mr. David taking a hard core power nap. We jumped in the truck and Steve said, "I've got something I want to show you." I always get excited when he says that. You never know what it may be... A pile of arrow heads as big as a house, a piece of East Texas history such as the lost railroad track, a jam up fishing pond, or maybe, JUST MAYBE a primo hunting spot. This time it was the latter.
Acorns were falling in biblical proportions and he knew of a hot spot. It was a pretty good hike into this section of the DCNF but when we got there it was worth it! If there was a place for a rub or scrape to be, it was there! The place smelled like buck's even though the rut was about a month away.
I hunted it the next afternoon and saw 1 deer on a ridge top a couple of hundred yards away, but I hadn't lost faith in this spot. I left my climber on the tree with intentions of hunting it the next morning but got called back to work.
28 days passed before I got back to E. Tx to hunt. I'd worked about 30 hours straight finishing up the well and getting tools sent in. I made the 9 hour drive home and got there about daylight. I woke baby girl up and hung out with her and momma for a bit and tried to get some sleep... That was useless, you don't sleep during the rut!
I loaded my gear and drove to my bow only HouCo lease to check cams about 10am. Bucks were going crazy! All of our shooter bucks were on cam during daylight, but the wind was wrong for every active stand. I called an audible, threw on my hunter Orange, put the Hoyt back in the case, and grabbed the .280.
I headed back to the "Gar Hole" in the DCNF, and was a bit disappointed to see there wasn't as much active sign as before. The layout of this place is one that calls you in even if there isn't sign. It's a place where sooner or later, deer HAVE to use this funnel.
I found a forked stick and a big pine 3/4 of the way of the ridge where I could watch a series of draws.
I hadn't been there long and MAN was I ever getting tired. I'd been up for close to 50 hours at this point and was struggling to keep my eyes open when I caught movement over my left shoulder.
I could see a buck hooking a pin oak limb and making a scrape under it but his horns was in the limbs and I couldn't tell what he was other than mature. When he stepped away from the scrape I could tell he was a pretty good buck but didn't register as a shooter right away. I watched him with the naked eye unable to move to get the binos just yet. He got a tree between us and I stole a second to grab them and get a better look.
When he stepped out I saw a cool kicker of his 2 and noticed all the mass... Mature, nice horns, national forrest... That'll work! He stepped behind another big white oak and I traded the binos for the .280. I got hooked up on my forked stick and gave him 140gr to the shoulder. It was something like 4:20pm when the smoke cleared.
Me and Steve nearly killed ourselves getting him out even with the help of his Deer Cart. Big old 6.5 year old DCNF Stud. He scored 136" on the nose.
What makes this story like all the rest is this is a place that gets BETTER with pressure! This would be "nocturnal" deer was stomping around in there without a care in the world!
Dog Tired Buck
I was pestering Steve and Mr. David on day during bow season after a slow morning on my lease in Houston Co. It's over an hour to my house and only 15min to Steve's so I'd usually end up over there after a morning hunt. Not to mention if I put my order in Mrs. Barclay would have a spread fit for a king coming out of the stove when I got there.
Anyways, we'd just got a belly full of greens and chicken and Steve and I decided we'd better get to moving around or we'd be piled up in the living room with Mr. David taking a hard core power nap. We jumped in the truck and Steve said, "I've got something I want to show you." I always get excited when he says that. You never know what it may be... A pile of arrow heads as big as a house, a piece of East Texas history such as the lost railroad track, a jam up fishing pond, or maybe, JUST MAYBE a primo hunting spot. This time it was the latter.
Acorns were falling in biblical proportions and he knew of a hot spot. It was a pretty good hike into this section of the DCNF but when we got there it was worth it! If there was a place for a rub or scrape to be, it was there! The place smelled like buck's even though the rut was about a month away.
I hunted it the next afternoon and saw 1 deer on a ridge top a couple of hundred yards away, but I hadn't lost faith in this spot. I left my climber on the tree with intentions of hunting it the next morning but got called back to work.
28 days passed before I got back to E. Tx to hunt. I'd worked about 30 hours straight finishing up the well and getting tools sent in. I made the 9 hour drive home and got there about daylight. I woke baby girl up and hung out with her and momma for a bit and tried to get some sleep... That was useless, you don't sleep during the rut!
I loaded my gear and drove to my bow only HouCo lease to check cams about 10am. Bucks were going crazy! All of our shooter bucks were on cam during daylight, but the wind was wrong for every active stand. I called an audible, threw on my hunter Orange, put the Hoyt back in the case, and grabbed the .280.
I headed back to the "Gar Hole" in the DCNF, and was a bit disappointed to see there wasn't as much active sign as before. The layout of this place is one that calls you in even if there isn't sign. It's a place where sooner or later, deer HAVE to use this funnel.
I found a forked stick and a big pine 3/4 of the way of the ridge where I could watch a series of draws.
I hadn't been there long and MAN was I ever getting tired. I'd been up for close to 50 hours at this point and was struggling to keep my eyes open when I caught movement over my left shoulder.
I could see a buck hooking a pin oak limb and making a scrape under it but his horns was in the limbs and I couldn't tell what he was other than mature. When he stepped away from the scrape I could tell he was a pretty good buck but didn't register as a shooter right away. I watched him with the naked eye unable to move to get the binos just yet. He got a tree between us and I stole a second to grab them and get a better look.
When he stepped out I saw a cool kicker of his 2 and noticed all the mass... Mature, nice horns, national forrest... That'll work! He stepped behind another big white oak and I traded the binos for the .280. I got hooked up on my forked stick and gave him 140gr to the shoulder. It was something like 4:20pm when the smoke cleared.
Me and Steve nearly killed ourselves getting him out even with the help of his Deer Cart. Big old 6.5 year old DCNF Stud. He scored 136" on the nose.
What makes this story like all the rest is this is a place that gets BETTER with pressure! This would be "nocturnal" deer was stomping around in there without a care in the world!
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