Yeah, the title gives it away, but you gotta read the back story first:
Many of you know, I've been in this lease in Burnet Co. for 4 years now, and it's been a lackluster lease but getting better every year. The first year, I hunted every weekend but one, and I was the only one on the lease to shoot a deer, and it was the only deer I saw that year. I told myself I was going to stay around one more year because the bird hunting was phenomenal, and maybe the deer hunting was just bad due to the drought, maybe it'll get better.
Well, the next year, it got better, I killed 2 deer, bird hunting was still good, fishing in the ponds was great. "I'll give it one more year and see what happens."
Well, one more year was last year, and I killed 3 deer, but I was still getting skunked way more often than I saw deer. In fact, if I even SAW a deer in the distance, I considered it a successful hunt. It WAS BETTER than the previous year though, so I decided I would stay ONE MORE YEAR and see if it gets any better.
That brings us to this year, and holy cow, it's WAY better! Everyone is pretty much seeing deer on ever sit, I've only been skunked twice so far, and holy cow, I'm actually seeing bucks for the first time. I've had lots of pictures of bucks over the years, but never seen one in daylight in person.
Now, for the story you all came here for, I've been hunting almost every weekend since the opener, and like I said, I've had deer come out every sit, but most of the sits they were just out of range, or wouldn't give me a shot, etc. I did shoot a doe a couple weeks back but wasn't able to recover her after 4 hours, an unknown distance of great blood trail, and a good tracking dog, not sure what happened, but I think I went in too early and pushed her. So, this morning, I'm sitting in my morning time honey hole, a brush blind that I found, fashioned from a large cedar tree which was cut in such a way that it only killed part of the tree, so it still grows on one side, and the other part is grown up with vines and ivy plants for great back cover. Over the years I've done done trimming and added a few limbs here and there, screwed a hook in to hang my bow etc. I've killed all but 2 of my deer from this lease out of this blind, always in the morning. The blind faces west, so in the evening, you're pretty much screwed by the setting Sun. There's no feeder, I just toss out some hand corn every time I pass by that spot, so I've got them conditioned to expect food to be there. I got in the blind at 5:30 this morning after waking the 1/2 mile or so from camp and making my strategic corn piles behind the cactus blinders.
So I'm sitting there, dozing off and just before it was light enough to see, I heard tires and exhaust coming....lease mate running late, passed me at 6am almost on the dot. Oh well, he kept going, that won't bother the deer, this road gets a lot of traffic. Then it gets light out, and I'm disappointed. See, normally, the deer are already in the corn at daylight, but there were no deer this morning. I figured, well, this is my last hunt for the weekend, might as well sit here until time to leave anyway. Then, out of nowhere at about 6:35 (yeah, I'm impatient, only been legal light for like 15 minutes), I see movement out front about 60 yards out. It's a buck! So I grabbed my bow of the hook and gripped my release while he worked his way in. I watched him for 5 minutes easing in, munching on weeds in the field out front. At first I thought he was a little young, and he was. Then I thought he didn't have a very big rack, he doesn't. I debated the whole time he was coming in about whether or not to shoot him. I still hadn't made up my mind when he stuck his head behind the cactus and started eating my corn, then it hit me. I've never shot a buck on this lease. I've also never shot a buck with a bow. Hmmm, I've never shot a buck period! I'm out of ground venison, and haven't recovered a deer yet this season. He lifted his head out the corn once, but I didn't even look at his rack again, I'd made up my mind, I was at full draw already, 20 yard pin burning a hole in "the pocket"......."Just put your head back down......" I guess he read my mind because that's exactly what he did, and THWACK! "Crap, that went high, he ducked, dang, I hope it was good enough...." I immediately texted my wife and the lease mate that came in late (he has a pretty good tracking dog), then I sat there, not wanting to make the same mistake I made on that doe a couple weeks back. After 20 minutes, I just could not stand it anymore, I had to see some evidence. I climbed out of the blind and suck over to the point of the shot, found my arrow, and BLOOD! Arrow looked good, plenty of blood on it, no guts, blood kind of bubbly.....Now I'm getting excited and want to start tracking, but no, I'm waiting for the dog. I peaked out in the direction her ran and could see blood on the grass for 10 yards. I peaked around the tree he was standing next to, hoping to see him piled up, but he had gone too far, no dice. So I walked back to camp and changed clothes, and waited for my buddy to finish his hunt and go get his dog.
About 8:30, I got the text that he was on the way with his dog, so I met him out at the blind and the dog got right on the track. Five minutes later I hear my buddy holler out, "HE'S RIGHT OVER HERE!" I couldn't help myself, I had to run over there. He ran probably 100-150 yards and piled up under a cedar tree. He's not the biggest deer we have on the lease, or the oldest, just the first one to offer me a shot in 4 years. He probably had potential to be better, but if history is any indication, he would get better but I'd never see him again. He's my first set of antlers, and the only buck to be shot and recovered on this lease since I've been on it, so I'm happy with him. Here he is guys.
