What can I say... It's been a VERY good season for me so far! Let's talk about this hunt:
Totally out of the blue I was invited to go on a 3-4 day Trophy hunt. Now this was a switch... I am used to just guiding others on these types of hunts. This was my first time to be on the receiving end and I gotta say----I like this end much better!
We arrived at the ranch last Sunday evening and were scheduled to hunt through Tuesday evening. The rules were simple, shoot a mature (5.5 or older) buck of my choice. Did I hear that right... no limits? Yep, NO limits! I didn't want to waste any time so we went out early. This ranch is not really set-up for bowhunting. He actually only had two "bow stands" on the entire ranch. TC pics showed some really nice bucks coming to one of the stands, and there was not a camera at the other stand. I lost the coin toss and went to the "other" stand. I was too excited to care where I was sitting so it didn't really matter. My stand ended-up being a two-man ladder stand (with the shooting rail around it) that was not the best set-up for a bowhunter. There was no feeder at this stand, but the owner had been corning the area regularly for a couple of weeks so my hopes were high. I had some dang NICE bucks come through that I was kicking myself for not shooting. But when you have no limit...
Right at dark (which for me is pretty dang dark) a big 10 point comes by but there just isn't enough light to shoot. I can see him well in my bino's, and good gosh what-a-buck! I was glad to know he was in the area. Maybe I would get another crack at him.
The other guys had seen a few really nice "shooter" bucks that evening at another rifle stand. There was a box-bow-blind in the area and it was decided that I should hunt there because after all, the odds of connecting seemed to be better here than in the ladder stand where I only saw one shooter (the big 10). Monday morning: Not much came in to the feeder, but way off down a sendero I could see some NICE bucks hitting a protein feeder. We slipped in there at lunch time and hung a Gametamer treestand (Thanks Cull!). I sat in the Gametamer a couple of times and had awesome hunts. I passed on several bucks in the 140-150" range, and I still can't believe I passed on them. The only thing holding me back was the one sighting of the big 10 my first evening, and I just couldn't get that buck out of my head. I think it's a sickness that I share with a few others on here. I get a buck in my head, and I have to get him. Other bucks don't matter much...I have to get that one, and only that buck will do.
I talked it over with my friend that brought me out there, and with the ranch owner. I said I would like to hunt the 10 from the first evening, or go home empty handed. I had such an awesome time that going home without a deer would not have bothered me a bit. So it was settled and I hunted the ladder stand the rest of the trip. On our last evening to hunt, I had about a 140" 8 point AND a 150" 10 point come in and offer shot opportunities. But I had passed them both on the first day, so they would get a pass again. Although they did look a lot better on the last day! When guiding I always give hunters a hard time for shooting something the last day that they passed earlier in the hunt. It just wouldn't sit well with me to shoot one I had passed on earlier, so I just waited for the big 10. And BTW, the owner had never seen this 10 and had zero trail cam pics of him. I was calling myself all kinds of names for passing on these big bucks just hoping for the buck to come back all the while knowing there was a pretty slim chance of it happening. And then it happened! Right at dark he just appeared. He fed facing me for a few minutes and I desparately needed him to turn broadside in a hurry. Light was fading fast. At 18 yards he finally turned...I came to full draw...Started to squeeze it off...Then a doe blew!!! He ran about four yards and stopped. THWACK! It looked like a perfect hit, but we gave him an hour just to be safe.
After about a 60 yard tracking job we found the biggest buck I have killed so far. The Shuttle T-Lock (yep, no more Rage for me!
) entered a little high, passed through both lungs and exited a little low...perfect in my book. I was speechless and just had to stare at him for quite some time.
Stats: 23"+ beams; 19.5" spread; 11" G-2's; and over 32" on mass;
Final score= 160 0/8"!!!
Totally out of the blue I was invited to go on a 3-4 day Trophy hunt. Now this was a switch... I am used to just guiding others on these types of hunts. This was my first time to be on the receiving end and I gotta say----I like this end much better!
We arrived at the ranch last Sunday evening and were scheduled to hunt through Tuesday evening. The rules were simple, shoot a mature (5.5 or older) buck of my choice. Did I hear that right... no limits? Yep, NO limits! I didn't want to waste any time so we went out early. This ranch is not really set-up for bowhunting. He actually only had two "bow stands" on the entire ranch. TC pics showed some really nice bucks coming to one of the stands, and there was not a camera at the other stand. I lost the coin toss and went to the "other" stand. I was too excited to care where I was sitting so it didn't really matter. My stand ended-up being a two-man ladder stand (with the shooting rail around it) that was not the best set-up for a bowhunter. There was no feeder at this stand, but the owner had been corning the area regularly for a couple of weeks so my hopes were high. I had some dang NICE bucks come through that I was kicking myself for not shooting. But when you have no limit...
Right at dark (which for me is pretty dang dark) a big 10 point comes by but there just isn't enough light to shoot. I can see him well in my bino's, and good gosh what-a-buck! I was glad to know he was in the area. Maybe I would get another crack at him.The other guys had seen a few really nice "shooter" bucks that evening at another rifle stand. There was a box-bow-blind in the area and it was decided that I should hunt there because after all, the odds of connecting seemed to be better here than in the ladder stand where I only saw one shooter (the big 10). Monday morning: Not much came in to the feeder, but way off down a sendero I could see some NICE bucks hitting a protein feeder. We slipped in there at lunch time and hung a Gametamer treestand (Thanks Cull!). I sat in the Gametamer a couple of times and had awesome hunts. I passed on several bucks in the 140-150" range, and I still can't believe I passed on them. The only thing holding me back was the one sighting of the big 10 my first evening, and I just couldn't get that buck out of my head. I think it's a sickness that I share with a few others on here. I get a buck in my head, and I have to get him. Other bucks don't matter much...I have to get that one, and only that buck will do.
I talked it over with my friend that brought me out there, and with the ranch owner. I said I would like to hunt the 10 from the first evening, or go home empty handed. I had such an awesome time that going home without a deer would not have bothered me a bit. So it was settled and I hunted the ladder stand the rest of the trip. On our last evening to hunt, I had about a 140" 8 point AND a 150" 10 point come in and offer shot opportunities. But I had passed them both on the first day, so they would get a pass again. Although they did look a lot better on the last day! When guiding I always give hunters a hard time for shooting something the last day that they passed earlier in the hunt. It just wouldn't sit well with me to shoot one I had passed on earlier, so I just waited for the big 10. And BTW, the owner had never seen this 10 and had zero trail cam pics of him. I was calling myself all kinds of names for passing on these big bucks just hoping for the buck to come back all the while knowing there was a pretty slim chance of it happening. And then it happened! Right at dark he just appeared. He fed facing me for a few minutes and I desparately needed him to turn broadside in a hurry. Light was fading fast. At 18 yards he finally turned...I came to full draw...Started to squeeze it off...Then a doe blew!!! He ran about four yards and stopped. THWACK! It looked like a perfect hit, but we gave him an hour just to be safe.
After about a 60 yard tracking job we found the biggest buck I have killed so far. The Shuttle T-Lock (yep, no more Rage for me!
) entered a little high, passed through both lungs and exited a little low...perfect in my book. I was speechless and just had to stare at him for quite some time. Stats: 23"+ beams; 19.5" spread; 11" G-2's; and over 32" on mass;
Final score= 160 0/8"!!!
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