Well….this is our first year on our new lease. Much anticipation has gone into how productive this new lease would be. We signed the lease in late March and finally got some feeders up in the middle of June. This place has been lightly hunted and the previously hunters only fed during the rifle season. We were optimistic that with a good feed program in place things could get good. Early on a good mature deer began coming in. He had a unique rack and was later named………………
“BetterHalf”, for the obvious reason that one side of his rack is a little better than the other half. Taking into consideration the summer heat Better Half was a regular at one feeder. When the temps would get into the 100s he would like, most big deer do, disappear for a few days. Any time a storm would pass through and cool things off he would show himself again.
As the season approached BetterHalf started hitting three of our feeders. So hunting him would be crap shoot. The most recent pics showed him to be hitting the “Canyon Blind” more frequently. I told Dad if he wanted this blind it was his. Without hesitation he chose this setup. After an evening hunt and a morning hunt Dad wasn’t seeing much activity. All of our other blinds were having good deer movement. My Dad is a very impatient hunter. He was raised running, gunning and chasing big game out west. After a morning hunt he contemplated sitting elsewhere but as fate would have it he stuck to the “Canyon Blind.”
That evening just after last light, I see four wheeler lights coming from the “Canyon Blind.” I heard the engine revved a little bit higher than normal. Dad dang near slid into camp with both arms raised high in a celebratory manner. I knew blood had been shed. He tried to trick us by saying he killed one of our cow horn spikes but little did he realize I got this deer on video at my stand. I showed him the video and he admitted he must not have shot the cow horn. He finally spilled the beans when he said “I shot Better Half” and he is down. The mood of camp at this moment is hard to describe. This deer was for a short period of time the face of our new lease and we closed the chapter on him on our first weekend there.
The shot was just before last light and was on the money. I will remember that weekend for the rest of my life. Here are some more pics of a deer we called “Better Half.”
Here he is once he got hard horned.
A pic with the group!
And a pic of the Rocket Mini Blaster damage.
I hope this is a sign of things to come on the new lease!
“BetterHalf”, for the obvious reason that one side of his rack is a little better than the other half. Taking into consideration the summer heat Better Half was a regular at one feeder. When the temps would get into the 100s he would like, most big deer do, disappear for a few days. Any time a storm would pass through and cool things off he would show himself again.
As the season approached BetterHalf started hitting three of our feeders. So hunting him would be crap shoot. The most recent pics showed him to be hitting the “Canyon Blind” more frequently. I told Dad if he wanted this blind it was his. Without hesitation he chose this setup. After an evening hunt and a morning hunt Dad wasn’t seeing much activity. All of our other blinds were having good deer movement. My Dad is a very impatient hunter. He was raised running, gunning and chasing big game out west. After a morning hunt he contemplated sitting elsewhere but as fate would have it he stuck to the “Canyon Blind.”
That evening just after last light, I see four wheeler lights coming from the “Canyon Blind.” I heard the engine revved a little bit higher than normal. Dad dang near slid into camp with both arms raised high in a celebratory manner. I knew blood had been shed. He tried to trick us by saying he killed one of our cow horn spikes but little did he realize I got this deer on video at my stand. I showed him the video and he admitted he must not have shot the cow horn. He finally spilled the beans when he said “I shot Better Half” and he is down. The mood of camp at this moment is hard to describe. This deer was for a short period of time the face of our new lease and we closed the chapter on him on our first weekend there.
The shot was just before last light and was on the money. I will remember that weekend for the rest of my life. Here are some more pics of a deer we called “Better Half.”
Here he is once he got hard horned.
A pic with the group!
And a pic of the Rocket Mini Blaster damage.
I hope this is a sign of things to come on the new lease!
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