This has been an unbelievable season for me. I put in a TON of work at my hill country lease, only to decide that I don't have anything on it that I want to shoot. Oh, the bucks ARE there, I just don't want to shoot them for whatever reason. Luckily I have some arrangements on a couple other ranches that like to trade taxidermy work for some hunting. I cashed-in one of these trades on opening morning of bow season on an awesome 161" slick 8 point! That story is on here somewhere and the pic is my avatar. Fast Forward to last Tuesday and I got the call to cash-in another. I have been making a yearly hunt down in Dilley for a number of years now. I have learned that when Kevin calls and says "You better get your butt down here!", I GOTTA go! So Wednesday I headed down to hunt for a Big 8 with kickers (Kicker8), or a big 9 with a broken brow tine (Broke Brow 9). Kevin had seen both bucks with some regularity and knew where I needed to be sitting. We decided that the wind was better for the stand that the 9 frequented so that's where I headed Wednesday evening. There was only one small hitch in the plan that we casually joked about.....Kevin filmed a GIANT buck (nicknamed KD) here on September 6th and the owner has hunted this buck every chance he has had with zero sightings. Kevin has sat in a rifle stand overlooking this area countless times, and NOT ONE SIGHTING of KD since the video. I jokingly offered to NOT shoot a buck if I saw KD, and Kevin said "That would be good". (The funny part is that EXACT thing happened to me two years ago when the buck the owner was hunting had not been seen in two months. Just as I was starting to draw my bow on "my" buck, the owners buck stepped out and I knew better than to shoot around him and spook him off for good.) So here I am sitting in a tripod waiting on the 9, when of course KD walks right out and starts eating corn!
Right behind him was the big 9 I was looking for. I was in total disbelief but got a kick out of watching that giant until dark. At one point I noticed the 9 at 20 yards, broadside, head looking away...but Like I said there would be NO shooting around KD.
The next morning the wind was perfect for the stand where Kicker8 was showing up at. This buck was my favorite of the two, but you gotta play the wind out here. I was very thankful the wind got right for this stand. Kevin dropped me off a little before light and I got settled in. Just after shooting light a few does and younger bucks strolled in. While watching them out of one window, I just happened to glance back toward the feeder and there was Kicker8 directly behind the feeder! It didn't take long and he got to 25 yards slightly quartering away. I sent the 1 3/4" Spitfire Maxx through him with what I thought was a good shot. I knew he moved a little at the shot, but I still felt REALLY solid on my end although honestly I could have pulled it just slightly. To me the arrow looked to be about 4-6 inches behind the shoulder at a perfect height. This would produce an exit just inside the off shoulder. I was EXTREMELY confident that is where I hit him. I actually pride myself in always knowing exactly where my arrow hits. We gave the buck about 30 minutes then picked up the trail. It was a fairly easy tracking job and he only made it about 80 yards. But my shot was 6-8 inches FARTHER BACK than I thought. It center-punched his liver and one blade nicked a lung. We got extremely lucky that we did not have to use his dogs to catch this one. I am still wearing a little egg on my face about being SO SURE of my shot.
Anyway, here he is...All 156" inches of him!
Right behind him was the big 9 I was looking for. I was in total disbelief but got a kick out of watching that giant until dark. At one point I noticed the 9 at 20 yards, broadside, head looking away...but Like I said there would be NO shooting around KD.The next morning the wind was perfect for the stand where Kicker8 was showing up at. This buck was my favorite of the two, but you gotta play the wind out here. I was very thankful the wind got right for this stand. Kevin dropped me off a little before light and I got settled in. Just after shooting light a few does and younger bucks strolled in. While watching them out of one window, I just happened to glance back toward the feeder and there was Kicker8 directly behind the feeder! It didn't take long and he got to 25 yards slightly quartering away. I sent the 1 3/4" Spitfire Maxx through him with what I thought was a good shot. I knew he moved a little at the shot, but I still felt REALLY solid on my end although honestly I could have pulled it just slightly. To me the arrow looked to be about 4-6 inches behind the shoulder at a perfect height. This would produce an exit just inside the off shoulder. I was EXTREMELY confident that is where I hit him. I actually pride myself in always knowing exactly where my arrow hits. We gave the buck about 30 minutes then picked up the trail. It was a fairly easy tracking job and he only made it about 80 yards. But my shot was 6-8 inches FARTHER BACK than I thought. It center-punched his liver and one blade nicked a lung. We got extremely lucky that we did not have to use his dogs to catch this one. I am still wearing a little egg on my face about being SO SURE of my shot.
Anyway, here he is...All 156" inches of him!
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