Is there a doctor in the house?..
What a good time Dr. Death and I had in Tom Green county this past week. We did not have the members at the lease we thought we'd have due to last minute cancellations, but we made the best of our time....supersport did make it for Friday evening and Sat am and we did meet KingsX, thearrower, Corn Slinger, supersport and their families for dinner on Thursday evening so we did have some variety..lol
Doc was to be hunting a doe we called the VW Bus and a turkey if they made an appearance. The Bus frequents one of my blinds we call Grandma's so that would be his main stakeout until he could close the deal. I, if you remember, in the post "Finally, Finally, Finally", am hunting a mature management 8 point we call "8.5". We had seen video of him from supersport a few weeks ago and determined he was a mature 8 point from last year with small brows and one of the tiny brows being a tiny split... hence the name "8.5". This year he grew the right side small again and must have rubbed off the left side split because it never formed very good.
The weekend of the 12th we pulled our cards and found 8.5 was frequenting one of Nick's blinds called the Chute, which is the same blind he killed Wideload out of earlier this year. Since Nick had shot his management deer, he stated he was not interested in him and after some discussion and a few hint drops since it is getting down to the end...lol... he asked me if I wanted to shoot him. We have four blinds that we run and have built up together but of those, we each are in control of two of them. We do have a favorite, mine being the Seismic, and his being the Chute, and we tend to want permission when hunting these two .....so that's why I waited for him to ask..
Anyway..after a long, green, unproductive season, I could finally put my sights on a deer I want to pursue..
I hunted him on Sat pm and Sun am of that weekend unsuccessfully, with him giving me the slip, so I called Doc to see if he wanted to spend some time during the week as I wanted to get this deer while he was in an area I could hunt. His answer was a profound YES!
Picked up Doc Wed am in Clifton on the way so we could make sure we were there in time for a Wednesday evening hunt. Doc was at the top of his game, as usual, with us catching up on lost time, making the 4 hour trip seem to pass quickly. I spent a lot of the time talking Doc's ear off about what to expect and where the deer come from in the two blinds that he was probably going to frequent. He took it all in and we knew we were in for a good week of hunting. The forecast called for low 30s and high in the upper 50s/ low 60s.
So...now fast forward to getting there unloading our stuff and getting to the stand after a "de-scenting clinic"... We hauled tail to the back of the property and I let him off at the Grandma blind .......
Here are a few of the pics as the "killa" got himself ready for action.
Doc getting out....
DOC climbing over the fence and getting into the blind....Nice corn bag Doc.
I turned around and as I came back by I saw the man in action and decided I needed to get one more pic....
Well Wednesday was an eventful one for myself and Doc got to see a nice amount of deer. Our place is not a "big buck" lease with the largest being killed a 158, but it is a fun place with a lot of nice deer sightings and many shooting opportunities. We get settled and after about and hour 8.5 comes through chasing a doe. I had him in my feedpen three times but he knew something was up. In my few sightings of him, you could tell he was a smart animal. Much more keen then several of the older deer I had in the pen already. I had a suspect wind that was swirling a little and he made sure he jumped in looking at me and jumped out looking at the blind. Between him looking at the black hole in the blind and the 8 other sets of eyes in the feedpen, I was SOL. He left twice chasing doe not giving me a shot either of those times and came back the third time much more relaxed when it was too dark to shoot. I drew once to see if I could make the shot but could not. Doc did not see the Bus and passed on the other doe opportunities to make the 4-5 day hunt more interesting.
Here are some pics from the blind and my view. The blind also has tinted windows on the sides so you can see out both directions...this is especially helpful when you can see the deer coming in from both sides of the feedpen
View from my eyes....
Side view
Thursday AM brought a fog so thick it looked like it was raining in the camphouse lights and head lights. The wind was blowing a little which made the fog even that more strange. I figured this was going to be a great morning as our deer seem to move well in the fog and the wind would keep the noise at a minimum. The walk in was damp but the hope was high especially after seeing him last night. Unfortunately, 8.5 no showed on me, but my deer count was in the middle teens and Doc had a similar hunt.....several opportunities but he was looking for the one. Thursday evening was more of the same but the temps got up in the 70s and the deer movement was later in the day. We both saw several decent young 8s and 9s as well as the usual feeder locals, but the two animals we were after we not cooperating.
