What an awesome start to my 2012 hunting season. First my hunting adventure started by going on my 4th elk hunt. Three times previously have been unsuccessful so I was looking to change that count to 1 in 4. I was with a group that has been hunting here for 14yrs with the same outfitter and they have had 100% success. So, we go into town, got our license and off to the mountains we went. To sum it up, it was an awesome hunt and I’m going back 2014 and 2015 with my bow. I was fortunate to kill the 2nd day of the hunt, not a huge elk but a trophy for me since it was my first.
Arriving back in Texas and getting unloaded and meat packed away from Colorado, I decided to wait a week before heading down to the ranch in Freer, Texas. It was just going to be me and my dad on this trip so it was going to be relaxing and a good time. To back track a little bit, while I was in the mountains, our ranch was getting flown for our MLD survey. I had no idea what was being seen let alone the buck in my hunting area posed for the helicopter. So off to South Texas we go on Thursday. Get down to the ranch and get unpacked. Some other members on the ranch were already there so we waited for them to come in from the evening hunt. They said they had seen alot of good bucks that evening so I was excited to take my bow to my stand the next morning. I am the only member on the ranch (we are MLD III) that bow hunts so I hear some comments every now and then, but all in good fun of course. So I’m sitting in my stand Friday morning and have deer all over me. We didn't go and grab the game camera cards when we got there since it was prime time and I figured I would just get them after the hunt. It was a beautiful south Texas sunrise and here comes in a few bucks, it was low light but I could see the one hanging in the back was mature. It gets more light and sure enough he is mature and a 12pt. Now I start getting the adrenaline flowing with this big dude at 30yds facing me, well he decides to leave the corn in front of me and head to the feed pen. My stand is set up where I can't shoot inside the feed pen. SO I watch him for 30-45mins and then he decides to leave without stopping by to meet my arrow. So I get picked up and tell how the buck didn't give me a chance.
We checked the cameras and saw both the 12pt and the 10pt hanging around my area so I had to go back in the morning since these buck are so bachelor up right now.
So I am so pumped to get back in the stand, but with it being almost 90+ down there I opted out of chancing the evening hunt since it was so hot. I get in the stand around the same time and about low light I can see something out there. A big hog, so now I’m playing the "what do I do, shoot or wait to see what the deer do?" I had enough light to range him and connected at 32yds with this hog to get him out of here. Now the wait to see if I made the right choice, sure enough here comes a couple young 8pts, then a 5pt, another 8pt and then the monster 10pt and he is feeding in the middle of all these deer. Just about the time the other deer clear away the feeder goes off and he turns and feeds away. So here I’m thinking he is going to do like the 12pt and feed in the pen then leave but boy I’m glad I was wrong. I had the other deer feeding around me and him in the pen with some other deer. He kept jerking his head up and looking back towards my tower stand at the other end of the food plot so I figured there were deer or something else in the food plot. Well he got uneasy and decided to leave the pen; he looked at the deer in front of me and decided to come for a last breakfast. He was steadily approaching and I ranged him at 32yds, then 27yds and then put the range finder down and got locked in and ready. He was feeding towards me and had some young buck to close around him so I had to wait and my heart was beating loud. He jerked his head up and turned almost broad side and was uneasy so I knew my time for a shot was limited. He gave me the shot I wanted and I let the arrow fly and make its mark. I sent the text right after I could text without shaking and decided to give this guy plenty of time even though I made a good shot. My buddy Bobby showed up about an hour later and I had showed him where he went in the brush and the blood on the road which is great for me since I'm color blind and the guys like harassing me about it. So we start are tracking and finding good blood, get over a big patch of cactus and look ahead and there he is pilled up. Man it was such a rush to walk up and put my hands on this trophy. This is my biggest deer to date and with my bow makes it that much better. I told Bobby about the hog and we found my arrow broke off and some blood. We tracked for a little while and decided to call it quits since I was pumped about my buck and wanted to start sharing photos.
So we get back to camp and my chest is sticking out with bringing in this stud. I got many congrats and "wow's" since I shot him with my bow.
Back to reality I go home and get a phone call from Walt and Mike saying that they have a helicopter picture of my deer and were going to get it to me. I already have the plan down from when he comes back from the taxi; I plan on framing the pic and putting it underneath him.
