Hunting in the 'New Year' @ Solana Ranch....

[DW]

Friday morning started early for me. Got in the huge live Oak early and could hear deer under me after about 15 minutes but it was still a good 20 minutes till shooting light. All of a sudden I heard them running. Under me and to the right I saw something huge moving and thought "cow" but through the binocs I saw it was a big hog. Still not enough light to shoot but he stayed in my shooting lane at 12-15 yds until it was just light enough. I slowly started to draw but about half-way to anchor he spooked....Dang...Saw around 10 more deer and then 2 big bucks show up 1 of them a huge 8 point and the other a big 7... They got within 30 yards but just wouldn't come on in....I had several shots at does but wasn't about to shot with the 2 bucks hanging around......A great morning and here is a bad pic of the 7 pt...I knew I would like to hunt here the afternoon if David agreed.....

[Guru]

After getting Don and his doe(he'd made a great shot)....

 

...we went in for another spectacular dinner....

 The next morning would be one I'll never forget for as long as I live. Without a doubt one of the most memorable hunts I've ever been involved in. A magnificent animal, my hunting partners that I shared it with, and how it all came together was almost more than one man could ask for......

 Terry was dropped off first...we wished him luck. Then Don would be next,he would go back to the stand he hunted the first morning. The one he saw a ton of deer out of,including a few good bucks. As he was getting out of the truck, he said something like, "if that weird buck shows up again, I'm gonna kill him"....we wished him luck!
David would get me to the tri-pod that Skyler had shot his hog out of the first morning, and the one I'd hunted that afternoon....Also just happened to be the stand Terry shot his haunting buck out of last year....they wished me luck....

Sky and David drove into the darkness......

[Guru]

Looks like I jumped the gun...sorry bud    :(

[Shaun]

We got sorted into teams of four with a guide per group and Charlie Lamb, Micheal (sunny hill archer), Bob Walker and myself were attached to John's crew. Like all the guides, he was full of knowledge about the ranch and hunting. He took a personal interest in seeing that everyone had a good hunt. John has an eleven month old 3/4 Jack 1/4 Fox Terrier for blood tracking - Stubby.

John in the white tee shirt and Stubby

 

Michael at the practice range, another classic form shooter. I could see the bar was going to be high for this hunt.

 

Speaking of high, John pulled up to the first stand that first night and said, "Anyone not afraid of heights?"

It was the tallest ladder stand I have ever seen with several sections added to place the seat at around 30 feet! Even if I was not chicken, the shot angle to my 15 yard effective range would have been too steep. No volunteers.

Next stop was a much more reasonable height overlooking a small clearing with a feeder. I was called to cover this spot and settled in for my first taste of Texas hill country hunting.

As the noise of the truck faded, I could hear hogs in the brush not far off. Sounded like they had been waiting there and the growls and grunts sounded like an old sow warning off the young anxious to feed piglets. Sure enough, a few minutes later there was an exodus and I caught a glimpse of hogs moving away.

Oh well, still early and I settled in to wait for the magic hour before dark.

[DW]

The wind was good for the afternoon to hunt the same stand. The crew dropped me off early and David took Sky to a treestand that Terry had seen a huge buck out of a few years earlier.....Truck had just gotten out of sight and in walked a button buck and 2 does. It was 3.5 hrs. till dark and I decided if I got a good shot at one of the does, I would take it....She did and I did....20 yds. and picked out a rock 6in. below her chest......  

[DW]

ENTRANCE......

[DW]

EXIT.....

[DW]

[paleFace]

Another Video snip-it!

anyone guess who this arrow belongs to?

   

[Guru]

.... A button buck was the first to show...he walked right to the feeder. But a couple does were very weary and I'd catch glimpses of them as they started to come in, then leave. It was still very low light and I heard another deer come thru/over(couldn't see exactly how they crossed) the barbed wire fence on my left. It was a young 8 pt and he had a doe behind him. As they fed in front and off the left, I caught something moving to my right. At first I couldn't tell what it was because of the tree branches. I mean, I knew it was a deer, but that's it. When it hit the first opening, I was ready with my Leicas. As soon as I saw him, I knew what I was looking at...it was "Don's weird buck", his pix didn't do him justice. This buck was a stud!!!!

Soon he was front of me feeding, but he wouldn't really come as close as I would of liked, and he just wouldn't offer either of his sides to me. He'd played this game before........