Friday brought lower 30 temps and a calm wind. If God ever made a morning for bowhunting, this was it. As I sat there watching the morning wake up, I thought about how lucky I was to be hunting this beautiful place and thanked the man upstairs for the opportunity and all that he had given me. Not soon after at 6:50 am, I look up and the guest of honor appears at 50 yards...
....what little light there is coming from the east is reflecting off his horns and I can make out the whole deer with the binos. Knowing the feeder does not go off until 7:10 and it still being too dark to shoot, I was concerned he would move on. But he did not...he milled around in the area the Chute blind get its name and came to the back of the feedpen a few times to smell check I guess. Fast forward to the feeder going off....the five or six deer in the chute area with 8.5, bolted into the feedpen with him bringing up the rear. After watching him for 20 minutes this was a welcome sight....however...as soon as his feet hit the ground another mature deer, a roamer, we call 9-11, who fights everything he can, jumped in and went directly to 8.5....they bowed up and 9-11 being a year more mature beat his tail and ran him out of the pen while I sat in disbelief. Are you kidding me?....20 minutes of buckfever and this deer that we have passed on to see what he could do runs my target out of the feeder no more than 30secs after he gets in?....Sheesh!! He tried to get back in again 10 minutes later but 9-11 ran him off like a hot doe....never to come back. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and as if it was some sort of huge victory, he started fighting the trail camera mount, raking his horns up and down the pole in the process. All I could do was laugh and think....if 8.5 was not my target animal, you would be getting an arra in the pump station you lardbutt show off... So I got to watch 15+ deer eat corn knowing that 8.5 would probably not be back and he might be gone for good. Luckily I got a text from Doc toward the end of the hunt, saying "Big Doe Down!! Shot, Tracked and Found!!"... Sweet!... I was on my way.
Got to Grandmas to find this....and I couldn't pass up the opportunity....its a hard job being a "killa" ....good thing he stashed a celebratory beer in his pack. What a character..
Handshakes and high fives abound. He had passed on a few that am and two mature does came in toward the end of the hunt. One was a little larger and more dominant so Doc decided to forgo the Bus to get meat on the hook and to see other parts of the lease with better bucks. He let the Tribby eat and she was down in 150 yards from a back lung entrance forward lung exit. Ironically he put all his stuff up and sat to let her expire.... lo and behold two magnum toms came in....and after getting it all back out while not spooking them, he opened the right tinted window to shoot and the glare off the window sent them packing...doh!!.....needless to say he had to put everything back up... again....
We got to where she was and took some pics....sorry about the grass in the deer's face...wasn't paying attention.
Can't forget the sponsors...
After a quick cleaning session, celebratory Stones/Beast Lites (yes I brought premium beer because I knew Doc wouldn't) and a discussion of the days events we chilled out a bit and shot some at camp. Doc told me today is going to be the day 8.5 meets his maker...you watch. I just said "I hope so"...after the past days events, I was getting antsy. Nothing like a good shooting session to calm you down and raise the confidence. After all, the temps were cool and the wind was right....it was also blowing enough to cover the sounds but hopefully not enough to keep them from moving....now if only 8.5 was not boogered up by the butt whoopin' this am..
