Pressured Deer Are EASY To Pattern

[GarGuy]

Thank you for all of your wisdom and stories!! Very enjoyable to read the stories of your success while learning all at the same time!! This has made me think outside the box and plan new methods of hunting this season. Thank you again for all your time spent shedding this information to us, this thread has probably been the most enjoyable and informative to have read. I have two questions. What is your all time favorite buck/hunt, and what is your favorite hunting scenario?

My all time favorite hunt was guiding my dad to that 184inch monster although the total hunt for CrippleHorn ranks right up there because of the hours i put in to get an arrow in him.

Favorite scenerio is certainly late season when outside pressure pushes the bucks into my santuaries.

[Backwoods101]

My all time favorite hunt was guiding my dad to that 184inch monster although the total hunt for CrippleHorn ranks right up there because of the hours i put in to get an arrow in him.

Favorite scenerio is certainly late season when outside pressure pushes the bucks into my santuaries.

You saving this one for last?

[jooger17]

You saving this one for last?

Post #80

The score was wrong when Steve originally wrote the story. We cleared up some of the questionable judgment calls with a couple of official scorers and ended up with 184 and change.

[d_e_smith]

Nice bucks and info. I was taught if you aint hunting a oak bottom, you aint hunting. Now I hunt South Texas, but the last buck I killed in East Texas was a very high pressure area. Between the hog hunters, people sighting in rifles on the lease, logging trucks, trespassers, and 4 wheelers, no one was seeing anything. My stand was carried deep into the thicket a peace at a time and assembled 50 yards from a big oak thicket. You had to fight through underbrush every time out. No vehicles had access to the area. Sure enough caught a buck heading into the thicket for the day and shot him right as he went into the bottom. He ran in about 50 yards, making it a heck of an extraction, but worth it.

I shot one 13 years ago on Thanksgiving morning that was walking through a log set with a bunch of equipment parked at it. All it took was one quiet morning for the deer to go back to normal business in their core area. I literally had to wait for that buck to clear equipment before I shot it because it had walked between the log pile and the loader. Moral of the story is don't give up on an area bc it's been cut, getting cut or traffic has increased from it.

[Backwoods101]

Post #80

The score was wrong when Steve originally wrote the story. We cleared up some of the questionable judgment calls with a couple of official scorers and ended up with 184 and change.

Thanks , I just got through reading Cripple horn again (post 75 and post 83) and jumped right over it.

[fishingsetx]

I shot one 13 years ago on Thanksgiving morning that was walking through a log set with a bunch of equipment parked at it. All it took was one quiet morning for the deer to go back to normal business in their core area. I literally had to wait for that buck to clear equipment before I shot it because it had walked between the log pile and the loader. Moral of the story is don't give up on an area bc it's been cut, getting cut or traffic has increased from it.

Last year I had to drag a doe i shot around a log truck that was parked in my lane. 25 yds from stand to log truck, 25 yards of log truck and 25 more yards to the feeder! They had been logging (strip cutting) everyday from 9 till 6. The deer had patterned the loggers and would come out from daylight till 8 and from 7 till? 7 was after dark so it was morning hunts only.

[Backwoods101]

Heres one from this past season. Some of you know I have been hard after a giant 8pt I named CrippleHorn a few years ago. he is 7.5 this year (at least) and I believe he will score in the 150s as an 8pt. For the last two years he has been the most killable buck on my place yet this year have had heck getting an arrow in him. I have seen him numerous times and had him dead to rights at 20 yds one morning before it was light enough to be sure it was him. Of course when I checked the camera...it was. I have logged at least 100 hours on stand for him without a shot. I have put other folks on several of my other bucks including a really nice ten pt because I planned to hunt Cripple Horn.

Any way, Saturday evening I was sitting one of my stands overlooking a feeder and two long food plots with my 10yr old nephew holding a rifle. Just before dark, a big deer came in the food plot but Lil David wasn't comfortable shooting. I could tell it was a monster with great spread and height but couldn't figure out what deer he was. I could have shot him with the rifle but opted to sneak out and try again before church Sunday morning. About an hour after daylight Sunday, I looked out the side window to see a GIANT typical walking across the road. We scrambled to get on him but we were a second late. He was really wide and had a wall of tall tines. I don't have a single picture of this deer but I knew my neighbor did. I went visiting and sure enough...it was him.