He fed around,over and over he'd make a loop out behind the feeder. As he moved around I studied everything about him. I used the time to settle down too. His headgear was in fact "kinda freaky". Heavy bases, with good mass, and all busted up on his "normal side". The other side looked to be just a beam and a real long brow tine. But my binos revealed another sticker off the brow.Although certainly different, he also had real good width.

He was also the most handsome buck I'd seen on the ranch in two years of hunting. He had beautiful markings...a dark blackish stripe down his muzzle and gorgeous coloration on his forehead. No doubt he was also the most mature deer I'd seen so far too...sagging belly, loose skin, very muscular....yeah, I really wanted this deer......

[paleFace]

Bring back any memories???  

   

[Guru]

..This went on for a good 20 minutes. I was fairly calm, and enjoying every second of the privilege I was given to watch such a fine animal....he started to wander off.....

My first reaction was to reach for a call, who was I kidding, but then I realized he was heading in Don's direction...I could still see him thru the branches about 50 yds away when the unexpected happened.....the feeder went off again!! I'd forgotten David told me it was set to go off twice....

Every other deer scattered, then slowly started back in.....just as thought he'd gone off, I see him coming back in.....

By this time I knew his routine of staying behind the feeder, so I knew my shot was going to be a little longer then I'd have liked, but certainly very makeable for me....he just needed to give me a shot. Something he hadn't done yet.....

As he started to turn, I thought it may be happening...I'd already determined that if I did shoot I'd have to shoot with my bow straight up and down. Not my "normal shot", but again, one I knew I could do, I practice to be very versatile in my shooting. I'd also have to "scooch down" in my seat as far as possible to even sneak an arrow out to where he was. This stand was better suited for a righty. But again, the shot was makeable....

He continued to turn, and as he did, he took a couple steps forward and was now broadside for the first time...here we go......

[Missouri CK]

Hearts pumping good by now Curt!  

[Mike Gerardi]

Com on !!! Finish it Curt. I hate commercial breaks!!!!!

[Guru]

I looked under his chest, drew, and shot quicker that I can describe it.....It's the strangest thing to shoot to miss a deer. It's an instant "mental panic", I mean your mind has seen this shot at this distance thousands of times, and it knows where the arrow should be, but still half way there you're missin'....

...and that's how it was till the arrow was almost to him...then he started to drop, turn away and lay over......

....and I watched my Snuffer tipped Vapor 3000 disappear low in the "pocket"....it was a perfectly shot arrow...and he'd followed the script......

...He was instantly running low and hard and was out of site in seconds...To say I was fired up doesn't even come close to how I felt.....

I hung my bow up and settled my nerves for a few minutes. Then I grabbed my phone to send a message to Don...."I just drilled your freaky buck"......

A minute later his response was a pic message...he'd already shot a 7 pt.!!!! Yeah baby!!

I got down to check my arrow......

 

A closer look revealed bubbly blood and saturated feathers!

 


I got back in the seat.....then decided to stay a while to let the other deer that had come back after the shot wander off, and give my buck time.

When I couldn't take it anymore I asked Don to walk over and spook them. I didn't want to give the stand away. He was excited to help me find him.....

After a quick story on his buck, we started tracking......

For some reason(that I think I can explain later) the blood was a little light......

 

Then things started to pick up.....

 


We'd gone maybe 100yds and were about to a bunch of cedar trees when we could tell the blood was showing signs of an animal about to go down......I looked left and this is what I saw....

 

[DW]

at first light I had what I thought was a good 8 pt. at about 12 yds. under the live oak limbs. I would shoot him if I got the chance. He headed for my lane and was about to enter it. I started my draw and .....an un seen doe about blew me out of the tree! Deer were running every where and I lost track of the buck...I looked down at some movement and it was a nice wide racked buck at 15 looking around trying to find me....Kill mode took over and the arrow was on it's way........

[Guru]

To have shared all this made it ever more special. We grabbed him and drug him out to get a better look.....

 

He was truly a very handsome deer....

 

 

 

 

 After a couple quick pix we were off to get some pix of Don's buck. His batteries had died on his camera. We'd be back to take a ton of pix of each buck and them together....what a morning this had turned into......

[vermonster13]

Cool rack on him.

[zipper bowss]

What is this????? I probebly have big runs in all 6 risers I just sprayed, because of you guys.Rushing to see whats next and BAM another half story!!This just isent right.Its almost as bad as waiting on a big buck to turn broadside.
Bill

[zipper bowss]

OK the rest of the story.I must have been hunting letters on this keyboard while the rest of the story came up.Please forgive my impatience.
Bill