Pics of this years buck.
12-02-2005, 07:53 AM
#16
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Caddo Mills, TX
Posts: 600
RE: Pics of this years buck.
Sorry for the slow response. Out youngest daughter had tubes put in her ears and adanoids(sp) taken out yesterday. Out where I live I cannot get high speed internet and so I only check the boards out when it is slow here at work.
Shot the deer in Freestone county Texas. It is really not a "big deer" area but it has produced an occasional brute. We have been on this 1100 acre lease for about 9 years. We have done out best to manage the place. We have 8 hunters on the place but only about 3 of us hunt hard. None of the members would dream of shooting a young buck. This is quite a change from the group that use to lease the place. They had 17 members that shot anything with hair. Their "big buck" contest was normally won by a 14 inch wide 8 point. I have seen at least 6-8 of those this year...LOL. We are lucky in that there is now little hunting pressure in the area. Other then one 1300 acre place to the north there is not any hunting at all.
I was watching a doe and yearling eating corn under my feeder to the south and a nubbin buck back to my north. The nubbin buck had been around basically all day. I don't think it had been to long since momma ran him off and he was confused. It was about 5:15 on Friday evening and this nubbin keeps throwing up his head and looking into the woods to the west of the right-of-way. After about 10 to 12 minutes he breaks and runs into, not away from, whatever he had seen in the woods. I figured it was a group of does. About 3 to 5 minutes later the buck comes out of the woods and is making a beeline towards the doe and yearling that are eating corn. I was lucky in that I saw him as soon as he stepped out and realized that he was a shooter. From the time I saw him to the time I shot him seemed to be about 4 seconds...LOL. I shot and he took about 2 to 3 steps forward and just stopped and looked towards the deer stand. I am thinking there is not way that I just missed this deer......I kick another shell in the gun (note to self....the clearance between the bolt and the scope on this gun is quite small....smaller then my thumb which now has a nice bruise on it...). All I can see at this point is from the neck up. I take aim and as I am squeazing the trigger the buck started shaking and collapsed. I did everything that I could not to shot again but it would have taken God himself to stop my finger at that point. I waited about 5 minutes and got out of the stand. I heard something moving in the woods so I waited another 10 minutes. Started into the woods again and coulf hear something moving around. Now I am confused. I had seem the buck go down right inside the woods but I was worryed that I had blown the shot. I decided to jog back to camp and get on the mule and drive back. This would do two things. One I am not really a patient person and this would keep me from running the buck out and two someone in my family had decide that I did not need my flashlight this weekend so I was going to need the headlights to find blood. It probably took me about 10 minutes to cover the mile back to the camphouse and less then 5 to drive back. I pulled up to where I had shot the buck and saw no blood.....Now I am really kicking myself good.....I stepped into the woods and the buck was right there. He had traveled less then 10 feet from where I had shot him. This right-of-way was made about 5 years ago and the edges are really thick which had kept me from seeing the buck....The noise that I kept hearing? That stupid nubbin buck that never did run off. While I was loading the buck into the back of the mule the nubbin stuck his head out of the woods and watched me. My bet is that he will get much smarted over the next couple of years.....
Thanks.
-john
Shot the deer in Freestone county Texas. It is really not a "big deer" area but it has produced an occasional brute. We have been on this 1100 acre lease for about 9 years. We have done out best to manage the place. We have 8 hunters on the place but only about 3 of us hunt hard. None of the members would dream of shooting a young buck. This is quite a change from the group that use to lease the place. They had 17 members that shot anything with hair. Their "big buck" contest was normally won by a 14 inch wide 8 point. I have seen at least 6-8 of those this year...LOL. We are lucky in that there is now little hunting pressure in the area. Other then one 1300 acre place to the north there is not any hunting at all.
I was watching a doe and yearling eating corn under my feeder to the south and a nubbin buck back to my north. The nubbin buck had been around basically all day. I don't think it had been to long since momma ran him off and he was confused. It was about 5:15 on Friday evening and this nubbin keeps throwing up his head and looking into the woods to the west of the right-of-way. After about 10 to 12 minutes he breaks and runs into, not away from, whatever he had seen in the woods. I figured it was a group of does. About 3 to 5 minutes later the buck comes out of the woods and is making a beeline towards the doe and yearling that are eating corn. I was lucky in that I saw him as soon as he stepped out and realized that he was a shooter. From the time I saw him to the time I shot him seemed to be about 4 seconds...LOL. I shot and he took about 2 to 3 steps forward and just stopped and looked towards the deer stand. I am thinking there is not way that I just missed this deer......I kick another shell in the gun (note to self....the clearance between the bolt and the scope on this gun is quite small....smaller then my thumb which now has a nice bruise on it...). All I can see at this point is from the neck up. I take aim and as I am squeazing the trigger the buck started shaking and collapsed. I did everything that I could not to shot again but it would have taken God himself to stop my finger at that point. I waited about 5 minutes and got out of the stand. I heard something moving in the woods so I waited another 10 minutes. Started into the woods again and coulf hear something moving around. Now I am confused. I had seem the buck go down right inside the woods but I was worryed that I had blown the shot. I decided to jog back to camp and get on the mule and drive back. This would do two things. One I am not really a patient person and this would keep me from running the buck out and two someone in my family had decide that I did not need my flashlight this weekend so I was going to need the headlights to find blood. It probably took me about 10 minutes to cover the mile back to the camphouse and less then 5 to drive back. I pulled up to where I had shot the buck and saw no blood.....Now I am really kicking myself good.....I stepped into the woods and the buck was right there. He had traveled less then 10 feet from where I had shot him. This right-of-way was made about 5 years ago and the edges are really thick which had kept me from seeing the buck....The noise that I kept hearing? That stupid nubbin buck that never did run off. While I was loading the buck into the back of the mule the nubbin stuck his head out of the woods and watched me. My bet is that he will get much smarted over the next couple of years.....
Thanks.
-john
12-02-2005, 08:06 AM
#17
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Caddo Mills, TX
Posts: 600
RE: Pics of this years buck.
Oh and I did not polish the horns...LOL. Freestone county is really sandy and most of the horns from the area are this way. And this buck was about the 4th best that we have taken from this place (my personal best).
-john
-john
12-06-2005, 05:21 AM
#20
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: chiefland Florida USA
Posts: 5,417
RE: Pics of this years buck.
John ; congrats. on a fine buck, I showed it to Bud.
one day I am gonna get to go out you way and see some of those big bucks.maybe some time when Bud is coming that way to check out his place , I'll catch a ride with him.
one day I am gonna get to go out you way and see some of those big bucks.maybe some time when Bud is coming that way to check out his place , I'll catch a ride with him.
