East Texas Whitetail

[Dan the Man]

I got up to the lease late Friday night. There was no one
else there. It was cold. I slept fitfully (the heater ran out of propane
about 2 AM) until the alarm went off at 5:30. I decided it would be best
to get an extra 30 minutes of sleep, so I got up at 0600.

I dressed quickly and headed out to the stand. It was cold. I decided
to use the 'Jerry Townsend' strategy, and get out to the stand just as it
gets light. I don't have any working feeders, so no need to be ready when
a feeder goes off. I parked the truck, and it was nice and warm in the
truck, so I stayed there for 20 more minutes. I arrived at the stand
about 7 AM.

As I walked out to the stand, I noticed that the woods were much
thinner. Apparently a lot of clear cutting had occurred along the wooded areas between my stand and the main road. Happily, they were cutting farther west of me this particular morning. In addition, a colony of wasps had moved into my stand. Since it was cold, they were quite sluggish. I killed about 12 of them. It was self defense.

Once I got settled in, I noticed some branches had been bent over during
the clear-cutting and were blocking my view. Sheesh. I climbed down and
broke them off. Came back and settled in. Again.

About fifteen minutes later, a deer crossed the path about 150 yards down.
'Deer' I hissed and threw up my rifle. By the time I had a sight picture,
its head was obscured and I didn't know if it was a doe or buck (its buck-only season now in my county). But I waited. Deer #1 moved into the woods, and Deer #2 stepped out. Deer #2 was a small doe or anterless buck. Then Deer #3 stepped out. Deer#3 was a buck for sure, and I whispered 'buck' to myself. When he turned his head my direction, I saw nice brow tines. 'Pow' the gun goes off, and he jumps and runs off. From first deer to shot was about six seconds.

I wait a couple minutes and then walk on down. I'm still pumped with
adrenaline, and I find a little blood. Its only a small drop (1/4") but
its bright red. Well, not much, but the color is good. I knew I had hit
him well--the sight picture was good. But the lack of blood was
disturbing. I looked carefully around the ground and found some more
blood drips, but nothing bigger than a nickel. The area had been cleared of
underbrush, and the tree lines were sparse, so visibility was pretty good.
After a tense 30 seconds of tracking, I look up, and sure enough,
there he is, 25 yards from where I shot him.

The wound profile was a bit strange. The bullet hit him right on the
shoulder and blew a large entrance wound (1 1/2" diameter). The exit wound
was small and well back (just in front of the diaphragm). I found bullet
fragments when I skinned him. I believe the bullet (150 grain corelokt)
fragmented on impact and the largest fragment deflected and exited at a
quartering angle.

He has a 15 1/4" spread, and eight points. He had no upper teeth,
indicating he was probably past prime and starting to decline. (at least that is what I think that indicates)

This is my first buck from this lease (after five years of hunting),
and my nicest whitetail ever.

I took it to the taxidermist to have an antler mount, and my poor deer was dwarfed by the monsters that come from game managed properties in South Texas. But that's OK, because my deer is very nice.

Regards
--Dan

 

[DigMe]

It's kinda hard to tell from those pictures but he doesn't look like an old age buck from what I can see except that his belly does look kinda saggy in the second pic. His neck doesn't look that full though. Do you happen to have like a full-on side profile picture of his head?

Either way good job...you broke every rule for a successful deer hunt and had a successful deer hunt.

brad cook

 

[Newt]

Congrats on the buck. He's a good 'un. I agree with Brad on this one too, he looks like a young buck in those pics. I'm no expert, but he looks young to me. Once again, Congrats!

 

[Dan the Man]

Sadly, I think I am a victim of 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing'. I had heard that the condition of the teeth is the best way to age a buck. (which is true!). When I saw he had no upper incisors, I thought he must be old to have lost those teeth. Well, what I have since discovered is that whitetail deer don't have upper incisors.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other pics, but I graciously defer to you two in regards to his age.

Now, as far as rules for successful deer hunting.

In our deer camp, there are two rules of thought. One group likes to get out early so they are in position well before the deer start moving. The other group believes that if you get out there too early, you just increase the opportunity for your scent to blow around. I am becoming a proponent of the second theory (plus you get to sleep in later ).

I have kept up feeders for four years. In those four years, I have fed many deer and hogs, but I have never seen either under the feeder when I've been hunting. This year, I have not filled a feeder once, and I've seen more deer than any other year. I know others have deer come to their feeders, but it doesn't do anything for me.

