It's a little long, but should be a good read. There is a bow kill at the end, which is why I posted it here.
My weekend started last Wednesday. Me, my Dad and two good Buddies got drawn for a rifle hunt at Colorado Bend State Park. The hunt started at noon on Wednesday and went until noon on Friday. The quarry would be 2 whitetail deer, unlimited exotics and hogs. We headed out on Wednesday morning on what would be my first ever “Full On” rifle hunt and to tell you the truth I was excited. We got to the park and checked in, they showed us our area (about 1000 acres of cedars and oaks all to ourselves) and the hunt was on!
The first evening was spent mostly looking for good areas and actually no one saw any game. The next morning I headed out with my buddy Eric because he didn’t have a rifle. The evening before we had discovered our area was VERY thick and there weren’t many areas where you could see more than about 60 yards. However, we also discovered, using Google Earth on his I-phone (great tool for hunting!) that there was a long narrow draw running through our section that looked to be pretty open. So we headed out that morning with one rifle and his I-phone set on Google Earth to navigate us through this open draw. We were sneaking along through some great bowhunting areas and seeing good sign everywhere. We reached one point where Eric noticed there was a good opening just on the other side of some thick cedars. He told me to sneak up there while he stayed back and see if anything was grazing in the opening. Just before I got to the opening I saw a big boar feeding along. The wind was perfect so the stalk was on! I got to about 25 yards as he was feeding along, but I couldn’t get a shot. Finally he turned around and started heading into an open area. I got set up, turned my scope to 3X and when he walked out I let him have it. BOOM, a 15 yard shot with a 30.06 and my biggest hog ever, and first with a rifle, was down! We had a celebratory hand shake, took some pictures and continued our hunt. I passed a decent young 8pt later that morning, but that was all we saw.
That evening we set up on a road that I had been corning since we got there. We could see in two directions over 150 yards, so the spot was perfect for rifle hunting and probably the only spot in our entire section like this. It was also littered with buck sign. There were scrapes and rubs everywhere! That evening we saw a big boar and a doe that both crossed the cut to quick to give us a shot. The next and final morning we decided to hunt that same spot. We had all decided we were going to shoot pretty much any deer that wasn’t a yearling. Park Management really wanted us to kill some deer and we hadn’t seen a whole lot over the past 2 days, so our standards were somewhat lowered. Just after daylight a young buck crossed the cut while I wasn’t ready. I was somewhat disappointed because a thought I lost my chance. I few minutes later another good buck walked out. I settled in for the shot and after a couple minutes of him walking toward me, he gave me a quartering to shot. BOOM, he went down! Of course, after the shot 2 bigger bucks came running out of the brush. I ejected the shell and handed the gun to Eric. He settled on the second buck and pulled the trigger. CLICK…..no shot and both big bucks ran off. When I had ejected the spent shell, I didn’t pull back the bolt far enough to chamber another round. Rookie mistake! We were a little disappointed, but at least we had one buck down.
He’s not at all huge, but it’s my first ever rifle buck and the hunt was awesome! The biologist aged him at 3.5 by the teeth, which made me feel much better about him. He turned out to be a good cull buck. We had one heck of a good time out there and can’t wait to do it again!
Upon leaving our rifle hunt we were headed straight to another buddy, Ryan’s place, for our annual River Bottom Doe Hunt for the weekend. A big group of college friends get together every year to help Ryan kill some does and culls on his land in Colorado County. I have killed 5 does in the past 3 years, so it’s always a great hunt.
Late Saturday evening after a very tough hunt and a half of deer blowing us from downwind, one doe finally messed up. I had to really hurry because 3 of her friends were already blowing and getting out of there. As soon as she stepped into my shooting lane, I let an arrow loose. PERFECT shot, she ran about 60 yards and did a somersault. It was over in seconds. I finally had my first bow kill of the season! FINALLY!!!!!
We ended up getting 2 does and one good 2.5 year old spike for the weekend. Both the other doe and the spike were shot by TBHers, so maybe they’ll post ‘em up. Thanks again Ryan, for giving all of us the opportunity. And thanks Kim for putting up with us and the full house. We all appreciate it more that you think! Another great weekend at Brandt Farms and what a GREAT long hunting trip!