I know this was long but you can only imagine me shooting my first elk, then almost two weeks to the exact day be able to harvest the trophy and my personal best whitetail buck.
Thanks for reading,
Craig
Arriving back in Texas and getting unloaded and meat packed away from Colorado, I decided to wait a week before heading down to the ranch in Freer, Texas. It was just going to be me and my dad on this trip so it was going to be relaxing and a good time. To back track a little bit, while I was in the mountains, our ranch was getting flown for our MLD survey. I had no idea what was being seen let alone the buck in my hunting area posed for the helicopter. So off to South Texas we go on Thursday. Get down to the ranch and get unpacked. Some other members on the ranch were already there so we waited for them to come in from the evening hunt. They said they had seen alot of good bucks that evening so I was excited to take my bow to my stand the next morning. I am the only member on the ranch (we are MLD III) that bow hunts so I hear some comments every now and then, but all in good fun of course. So I’m sitting in my stand Friday morning and have deer all over me. We didn't go and grab the game camera cards when we got there since it was prime time and I figured I would just get them after the hunt. It was a beautiful south Texas sunrise and here comes in a few bucks, it was low light but I could see the one hanging in the back was mature. It gets more light and sure enough he is mature and a 12pt. Now I start getting the adrenaline flowing with this big dude at 30yds facing me, well he decides to leave the corn in front of me and head to the feed pen. My stand is set up where I can't shoot inside the feed pen. SO I watch him for 30-45mins and then he decides to leave without stopping by to meet my arrow. So I get picked up and tell how the buck didn't give me a chance.
We checked the cameras and saw both the 12pt and the 10pt hanging around my area so I had to go back in the morning since these buck are so bachelor up right now.
So I am so pumped to get back in the stand, but with it being almost 90+ down there I opted out of chancing the evening hunt since it was so hot. I get in the stand around the same time and about low light I can see something out there. A big hog, so now I’m playing the "what do I do, shoot or wait to see what the deer do?" I had enough light to range him and connected at 32yds with this hog to get him out of here. Now the wait to see if I made the right choice, sure enough here comes a couple young 8pts, then a 5pt, another 8pt and then the monster 10pt and he is feeding in the middle of all these deer. Just about the time the other deer clear away the feeder goes off and he turns and feeds away. So here I’m thinking he is going to do like the 12pt and feed in the pen then leave but boy I’m glad I was wrong. I had the other deer feeding around me and him in the pen with some other deer. He kept jerking his head up and looking back towards my tower stand at the other end of the food plot so I figured there were deer or something else in the food plot. Well he got uneasy and decided to leave the pen; he looked at the deer in front of me and decided to come for a last breakfast. He was steadily approaching and I ranged him at 32yds, then 27yds and then put the range finder down and got locked in and ready. He was feeding towards me and had some young buck to close around him so I had to wait and my heart was beating loud. He jerked his head up and turned almost broad side and was uneasy so I knew my time for a shot was limited. He gave me the shot I wanted and I let the arrow fly and make its mark. I sent the text right after I could text without shaking and decided to give this guy plenty of time even though I made a good shot. My buddy Bobby showed up about an hour later and I had showed him where he went in the brush and the blood on the road which is great for me since I'm color blind and the guys like harassing me about it. So we start are tracking and finding good blood, get over a big patch of cactus and look ahead and there he is pilled up. Man it was such a rush to walk up and put my hands on this trophy. This is my biggest deer to date and with my bow makes it that much better. I told Bobby about the hog and we found my arrow broke off and some blood. We tracked for a little while and decided to call it quits since I was pumped about my buck and wanted to start sharing photos.
So we get back to camp and my chest is sticking out with bringing in this stud. I got many congrats and "wow's" since I shot him with my bow.
Back to reality I go home and get a phone call from Walt and Mike saying that they have a helicopter picture of my deer and were going to get it to me. I already have the plan down from when he comes back from the taxi; I plan on framing the pic and putting it underneath him.
I know this was long but you can only imagine me shooting my first elk, then almost two weeks to the exact day be able to harvest the trophy and my personal best whitetail buck.
Thanks for reading,
Craig
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