Well after 6 months of scouting, patterning and watching this deer on trail cam it all finally came together the day after thxgiving. I had been hunting one location exclusively for two months. I have a pet roadrunner, can tell you how many covies of quail live in the area and up until I week ago could tell you that this buck refused to make an appearance during daylight. Several night a week we would get pictures of him on trailcam somewhere between 9 p.m. - 3 a.m.
A little over a week ago he made his first appearance while my hunting buddy James was sitting there. James called and said quit your job, sell your kids do whatever is possible to get down here asap. As luck would have it a change in my work schedule had me shift meetings from Dallas to Laredo that Tuesday and I managed to squeeze in a quick evening hunt. At 5:45 he appeared and fed out of bow range behind some brush for about 15 minutes. As I waited patiently for him to move closer the young buck in front of me shifted his attention from the golden kernels he was eating to something down the road. I looked up to see an ellusive auodad, that had been roaming the ranch for about 10 years, approaching. The big buck threw his head up and ran off into the brush. After several moments the auodad that evaded the rifle hunters for so many years stepped out of the brush at 20 yards. I quietly drew back and let one sail right through his vitals. Unfortunately after an extenssive tracking job well into the night and good blood the trail just quit.
Now back to the buck. I found myself back in my stand Sat morning with high hopes. At 6:00 a.m. two deer crossed in front of me at 8 yards. I slowly glassed them with my binoculars and quickly realized one of them was my buck. As if his sixth sense was kicking in he continued past me and fed to my left at less than 20 yards out of my line of shot. The wind finally swirled and he caught my scent and of he went down the trail her takes to his daytime bedding area. He never returned that weekend.
After making the drive down Thursday night from our Thxgiving gathering in Conroe I awoke after 2 hours of sleep and headed to the brush at about 4:30 a.m. to run my corn route. The fog was thick with visibility between 10-30 yards. After making it to my blind around 5:45 I quietly setup and awaited the 30 minutes for sun up. At 7 a.m. I caught movement behind the feed pen and glassed my buck making his way through the brush. He passed the pen and came to a stop in the road 50 yards to my left, peering at the blind for about 30 seconds before making his into the brush headed to his bed. About 5 minutes later the spike that was feeding in front of me threw up his head and my buck magically emerged from the fog heading directly across the trail in front of me. I quickly drew back, anchored my rest and picked out the mark behind his shoulder I wanted to hit. He was quartering away hard and the arrow hit far back and only penetrated half way into his cavity. He kicked, ran and crashed out of sight making no intention to avoid running through cactus and mesquite brush.
I replayed the video multiple times over the next 30 minutes and there was no doubt I hit him far back due to the extreme quartering shot. My assurance was in the tail tale kick and the tucked tail as he plowed over brush. I got out to where he was standing and made my way 25 yards to where I found him piled up w/out finding a drop of blood up until the last 5 yards. I had made a perfect heart shot and the entrance hole from my 3 blade rage was over 6" in diameter. My arrow was petruding from the front of his shoulder. He scored 167 3/8 with about 8" broken off. He completely broke off his best split and about 3" of one of his G3 and parts of two other tines. He is my best buck to date and it was an awesome experience to pursue and harvest such an incredible buck with my bow.
Mike
A little over a week ago he made his first appearance while my hunting buddy James was sitting there. James called and said quit your job, sell your kids do whatever is possible to get down here asap. As luck would have it a change in my work schedule had me shift meetings from Dallas to Laredo that Tuesday and I managed to squeeze in a quick evening hunt. At 5:45 he appeared and fed out of bow range behind some brush for about 15 minutes. As I waited patiently for him to move closer the young buck in front of me shifted his attention from the golden kernels he was eating to something down the road. I looked up to see an ellusive auodad, that had been roaming the ranch for about 10 years, approaching. The big buck threw his head up and ran off into the brush. After several moments the auodad that evaded the rifle hunters for so many years stepped out of the brush at 20 yards. I quietly drew back and let one sail right through his vitals. Unfortunately after an extenssive tracking job well into the night and good blood the trail just quit.
Now back to the buck. I found myself back in my stand Sat morning with high hopes. At 6:00 a.m. two deer crossed in front of me at 8 yards. I slowly glassed them with my binoculars and quickly realized one of them was my buck. As if his sixth sense was kicking in he continued past me and fed to my left at less than 20 yards out of my line of shot. The wind finally swirled and he caught my scent and of he went down the trail her takes to his daytime bedding area. He never returned that weekend.
After making the drive down Thursday night from our Thxgiving gathering in Conroe I awoke after 2 hours of sleep and headed to the brush at about 4:30 a.m. to run my corn route. The fog was thick with visibility between 10-30 yards. After making it to my blind around 5:45 I quietly setup and awaited the 30 minutes for sun up. At 7 a.m. I caught movement behind the feed pen and glassed my buck making his way through the brush. He passed the pen and came to a stop in the road 50 yards to my left, peering at the blind for about 30 seconds before making his into the brush headed to his bed. About 5 minutes later the spike that was feeding in front of me threw up his head and my buck magically emerged from the fog heading directly across the trail in front of me. I quickly drew back, anchored my rest and picked out the mark behind his shoulder I wanted to hit. He was quartering away hard and the arrow hit far back and only penetrated half way into his cavity. He kicked, ran and crashed out of sight making no intention to avoid running through cactus and mesquite brush.
I replayed the video multiple times over the next 30 minutes and there was no doubt I hit him far back due to the extreme quartering shot. My assurance was in the tail tale kick and the tucked tail as he plowed over brush. I got out to where he was standing and made my way 25 yards to where I found him piled up w/out finding a drop of blood up until the last 5 yards. I had made a perfect heart shot and the entrance hole from my 3 blade rage was over 6" in diameter. My arrow was petruding from the front of his shoulder. He scored 167 3/8 with about 8" broken off. He completely broke off his best split and about 3" of one of his G3 and parts of two other tines. He is my best buck to date and it was an awesome experience to pursue and harvest such an incredible buck with my bow.
Mike
Attached Files
Comment