Many of you know, I've been in this lease in Burnet Co. for 4 years now, and it's been a lackluster lease but getting better every year. The first year, I hunted every weekend but one, and I was the only one on the lease to shoot a deer, and it was the only deer I saw that year. I told myself I was going to stay around one more year because the bird hunting was phenomenal, and maybe the deer hunting was just bad due to the drought, maybe it'll get better.
Well, the next year, it got better, I killed 2 deer, bird hunting was still good, fishing in the ponds was great. "I'll give it one more year and see what happens."
Well, one more year was last year, and I killed 3 deer, but I was still getting skunked way more often than I saw deer. In fact, if I even SAW a deer in the distance, I considered it a successful hunt. It WAS BETTER than the previous year though, so I decided I would stay ONE MORE YEAR and see if it gets any better.
That brings us to this year, and holy cow, it's WAY better! Everyone is pretty much seeing deer on ever sit, I've only been skunked twice so far, and holy cow, I'm actually seeing bucks for the first time. I've had lots of pictures of bucks over the years, but never seen one in daylight in person.
Now, for the story you all came here for, I've been hunting almost every weekend since the opener, and like I said, I've had deer come out every sit, but most of the sits they were just out of range, or wouldn't give me a shot, etc. I did shoot a doe a couple weeks back but wasn't able to recover her after 4 hours, an unknown distance of great blood trail, and a good tracking dog, not sure what happened, but I think I went in too early and pushed her. So, this morning, I'm sitting in my morning time honey hole, a brush blind that I found, fashioned from a large cedar tree which was cut in such a way that it only killed part of the tree, so it still grows on one side, and the other part is grown up with vines and ivy plants for great back cover. Over the years I've done done trimming and added a few limbs here and there, screwed a hook in to hang my bow etc. I've killed all but 2 of my deer from this lease out of this blind, always in the morning. The blind faces west, so in the evening, you're pretty much screwed by the setting Sun. There's no feeder, I just toss out some hand corn every time I pass by that spot, so I've got them conditioned to expect food to be there. I got in the blind at 5:30 this morning after waking the 1/2 mile or so from camp and making my strategic corn piles behind the cactus blinders.
So I'm sitting there, dozing off and just before it was light enough to see, I heard tires and exhaust coming....lease mate running late, passed me at 6am almost on the dot. Oh well, he kept going, that won't bother the deer, this road gets a lot of traffic. Then it gets light out, and I'm disappointed. See, normally, the deer are already in the corn at daylight, but there were no deer this morning. I figured, well, this is my last hunt for the weekend, might as well sit here until time to leave anyway. Then, out of nowhere at about 6:35 (yeah, I'm impatient, only been legal light for like 15 minutes), I see movement out front about 60 yards out. It's a buck! So I grabbed my bow of the hook and gripped my release while he worked his way in. I watched him for 5 minutes easing in, munching on weeds in the field out front. At first I thought he was a little young, and he was. Then I thought he didn't have a very big rack, he doesn't. I debated the whole time he was coming in about whether or not to shoot him. I still hadn't made up my mind when he stuck his head behind the cactus and started eating my corn, then it hit me. I've never shot a buck on this lease. I've also never shot a buck with a bow. Hmmm, I've never shot a buck period! I'm out of ground venison, and haven't recovered a deer yet this season. He lifted his head out the corn once, but I didn't even look at his rack again, I'd made up my mind, I was at full draw already, 20 yard pin burning a hole in "the pocket"......."Just put your head back down......" I guess he read my mind because that's exactly what he did, and THWACK! "Crap, that went high, he ducked, dang, I hope it was good enough...." I immediately texted my wife and the lease mate that came in late (he has a pretty good tracking dog), then I sat there, not wanting to make the same mistake I made on that doe a couple weeks back. After 20 minutes, I just could not stand it anymore, I had to see some evidence. I climbed out of the blind and suck over to the point of the shot, found my arrow, and BLOOD! Arrow looked good, plenty of blood on it, no guts, blood kind of bubbly.....Now I'm getting excited and want to start tracking, but no, I'm waiting for the dog. I peaked out in the direction her ran and could see blood on the grass for 10 yards. I peaked around the tree he was standing next to, hoping to see him piled up, but he had gone too far, no dice. So I walked back to camp and changed clothes, and waited for my buddy to finish his hunt and go get his dog.
About 8:30, I got the text that he was on the way with his dog, so I met him out at the blind and the dog got right on the track. Five minutes later I hear my buddy holler out, "HE'S RIGHT OVER HERE!" I couldn't help myself, I had to run over there. He ran probably 100-150 yards and piled up under a cedar tree. He's not the biggest deer we have on the lease, or the oldest, just the first one to offer me a shot in 4 years. He probably had potential to be better, but if history is any indication, he would get better but I'd never see him again. He's my first set of antlers, and the only buck to be shot and recovered on this lease since I've been on it, so I'm happy with him. Here he is guys.
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