I get in the blind about 3:00pm for an hour sit with handcorn on the ground in case some deer came in early before the 4pm feeding. It was one of the slower sits of the week with nothing coming into the handcorn or the first feeding after 45 minutes of it being on the ground. A 4:45, I had two does come busting out of the right side of the chute and my first thought was, "is he behind them?" Sure enough here he comes hot on their trail. They run through the woods a little and the two does end up jumping in the pen eating corn as fast as they could knowing he would probably be coming back. He came strutting through the timber with his head held high looking at them and walked up to the back of the pen. I'm thinking if he will get in the pen and in range, now is my chance. There are very few eyes and they are watching his every move..not mine. He jumps in...I am ready....he is at 25 yards behind feeder broadside....wind is blowing so I am going to wait a bit see if he will get closer. Movement in window to my left.....glance.....Oh ****!!!... It's 9-11 from this morning at 8 yards from my blind....dear God...this is not happening again...please. 9-11 jumps in and heads straight to the middle of the feeder doing his "threat walk"...ears pinned back and walking sideways....8.5s head to the left of the pen out of my sight with 9-11 slowly following him. ....I'm thinking no way...he's gone. I look in the side window but no deer has jumped out...a four point I didn't know was there shot across at 8 yards...I leaned over and looked out the center window and I said "My God....9-11 who ran him off this morning is going to push him right to me".....I looked again and there he was at 8 yards broadside. I could not get him in video due to the camera's position but with 9-11 on his tail and after this morning's events, there comes a time when it is not "All About the Video".... I drew my bow out of their sight leaned over and there he was still only this time he was quartered away a little more while looking away. At 8 yards I said I could make this hard quartering shot and aimed for the exit. THWACKK!! PASSTHROUGH!!... He runs across my face with blood shooting out like a open faucet....I catch that, him running down the chute and him doing what was later determined to be his death spin behind some brush on video albeit not zoomed in well. I wasn't for sure he was down, but I knew he was hurt bad. It all happened too fast.. I sent texts out and supersport makes it to my blind first. The blood trail the Slick Trick left did not require bending over to look for blood. In fact, Stephen and I discussed the shot while we walked the blood trail it was that heavy. When we got behind the brush I saw him last, it looked like some body slung red paint in the trees and on all the white rock...he must have had a helluva death spin because the blood amount was amazing. 8.5 was down...and I made a good shot...I was a happy sum beech.....
We met up with Doc and took him back for some pics on the white cistern, we used last year for my deer. Here are a few...sorry for the blood on the nose. It would not stop ... we tried but could not get it to stop. Probably should have stuffed something up like a cotton ball but as you can tell by the sky we were pressed for time.
Thanks to Doc and supersport for making it a helluva experience. Doc you can come back anytime...had a great time my friend. Still cleaning Keystone cans outta my truck and thanks for the doe head once your meat reached its final destination...and no I did not steal it from you....I think it was strategically left.
..
And so the adventure ends....another trip in the books in West Texas country...good friends, good food, good drink and good hunting.....It doesn't get any better than this....
Hey Doc get the gate would ya....we're outta here.... ..
.....
What a good time Dr. Death and I had in Tom Green county this past week. We did not have the members at the lease we thought we'd have due to last minute cancellations, but we made the best of our time....supersport did make it for Friday evening and Sat am and we did meet KingsX, thearrower, Corn Slinger, supersport and their families for dinner on Thursday evening so we did have some variety..lol
Doc was to be hunting a doe we called the VW Bus and a turkey if they made an appearance. The Bus frequents one of my blinds we call Grandma's so that would be his main stakeout until he could close the deal. I, if you remember, in the post "Finally, Finally, Finally", am hunting a mature management 8 point we call "8.5". We had seen video of him from supersport a few weeks ago and determined he was a mature 8 point from last year with small brows and one of the tiny brows being a tiny split... hence the name "8.5". This year he grew the right side small again and must have rubbed off the left side split because it never formed very good.
The weekend of the 12th we pulled our cards and found 8.5 was frequenting one of Nick's blinds called the Chute, which is the same blind he killed Wideload out of earlier this year. Since Nick had shot his management deer, he stated he was not interested in him and after some discussion and a few hint drops since it is getting down to the end...lol... he asked me if I wanted to shoot him. We have four blinds that we run and have built up together but of those, we each are in control of two of them. We do have a favorite, mine being the Seismic, and his being the Chute, and we tend to want permission when hunting these two .....so that's why I waited for him to ask..
Anyway..after a long, green, unproductive season, I could finally put my sights on a deer I want to pursue.. I hunted him on Sat pm and Sun am of that weekend unsuccessfully, with him giving me the slip, so I called Doc to see if he wanted to spend some time during the week as I wanted to get this deer while he was in an area I could hunt. His answer was a profound YES!Picked up Doc Wed am in Clifton on the way so we could make sure we were there in time for a Wednesday evening hunt. Doc was at the top of his game, as usual, with us catching up on lost time, making the 4 hour trip seem to pass quickly. I spent a lot of the time talking Doc's ear off about what to expect and where the deer come from in the two blinds that he was probably going to frequent. He took it all in and we knew we were in for a good week of hunting. The forecast called for low 30s and high in the upper 50s/ low 60s.