Thanks for reading along! Until next time, shoot straight and watch ‘em fall!
My weekend started last Wednesday. Me, my Dad and two good Buddies got drawn for a rifle hunt at Colorado Bend State Park. The hunt started at noon on Wednesday and went until noon on Friday. The quarry would be 2 whitetail deer, unlimited exotics and hogs. We headed out on Wednesday morning on what would be my first ever “Full On” rifle hunt and to tell you the truth I was excited. We got to the park and checked in, they showed us our area (about 1000 acres of cedars and oaks all to ourselves) and the hunt was on!
The first evening was spent mostly looking for good areas and actually no one saw any game. The next morning I headed out with my buddy Eric because he didn’t have a rifle. The evening before we had discovered our area was VERY thick and there weren’t many areas where you could see more than about 60 yards. However, we also discovered, using Google Earth on his I-phone (great tool for hunting!) that there was a long narrow draw running through our section that looked to be pretty open. So we headed out that morning with one rifle and his I-phone set on Google Earth to navigate us through this open draw. We were sneaking along through some great bowhunting areas and seeing good sign everywhere. We reached one point where Eric noticed there was a good opening just on the other side of some thick cedars. He told me to sneak up there while he stayed back and see if anything was grazing in the opening. Just before I got to the opening I saw a big boar feeding along. The wind was perfect so the stalk was on! I got to about 25 yards as he was feeding along, but I couldn’t get a shot. Finally he turned around and started heading into an open area. I got set up, turned my scope to 3X and when he walked out I let him have it. BOOM, a 15 yard shot with a 30.06 and my biggest hog ever, and first with a rifle, was down! We had a celebratory hand shake, took some pictures and continued our hunt. I passed a decent young 8pt later that morning, but that was all we saw.
That evening we set up on a road that I had been corning since we got there. We could see in two directions over 150 yards, so the spot was perfect for rifle hunting and probably the only spot in our entire section like this. It was also littered with buck sign. There were scrapes and rubs everywhere! That evening we saw a big boar and a doe that both crossed the cut to quick to give us a shot. The next and final morning we decided to hunt that same spot. We had all decided we were going to shoot pretty much any deer that wasn’t a yearling. Park Management really wanted us to kill some deer and we hadn’t seen a whole lot over the past 2 days, so our standards were somewhat lowered. Just after daylight a young buck crossed the cut while I wasn’t ready. I was somewhat disappointed because a thought I lost my chance. I few minutes later another good buck walked out. I settled in for the shot and after a couple minutes of him walking toward me, he gave me a quartering to shot. BOOM, he went down! Of course, after the shot 2 bigger bucks came running out of the brush. I ejected the shell and handed the gun to Eric. He settled on the second buck and pulled the trigger. CLICK…..no shot and both big bucks ran off. When I had ejected the spent shell, I didn’t pull back the bolt far enough to chamber another round. Rookie mistake! We were a little disappointed, but at least we had one buck down.
He’s not at all huge, but it’s my first ever rifle buck and the hunt was awesome! The biologist aged him at 3.5 by the teeth, which made me feel much better about him. He turned out to be a good cull buck. We had one heck of a good time out there and can’t wait to do it again!
Upon leaving our rifle hunt we were headed straight to another buddy, Ryan’s place, for our annual River Bottom Doe Hunt for the weekend. A big group of college friends get together every year to help Ryan kill some does and culls on his land in Colorado County. I have killed 5 does in the past 3 years, so it’s always a great hunt.
Late Saturday evening after a very tough hunt and a half of deer blowing us from downwind, one doe finally messed up. I had to really hurry because 3 of her friends were already blowing and getting out of there. As soon as she stepped into my shooting lane, I let an arrow loose. PERFECT shot, she ran about 60 yards and did a somersault. It was over in seconds. I finally had my first bow kill of the season! FINALLY!!!!!
We ended up getting 2 does and one good 2.5 year old spike for the weekend. Both the other doe and the spike were shot by TBHers, so maybe they’ll post ‘em up. Thanks again Ryan, for giving all of us the opportunity. And thanks Kim for putting up with us and the full house. We all appreciate it more that you think! Another great weekend at Brandt Farms and what a GREAT long hunting trip!
Thanks for reading along! Until next time, shoot straight and watch ‘em fall!
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