axis quest...week three..attack of Rage

[bdphunt]

Has there been a better series of threads on TBH? Hard to think of many that compare. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait for the next post.

[Howard]

wow, I still can not beleive you didnt smoke that joker! Beautiful bucks!

[Cull]

Tuthdoc,
Those dots make great aiming point.

[tuthdoc]

OK, after the 5/deuce buck hunt, I was back in the same blind next morning. I was going to kill him if he came in. I also had the long beamed buck in this area, and I decided he'd do also.

Well, I had been dropping Bobby off at the blind and then chumming with the road feeder. This time, the roles were reversed. Bobby had so many animals around him the morning he killed his that we put A LOT of corn on the ground. Only problem was that when Bobby ran the road feeder, he backed too far while running it and laid down a lot of corn on the road and the area between the road and where my shooting holes were. Guess what! He long beamed buck came in and started eating on the road. I can't see him unless I lean way over. Well, he usually stays for an hour or so. No problem. He fed and fed and finally got to the point where he was on my video cam, or at least his horns were. If he fed a little farther and his shoulder got to the point where his horns were, I'd shoot him. I got my bow ready and kept the camera going.

These pics are as far as he got. I wasn't taking a chance on leaning way to my left to shoot.





That evening, I hunted the same blind, but neither deer came in. I heard them roaring around me, but all I had were whitetails, small bucks, does and a couple sika. The Japanese buck came in as well as a Formosan or Drubowsy (Ignore the spelling. I have no idea how it's spelled) sika doe. They have spots in the summer and spring. They are also bigger. The Japanese sika kept biting the doe and there were several altercations.









About that time, the buck I call Old Man, an over the hill buck, moved to my other shooting hole and got too close to the does. The long beam buck, saw him and headed over there. No problem. He'll just get shot in another hole. He ran the buck off, walked through the hole, turned around and walked back through the hole and proceeded back to the road where he had started. He fed toward the hole again, but never made it. He left and headed to the spring where he stays most of the day.

[W-L-F]

Doc gitter done

[tuthdoc]

Here's some more pics from that last afternoon. No good bucks but a lot of axis. I had a couple crows/ravens come in for corn. I really felt like the Edgar Allen Poe thing might mean death was in the air. Not to be.



The old man and several young bucks came in along with does and the only axis fawn I've seen. I even got one pic of three species of deer together.













Next and last morning found me once again in the stand above the spring. At just barely daylight, the long beam buck came in. He went right to my shooting hole and started eating. I had the bow up, release on the loop, and was waiting for enough light for me to see dots. I wanted to make sure I could see point of impact. I needed about 5 or so more minutes when a hog came in from behind, doing what a hog does best. Grunting and growling. Everything spooked for a minute then started settling back down, coming back in. All except the long beamed buck. He spooked to about 50 yards and then started rubbing his horns in the dirt, flipping rocks and stuff. He walked off a little and roared. Then, he wandered off to the spring. Basicly, that ended my hunt.

Here's a pic I captured. It was DARK!



I've got a lot of TC pics that I put out to scout for me. Some are really promising. I'll resize and post. I guess there will be a axis quest...week 4. I have a Junco weekend this week, but will try to leave the Junco by noon Saturday and get to the ranch that afternoon. Then, the quest goes until death interrupts it. It's time to put one down.

[tuthdoc]

Here are some TC's from a feeder that's not too far from where I hunted the tree. I'm about 99.9% sure this is the same buck that I saw from the tree. Bobby started out hunting this deer, but he's very irregular at the feeder. I have a spot picked out for a 360 where I think I can kill this rascal. I think we sucked him in on the road and he goes back and forth. I LIKE this one. I'll probably spend my afternoons hunting him after I get a blind up and hunt the spring blind during the mornings. Between the two at the spring blind and the blind I'll put up, I should have a good chance at one of these rascals.

With the shots I've heard around my hill blind, I'm loosing confidence that the bucks are still in the area. I'll probably check it out, because I really want one of those 8's, but I'm not feeling really confident right now in that area. Besides, this buck under the feeder is a hoss.

[HillCountryBowHunter]

Tuthdoc, what was the spotted animal that was in the picture with the Sika? We have a few at our ranch and we can't figure out what they are....

[AggieHunter]

Tuthdoc, what was the spotted animal that was in the picture with the Sika?

Its a sika also... Just from a different area

[tuthdoc]

The dark one is a Japanese sika. The other one is also a sika. It's one of the big sika species. It differs from the axis in its rump. Here's a rump pic. It's a doe and she's bigger than the Japanese sika buck.



Here's a couple Japanese sika that are going to be pretty good. Got them on a TC while scouting for axis.

[happy bowhunter]

Heck of a hunt John,thanks for taking us along

[tuthdoc]

James told me about a big deer that he saw while heading to and from our spring blind. We had been pouring the corn to the main roads and had sucked in a lot of deer. I placed a camera on a small tree looking toward the road and started corning in front of it. I also placed the chaffehay. The deer were on it immediately. I got a lot of pics here. Some nice bucks. We put up a blind and Bobby hunted it a couple times to scout for me. There's one long beamed buck with short cottles. I'll post the pics in two posts.

[tuthdoc]

The rest of the pics from that camera. Mark, if any of those deer interest you, that blind is just off the road on the way to our spring blind. Mitch should be able to find it. Just out of the first wash after the metal gate. Don't hunt it in the morning. East facing sun will kill you. We have been corning just under the edge limbs of the big live oak to the NE (about 20 yards), to the left of the camera tree and right by it to the east, and off to the south across the road. If you're concerned with wind, then that's the way to corn. The date if off, but the time is correct. The deer got on this spot quickly and are there every evening.

Of course, Mitch's spot is better. LOL

[JimN]

will it ever end??? Only Doc knows

[tuthdoc]

Oh, it'll end. Question is, will I get one before it ends.

I'm leaving in the morning for the Junco. I plan on hitting three ranches in 11 days or less. Feeders, hunt, feeders. My three targets are the long beam that I passed first, the five/deuce, or the tree stand buck. I'll be set up in two blinds. Morning at the spring blind and afternoons at the blind I'm putting up saturday afternoon. In my available time, one of those three should give me a shot. However, if another good one comes in, I won't hesitate. Broadside or SLIGHTLY quartering, 20 or closer and I'll send a rage on its way.