So...now fast forward to getting there unloading our stuff and getting to the stand after a "de-scenting clinic"...
We hauled tail to the back of the property and I let him off at the Grandma blind .......Here are a few of the pics as the "killa" got himself ready for action.
Doc getting out....
DOC climbing over the fence and getting into the blind....Nice corn bag Doc.
I turned around and as I came back by I saw the man in action and decided I needed to get one more pic....
Well Wednesday was an eventful one for myself and Doc got to see a nice amount of deer. Our place is not a "big buck" lease with the largest being killed a 158, but it is a fun place with a lot of nice deer sightings and many shooting opportunities. We get settled and after about and hour 8.5 comes through chasing a doe. I had him in my feedpen three times but he knew something was up. In my few sightings of him, you could tell he was a smart animal. Much more keen then several of the older deer I had in the pen already. I had a suspect wind that was swirling a little and he made sure he jumped in looking at me and jumped out looking at the blind. Between him looking at the black hole in the blind and the 8 other sets of eyes in the feedpen, I was SOL. He left twice chasing doe not giving me a shot either of those times and came back the third time much more relaxed when it was too dark to shoot. I drew once to see if I could make the shot but could not. Doc did not see the Bus and passed on the other doe opportunities to make the 4-5 day hunt more interesting.
Here are some pics from the blind and my view. The blind also has tinted windows on the sides so you can see out both directions...this is especially helpful when you can see the deer coming in from both sides of the feedpen
View from my eyes....
Side view
Thursday AM brought a fog so thick it looked like it was raining in the camphouse lights and head lights. The wind was blowing a little which made the fog even that more strange. I figured this was going to be a great morning as our deer seem to move well in the fog and the wind would keep the noise at a minimum. The walk in was damp but the hope was high especially after seeing him last night. Unfortunately, 8.5 no showed on me, but my deer count was in the middle teens and Doc had a similar hunt.....several opportunities but he was looking for the one. Thursday evening was more of the same but the temps got up in the 70s and the deer movement was later in the day. We both saw several decent young 8s and 9s as well as the usual feeder locals, but the two animals we were after we not cooperating.
Friday brought lower 30 temps and a calm wind. If God ever made a morning for bowhunting, this was it. As I sat there watching the morning wake up, I thought about how lucky I was to be hunting this beautiful place and thanked the man upstairs for the opportunity and all that he had given me. Not soon after at 6:50 am, I look up and the guest of honor appears at 50 yards...
....what little light there is coming from the east is reflecting off his horns and I can make out the whole deer with the binos. Knowing the feeder does not go off until 7:10 and it still being too dark to shoot, I was concerned he would move on. But he did not...he milled around in the area the Chute blind get its name and came to the back of the feedpen a few times to smell check I guess. Fast forward to the feeder going off....the five or six deer in the chute area with 8.5, bolted into the feedpen with him bringing up the rear. After watching him for 20 minutes this was a welcome sight....however...as soon as his feet hit the ground another mature deer, a roamer, we call 9-11, who fights everything he can, jumped in and went directly to 8.5....they bowed up and 9-11 being a year more mature beat his tail and ran him out of the pen while I sat in disbelief. Are you kidding me?....20 minutes of buckfever and this deer that we have passed on to see what he could do runs my target out of the feeder no more than 30secs after he gets in?....Sheesh!! He tried to get back in again 10 minutes later but 9-11 ran him off like a hot doe....never to come back. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and as if it was some sort of huge victory, he started fighting the trail camera mount, raking his horns up and down the pole in the process. All I could do was laugh and think....if 8.5 was not my target animal, you would be getting an arra in the pump station you lardbutt show off... So I got to watch 15+ deer eat corn knowing that 8.5 would probably not be back and he might be gone for good. Luckily I got a text from Doc toward the end of the hunt, saying "Big Doe Down!! Shot, Tracked and Found!!"... Sweet!... I was on my way.Got to Grandmas to find this....and I couldn't pass up the opportunity....its a hard job being a "killa" ....good thing he stashed a celebratory beer in his pack. What a character..