After the hunt, I went and looked at the trail he traveled. it was well worn and lined with horn rubs as far as the eye could see. It was also the trail that old Cripple Horn had used when visiting another stand hundreds of yards away. It was a straight shot. Now this trail is a big buck dream. He avoided all three feeders yet had visual from 200yds away on each as well as the ends of the food plots. A quick look around revealed a setup from Heaven. A small clump of pines with branches to the ground and a well pump behind it to assure they wouldn't get behind me. I grabbed the only tent blind I had at home and set it up with amazing cover and a 30yd shot to where he was coming out of my sanctuary thicket as well as the trail continuing 8yds in front of the stand. With a North wind I could come in from the pump jack and have sound coverage as well as being totally out of sight. It was perfect! Monday I put out 50 lb of corn and got out. Yesterday it was all gone with new rubs all around so I put out another bag. I knew the Norther was coming and I could hardly sit still. I checked it this morning and it was cleaned up again. I corned her up and as soon as the wind switched, I was in.

Now the reason that tent blind was at home was because it was too short for me to draw my bow from so I picked up my brand new 10pt crossbow. It shoots unbelievably well. As the evening wore on I was covered in does eating corn. Finally, they just walked calmly away. A few second later caught a glimps of a deer to my left. It was a stud of an 8pt that is on the target list. 6.5 years old ,18 inches inside, long tines and sweeping beams. He walked down the trail 8yds from me and right to the corn. Now I really didn't want to put my tag on this deer and was argueing with myself about passing a deer like this. I finally decided if he started to leave of it got late, I would shoot him. Little did I know that was the least of my worries...

About 10 minutes of pure pleasure watching him and he looks past my stand, cowers a little and walks to the far edge of the corn. HA! Im on the edge of my seat when I hear a gentle burp,burp burp, coming down the trail. Here Ol Cripple Horn came! Over 100 hours this year for this moment and he looks bigger than I thought! He is 8yds broadside, looking at the other buck. safety is off, crosshairs low behind shoulder, squeeze....squeeze......squeeze..... the trigger comes all the way back without firing. He steps forward a few yards and now in my next window. I jiggle the safety, aim squeeze, limp trigger! He takes charge of a corn pile at 20yd and Is hogging it down while the big 8pt begs permission to eat which he grants. All the while Im doing everything in my power to get the crossbow working.

This goes on for about 10 more minutes when both bucks look toward the sanctuary. Ol Cripple Horn turns that direction and starts back eating. The other big 8 circles nervously. Then I see him coming. The giant typical from Sunday. He walks right out and nods at CH who barely notices and then takes over the other corn pile out my right window. He is a typical 6x6 with at least one g3 forking just above the beam. Probably 21 inside. Beams past his nose and then curl in and up. Looks like he is 180s even if I subtract 10 inches for adrenaline!
Broadside at 20yds, I decide to try again. Surely if I pull hard enough it will shoot. WRONG! This goes on with all three shooters there until it was black dark and the corn crunching continues. I text my wife and asked her to drive over there and run the deer off. 30 minutes later she hasn't shown up so I peek at my phone and see it says," Message failed". I make another feeble attempt at sending the text and when the phone lights up, those bucks left there sounding like they ripped half the brush down in my sanctuary.

Perfect ending to this hunt I guess. So much for the absolute best setup a guy could ever find. Its a dang good thing I don't drink right now!

Awesome story! What happened to this big boy?

[unclefish]

If I remember correctly....Steve you did a live hunt on Cripple Horn right? I remember feeling sick when you said the XBow wouldn't fire. That's some bad mojo.

[GarGuy]

Awesome story! What happened to this big boy?

A young girl killed him the next saturday morning. he was in the Lufkin Daily news if you can find the pic to see how close my description came to being exact!

[Johnny]

If I remember correctly....Steve you did a live hunt on Cripple Horn right? I remember feeling sick when you said the XBow wouldn't fire. That's some bad mojo.

If I'm not mistaken, that mis-fire did not happen on Ol Cripple Horn but on a MUCH bigger buck.

[GarGuy]

If I remember correctly....Steve you did a live hunt on Cripple Horn right? I remember feeling sick when you said the XBow wouldn't fire. That's some bad mojo.

Yes i did several live hunts for him over 3 miles and two counties! Sometimes i calld him OL BIG instead of cripplehorn. I didnt want someone to know i had relocated him after he moved.

[GarGuy]

If I'm not mistaken, that mis-fire did not happen on Ol Cripple Horn but on a MUCH bigger buck.

They were both there Johnny as well as that 18 inch 8pt. I had all three at 20-25yds for over an hour. that thread is titled A LIVING NIGHTMARE

[Johnny]

They were both there Johnny as well as that 18 inch 8pt. I had all three at 20-25yds for over an hour. that thread is titled A LIVING NIGHTMARE

That's right, just re-read the story above. I bet you still think about that hunt frequently!!

