Axis quest....the final chapter

[Howard]

congrats on the first and hope to read of a second. Thanks for taking the time to share a great experience with us and paint it so well in words

[Dr. D]

Great story. Congrats on the recovery...sorry it was late. Good luck on the next one.

[Jamesl]

Heck I don't even know the rest of the story and I was there most of the week. John, how long did you end up staying out friday morning. I thought for sure you would have picked me up to help load up your axis. I waited til 10:45am but you were probably still in the blind.

[tuthdoc]

I got in about 11. I was heading in, but when I got to the windmill, there were 4 big bucks watering. One Eyed Jack and that long beam buck with the short cottles were there. I decided to set up a tree stand. I found a perfect tree. 17 yards from the trough and 17 from the fence. I planned on going in, eating, showering, and heading back out. Figured they'd come in to water some time during the middle of the day. You must have just left. I passed a Freak Nasty 7 that morning. He had character, but was not very massive and kinda ugly. But, that's later in the story. LOL

[Will 74]

Great story Doc. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[tuthdoc]

After saying good bye to Mitch, Sean, and Mark, I headed back out to put up a blind for Skid Mark. I really felt like I had him figured. We started to put it up and Mark hunt him, but with so little time to hunt, Mark felt like the blinds that we had set up at the trough and the spring would be his best bet. I agreed.

The place is kind of at the corner of a gentle slope from a high hill. The road runs at the base of the hill. Between where the blind was going and the up slope was a heavy game trail that the animals could use to go to the windmill. I was about 30 yards off the two track, making a road feeder run easy to keep it corned. There was a lot of agarito with some cedar and green briars. I walked and looked and looked and walked, trying to figure the best spot for the blind. Settled on an open area between two thick clumps of ararito and cedar. The blind filled the hole perfectly. I added military netting, draping it over the blind and up above the blind into the bushes to break up the outline. Cedar limbs finished it off.

This is the pro360 I got off ebay for 60 dollars. I like the camo. I forgot to take pics of it with all the netting and stuff and these pics were taken right before I took it down to come home.





I had planned on a shooting hole to my left on the game trail and a couple out front toward the road. having a shot to the left meant cutting too much brush. I settled on two front holes, facing south. I knew animals would be passing me on the left, but hoped they would cut over to the corn coming and going.

If you look to the right of the first pic, you'll see an oak mott. The trail cuts right under the outside of those trees.

I had agarito in one shooting hole and briars in the other. I hacked openings into those spots to pour corn. No pear, but an agaito blindfold works just as well. Those shots would be 18 yards.

With the blind done, I decided to go back to my Hilltop blind where the nontypicals were. The area had dried up, but with no pressure, I figured to give it one more hunt. There had been about a dozen shots back on the other side of the fence on those ranches over the past several weeks and either the bucks had moved or been shot. I could no longer ease out and see them lounging.

That evening, I saw a few small axis and several whitetails, but no big boys. The pigs that had been tormenting me all month came in late. Decided to take an oreo from the package. She was quartering harder than I'd shoot a deer, but the first cut entered behind the ribs and exited between her opposite shoulder and her neck. The vanes caught on her ear and you can see the shaft dangling as she ran. She went about 50 yards and piled up. KAP was in affect. Very poor hog. No meat at all.



If you look behind the shoulder in this next pic, you'll see a light dot. That's the vanes just before impact.



She ran off with my arrow sailing above her. I think it's in her ear.





I left my blind, but it would be my last hunt here for the year. It was a very good location and I had a lot of activity. Was an ideal looking blind. Bobby told me not to send anyone up there to take it down because they'd never find it. He might have been right. I was HIDDEN.

[low_tec]

Nice Oreo, got Milk

Great thread John, sure have enjoyed reading these the last few weeks.

[tuthdoc]

Lucky for you guys I'm on my last video tape. LOL. All I'll have left then are some trail cam pics.

[Krivoman]

More more more....

[tuthdoc]

Started out next morning at the new blind, hoping that Skid Mark would show. Instead, this rascal was one of the first to come out. Long Beams. Long Brows. cottles were weak and broken. If he comes in, my hunt will be short. Fine buck.















He came to less than 30 yards, but never came to my less than 20 range. He was definately added to the "list" of candidates. He wandered off to my right, whipped a tree, and headed toward the windmill.

Rest of the morning was uneventful. smaller bucks, whitetails out the yazoo. Maybe the evening would be better.

[bowmansdad]

Great read, TD. I don't know how that axis made it more than 50 yards! Glad you recovered him and good luck on the next one.

[Smart]

Congrats tuthdoc......congrats on a fine axis

[Krivoman]

tuth, I have never seen that deer. Nice.

[TrickyOlGus]

Tuth, I have never seen any of these deer. Very nice.

[tuthdoc]

Next several hunts I spent in this blind. Lots of animals. Some great and some that will be great. Skid Mark hadn't shown, but there was never a dull moment. I'll just post some pics over the next couple posts and introduce you to some of them. I was obviously in a great spot.

These are the fightingest whitetails I've ever seen. Battles like this went on constantly. Buck and doe, doe and doe, buck and buck. They can stand on their hind legs longer than any deer I've seen.





This buck had just shed its horns. I saw another one at the Spring Blind that had just shed. Some are shedding horns, some are shedding velvet, some are still growing, and some are ripe and ready to shoot.



Here's a few more from the first evening. Two of them have strips hanging off. I don't know what I did, but the background was really bright on my camera that evening. Had to go to manuel exposure. I guess it fixed itself, because this was the only day that it happened.