Handshakes and high fives abound. He had passed on a few that am and two mature does came in toward the end of the hunt. One was a little larger and more dominant so Doc decided to forgo the Bus to get meat on the hook and to see other parts of the lease with better bucks. He let the Tribby eat and she was down in 150 yards from a back lung entrance forward lung exit. Ironically he put all his stuff up and sat to let her expire.... lo and behold two magnum toms came in....and after getting it all back out while not spooking them, he opened the right tinted window to shoot and the glare off the window sent them packing...doh!!.....needless to say he had to put everything back up... again....
We got to where she was and took some pics....sorry about the grass in the deer's face...wasn't paying attention.
Can't forget the sponsors...
After a quick cleaning session, celebratory Stones/Beast Lites (yes I brought premium beer because I knew Doc wouldn't
) and a discussion of the days events we chilled out a bit and shot some at camp. Doc told me today is going to be the day 8.5 meets his maker...you watch. I just said "I hope so"...after the past days events, I was getting antsy. Nothing like a good shooting session to calm you down and raise the confidence. After all, the temps were cool and the wind was right....it was also blowing enough to cover the sounds but hopefully not enough to keep them from moving....now if only 8.5 was not boogered up by the butt whoopin' this am..I get in the blind about 3:00pm for an hour sit with handcorn on the ground in case some deer came in early before the 4pm feeding. It was one of the slower sits of the week with nothing coming into the handcorn or the first feeding after 45 minutes of it being on the ground. A 4:45, I had two does come busting out of the right side of the chute and my first thought was, "is he behind them?" Sure enough here he comes hot on their trail. They run through the woods a little and the two does end up jumping in the pen eating corn as fast as they could knowing he would probably be coming back. He came strutting through the timber with his head held high looking at them and walked up to the back of the pen. I'm thinking if he will get in the pen and in range, now is my chance. There are very few eyes and they are watching his every move..not mine. He jumps in...I am ready....he is at 25 yards behind feeder broadside....wind is blowing so I am going to wait a bit see if he will get closer. Movement in window to my left.....glance.....Oh ****!!!... It's 9-11 from this morning at 8 yards from my blind....dear God...this is not happening again...please.
9-11 jumps in and heads straight to the middle of the feeder doing his "threat walk"...ears pinned back and walking sideways....8.5s head to the left of the pen out of my sight with 9-11 slowly following him. ....I'm thinking no way...he's gone. I look in the side window but no deer has jumped out...a four point I didn't know was there shot across at 8 yards...I leaned over and looked out the center window and I said "My God....9-11 who ran him off this morning is going to push him right to me".....I looked again and there he was at 8 yards broadside. I could not get him in video due to the camera's position but with 9-11 on his tail and after this morning's events, there comes a time when it is not "All About the Video".... I drew my bow out of their sight leaned over and there he was still only this time he was quartered away a little more while looking away. At 8 yards I said I could make this hard quartering shot and aimed for the exit. THWACKK!! PASSTHROUGH!!... He runs across my face with blood shooting out like a open faucet....I catch that, him running down the chute and him doing what was later determined to be his death spin behind some brush on video albeit not zoomed in well. I wasn't for sure he was down, but I knew he was hurt bad. It all happened too fast.. I sent texts out and supersport makes it to my blind first. The blood trail the Slick Trick left did not require bending over to look for blood. In fact, Stephen and I discussed the shot while we walked the blood trail it was that heavy. When we got behind the brush I saw him last, it looked like some body slung red paint in the trees and on all the white rock...he must have had a helluva death spin because the blood amount was amazing. 8.5 was down...and I made a good shot...I was a happy sum beech.....We met up with Doc and took him back for some pics on the white cistern, we used last year for my deer. Here are a few...sorry for the blood on the nose. It would not stop ... we tried but could not get it to stop. Probably should have stuffed something up like a cotton ball but as you can tell by the sky we were pressed for time.
Thanks to Doc and supersport for making it a helluva experience. Doc you can come back anytime...had a great time my friend. Still cleaning Keystone cans outta my truck and thanks for the doe head once your meat reached its final destination...and no I did not steal it from you....I think it was strategically left.
..
And so the adventure ends....another trip in the books in West Texas country...good friends, good food, good drink and good hunting.....It doesn't get any better than this....
Hey Doc get the gate would ya....we're outta here....
.......
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