From whitetailslayer to blackbuckslayer. Over the past two years I have only taken black bucks as I have not seen one mature whitetail buck.
Well the story starts this past Monday. I joined forces with a high school buddy in route to his hunting grounds in Harper, Tx. Both equipped with our gear, we set forth to the pop-up ground blind. Once settled and quiet, the hill country seemed to be so silent it was deafening. It's like you can't wait to hear the snapping of a twig or a rustle in the leaves to break the silence just so that you feel like you haven't gone deaf. Deathly still. With each passing minute the light begins to take shape and create silhouettes of the landscape. Movement appears off in the unforeseeable distance earlier as deer awake from the bedding to start feeding. Finally light from the sun kisses the land good-morning.
Checking our watches to see how much longer before the feeder is to go off, we ready ourselves for what mystery of guests arrive. The unnatural noise to the forest yet the quickest 5 seconds for one's confidence to rise, the feeder sounds. Those distance deer recently seen along with more that wasn't, start making their way towards us. From my left, I quickly catch movement. It is a dandy black buck with 3-1/2 curls. It's a bachelor group mixed with several shooters as well as juveniles. The cautiously make their way towards the feeder, surveying any potential threat. Whitetail litter the ground in front of us snatching up the kernels. The black bucks make their move.
We survey the group in trying to find the best possible black buck. I finally decide on one that I want to take and wait for a clear shot. I drew back only to be denied. This seemed to be a game of cat & mouse. Finally...a window.
I draw back as quietly and quickly as possible, anchor, and settle my top pin. A slightly quartering to but with his showing leg forward, pick my spot and apply pressure to the release switch. The arrow sails deep into the chest cavity while exiting the other side of the India native beast. Like a rocket, he retreats back in the direction to which he came and out of my restrictive sight.
"Good shot, good shot!" my buddy quietly yells. "Let's give him 30 minutes and we should find him easily. I had my binoculars on him right before you shot and that was neat to catch a glimpse of the arrow making contact. It was a complete pass through while leaving a monster sized slit."
The rage two blades deployed and worked like they were intended to. There's deer still around looking in all directions to see what the root cause was for the sudden exit of one of the table guests.
We gather our things and set forth onto the tracking job. I retrieve the blood soaked arrow from its resting place.
We follow the recalled path of the antelope. The blood tracking wasn't necessary in the recovery of the fallen game with the short and sparse grass in the rocky hill country terrain. A black colored back is spotted underneath a mesquite tree littered with cactus that restricts seeing the full body of the animal. The animal has expired.
Here are some of the other bow kills made while hunting there over the thanksgiving holiday.
Well the story starts this past Monday. I joined forces with a high school buddy in route to his hunting grounds in Harper, Tx. Both equipped with our gear, we set forth to the pop-up ground blind. Once settled and quiet, the hill country seemed to be so silent it was deafening. It's like you can't wait to hear the snapping of a twig or a rustle in the leaves to break the silence just so that you feel like you haven't gone deaf. Deathly still. With each passing minute the light begins to take shape and create silhouettes of the landscape. Movement appears off in the unforeseeable distance earlier as deer awake from the bedding to start feeding. Finally light from the sun kisses the land good-morning.
Checking our watches to see how much longer before the feeder is to go off, we ready ourselves for what mystery of guests arrive. The unnatural noise to the forest yet the quickest 5 seconds for one's confidence to rise, the feeder sounds. Those distance deer recently seen along with more that wasn't, start making their way towards us. From my left, I quickly catch movement. It is a dandy black buck with 3-1/2 curls. It's a bachelor group mixed with several shooters as well as juveniles. The cautiously make their way towards the feeder, surveying any potential threat. Whitetail litter the ground in front of us snatching up the kernels. The black bucks make their move.
We survey the group in trying to find the best possible black buck. I finally decide on one that I want to take and wait for a clear shot. I drew back only to be denied. This seemed to be a game of cat & mouse. Finally...a window.
I draw back as quietly and quickly as possible, anchor, and settle my top pin. A slightly quartering to but with his showing leg forward, pick my spot and apply pressure to the release switch. The arrow sails deep into the chest cavity while exiting the other side of the India native beast. Like a rocket, he retreats back in the direction to which he came and out of my restrictive sight.
"Good shot, good shot!" my buddy quietly yells. "Let's give him 30 minutes and we should find him easily. I had my binoculars on him right before you shot and that was neat to catch a glimpse of the arrow making contact. It was a complete pass through while leaving a monster sized slit."
The rage two blades deployed and worked like they were intended to. There's deer still around looking in all directions to see what the root cause was for the sudden exit of one of the table guests.
We gather our things and set forth onto the tracking job. I retrieve the blood soaked arrow from its resting place.
We follow the recalled path of the antelope. The blood tracking wasn't necessary in the recovery of the fallen game with the short and sparse grass in the rocky hill country terrain. A black colored back is spotted underneath a mesquite tree littered with cactus that restricts seeing the full body of the animal. The animal has expired.
Here are some of the other bow kills made while hunting there over the thanksgiving holiday.
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