I park my truck 1/4-1/2 mile from the stand. And I'm actually pretty quiet on approach. I talked to a deer hunter from back east that stalked whitetail, and he said you can make noise as long as it sounds natural to them (he shuffles quickly through leaves so it sounds like a squirrel.). The breaking branches didn't bother these deer, so I suspect they had been used to the loggers in the area cutting up the trees.

I do think the cuttings that are going on around our lease helped me. It probably disturbed the deer and changed their movement patterns. And a little good luck is OK with me.

Thanks and Regards
--Dan

 

[Lonestar.45]

Very nice buck!! Nice indeed. I've done most of my hunting in the central Texas area. I shot a decent 6pt near Dripping Springs a month ago, but smaller than yours.

I've usually had great luck hunting feeders, but it really all depends on the terrain and the rainfall that particular year. Most years, I see deer around the feeders all the time, including bucks. This year, I've seen very very little. We've had so much rain this year that the range conditions are great, and they don't need to come into the feeders much.

It also depends on when the first freeze occurs. The deer really start coming into the feeders after the first good freeze, because so much browse has been killed off. Before then, though, they mostly ignore the feeders. Good luck trying to bowhunt the feeders during October, especially in a wet year. You're better off finding a good oak tree with a huge acorn crop dropping, that's a better strategy.

What kind of gun/caliber are you shooting? It sure worked in this case. Great deer!

 

[DigMe]

I was just kidding ya man. There are no rules for a successful deer hunt (except for the ethical and legal ones)! Whatever works!

From those pics the buck looks immature. Again, it's hard to tell with him on the ground and in the position he's in but based on the slender neck, perceived height of the rear legs and the proportion of the length of snout to vertical measure of head it looks like it's still immature to me. It all tastes the same though.

brad cook

 

[Rich K]

Very nice buck.My hat is off to you sir,enjoy.

 

[Matt G]

Heh. I was thinking the same as DigMe, but wouldn't have said it. Hunting: "you must get up early."
"You must get into your stand before dawn."
"You mustn't move lest you frighten the deer."

What caliber?

 

[Dan the Man]

Are we saying that there aren't immutable rules for deer hunting?

Actually, I think the secret to successful hunting is persistence. Earlier this year, I took my girlfriend's son bow hunting (he and I have hunted together for several years). I'm not a bow hunter, but he enjoys it. He shot a doe (well, as it turned out), late the first day out. It was almost underneath his tree stand, so the wound was high, and the blood trail was hard to follow. Of course, the trail was in very thick brush and thorny bushes. About 30 minutes after dark, our flashlight batteries started to give out. We went back to camp, he fixed some dinner, and I went out and bought batteries and surveyor's tape. We went back out at 9 PM, and tracked that trail on our hands and knees looking for blood spots the size of a pin head. In the dark, the brush was disorienting and was so thick overhead we couldn't stand up straight. I told him we would get that deer, all we needed to do was be persistent. We found the doe about 10:30 PM. He had punctured the right lung. But the wound was high on the back, so the blood trail was quite poor. It was his first deer with a bow, and a great hunting lesson to boot (it was kinda scary out there with the coyotes howling in thick brush where you couldn't see ten feet even with a flashlight).

Ah, but back to my deer. I use a Remington 700 in .300 winchester magnum. I've used it for everything from antelope to deer to greater kudu to moose. I have a leopold 3x9 scope on it. I have a 1 1/4" mil-spec leather sling. For deer, I use remington 150 grain corelokt cartridges. For everything else, I use Remington's safari load with the 200 grain swift a-frame. The gun is surprisingly accurate--2" at 200 yards is typical for me. I have it zeroed at 200 so it is 6" low at 300 yards (with the 150 grainers). My longest shot in the field was at a caribou at 275 yards. My shortest shot was 30 yards at a springbok. And that was after I let it get out aways

Regards to All!
--Dan

 

[DigMe]

I'd really love to hunt kudu. Where'd you do that?

brad cook

 

[Dan the Man]

Check out the bottom of this web page. That's me! I hunted kudu in the Kalahari region of South Africa (very close to the Botswana border). I highly recommend the outfitter and PH--the hunt was great.

http://www.kabrasafaris.com/kalahari.htm

Regards
--Dan

 

[DigMe]

Whoa! That's a big'un!

They are such an awesome animal.

brad cook