[GarGuy]

East Tx Monster 8Pt Down! 153 7/8

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Guys I have had a fun season and stuck to archery only all the way through. Yesterday, I filled my last tag with a 6.5 year old 8 pt that scored 153 7/8.

I know many of you pass bucks bigger than that on a daily basis but a free ranging deer that size in East Tx with archery gear is a challenge to me. For the past 7 years, I have committed to hunting a deer over 150 and all but two years have succeeded. I was thinking it wouldn't happen this year with making mistakes early on and then my number one deer getting killed by a neighbor.

Anyway, I had a huge 8 pt that Summered on one of my places but spent much of the rut a couple miles away in another county. Every year when the rut ended he would come home. I kept adding him up and getting low 50s but almost hated to hope he was that big but each time I saw him live, he was just stunning. I was pleased to start getting sporatic pics of him on his home turf a couple weeks ago in one of my sanctuaries. These spots have food plots and feeders but I have put off limits through out the season.Last Friday and Saturday, I got over 500 pics of him in my hand corn pile with a bachelor group of other nice deer and I knew he was home to stay so I started putting a plan together.

Yesterday evening the wind was perfect and I told my wife that this was the day. I could just feel it. I got in my ground blind in the sanctuary and was covered up in deer early. I had 13 does and one small buck in the corn and plot when I looked up and saw three bucks come in the food plot about 300yds out. One looked BIG!. About that time I looked out my left window and saw three bucks coming from the opposite direction and they looked big. I grabbed my binos and saw several nice bucks I recognized but not Ol Big. One deer was behind the rest and when he raised his head up , even at 300 yds there was no doubt and he headed toward my hand corn at 20-25yds. The other three bucks got to the corn pile and chased the does out before commencing to try to devour all 100lbs of corn! I knew Ol Big couldn't stand that and sure enough he was at 100yds and closing when 4 dang coyotes broke out into the food plot. Deer vanished in every direction! I was sick.

I probably had 20 minutes of shooting light left when deer started filing back to the corn. I looked through the binoculars at them and saw a deer come out way back at the end. He raised his head up and even in the low light the light colored mass on his head was obvious. This time he was alone and coming at a very fast walk. He never paused as he closed the 300yds to the hand corn.

23yds...turned broadside..pin perfect...WHACK! He blew out and I was just sitting there wondering if that really happened. I sat a few minutes and tried to settle my nerves before sneaking out to peek at the arrow. it was stuck in the ground behind where he was standing and the fletching was bright red. I picked it up and stuck it in the ground , then sneaked out and headed home figuring I would give him an hour. I was sitting on the couch talking to dad and was about to head back when I wiped my nose with my left hand and it STUNK! Oh GOD I know the smell of guts! Now I got physically ill! I called my BIL who has been on many blood trails with me and he said he was in Bryan but headed home. That's 2 hours. It was all I could do to say I would wait on him but I knew it was the right thing to do.

We got out there about 830pm and sure enough there was paunch contents that the arrow carried through even though there was bright blood on the fletching. We worked the trail I saw him enter on and had gone about 40yds when I found the first blood. Pink lung blood and I was excited. A few yards further and some nose blown blood with a sliver of lung tissue in it. Then the blood just quit. tiny flecks on hands and knees with smears on weeds. I called BBoswell shortly after smelling guts and now I was really considering pulling out till morning and bringing in the dog. We knew we weren't pushing the deer though and figured we would trail until we found his first bed. We spent 2 hours working 250yds when I saw a spot he had stopped and bled pretty good out both sides. He made a turn there and I back tracked a little in order to see which way he might have headed. I shined my light down the tunnel and said he could have gone through there. 5 yards away was a big old set of antlers sticking up out of the brush connected to a stone dead OL Big!! The whooping began!

Its been a long season but tag number five is on Ol Big! He is a clean 8pt with 35 plus inches of mass. 153 7/8
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[GarGuy]

That's right, just re-read the story above. I bet you still think about that hunt frequently!!

Well, I ended up with CrippleHorn. Ill never forget that hunt for sure! One thing about it, if the cross bow had shot, i never would have seen that other deer because Ol CH would have been leaking out both sides. I had him broad side at 8yds before he walked to the corn. Oh well....I had 490 inches of horn in front of me on three deer and two of them were 8pts! The kid got that other monster but I have a good feeling about whats on my place this year. i just put my camera out about an hour ago.

By the way, that wide old 8 that I passed several times got hit by a truck less than 50yds from my front door.