I got on a new lease in South Texas this year. This is a bow only lease. Trophy bucks must be 150+ and 6.5yo or older. One of the areas I picked had a buck that would be 6.5 this year that was called stagger lee. I got on the lease in April and got my feeders setup. Had one mature buck that was a regular at the protein feeder that I was hoping was stagger lee. Finally in July he had grown enough antler that I was able to verify it was him.
July 3rd.
July 7th
August 6th
Several us around camp looked at pictures and some video of the buck and kept coming up with him scoring in the low 150's. Bow season rolls around and opening weekend I had him at the feeder both days and decided to pass him in hopes for a bigger buck. Around late October I started second guessing my decision to let him go and started hunting him again. I never saw him at the feeder again during shooting hours and on December 1st he vanished completely. No one on the lease was getting any pictures of him and we were not sure if the pasture next to us had taken him. Finally on January 4th he showed back in the pictures but coming in at midnight. This pattern continued until January 8th when he started showing up morning and evening. Looking at the pics I couldn't believe that he only had one small kicker that was busted off.
Friday the 14th I was able to get out of working that night and pointed the truck south for the last weekend. Saturday morning I had several new bucks and some of the regulars come in but no stagger lee. Was starting to think he wouldn't show up that morning when at 9am he jumped into the feeder pen. He went straight to the protein feeder and feed for about 2 minutes. No shot available. He turned to walk to the corn feeder and stopped but was quartering towards me too much for a shot. He looked at the corn feeder for bit and not seeing any corn he turned and just walked away without offering a shot. I couldn't believe it. The first time in 2 months I see the buck, I have him at 15 yards and he doesn't offer a shot. I sat in the stand for about another hour and then climbed down and pulled the memory cards and went back to camp. In looking at the pics I noticed the last 2 days he had come in around 2:30 for an afternoon snack from the protein feeder. At 12:45 I headed out and climbed back into the stand. At 1:30 I had a small 9pntr come in and feed for about 30 minutes at the protein feeder. He finally jumped out of the feeder pen and headed across the pasture to the east of the blind. I watched him about 75 yards to the top of the hill. Right as he is getting to the heavy brush he starts backing up and moves off of the trail. Out of the thick brush walks stagger lee. It takes him about 30 minutes but he finally makes his way down to the feeder pen. He is standing about 10 yards from blind in the brush staring into the feeder pen. When I see him jump into the pen I drew back my bow and waited for the shot. He took about 4 steps into the feeder pen and stopped. He was at 8 yards when I took the shot. He bolted out the far side of the feeder pen. I sat for about 10 minutes before I thought it would be safe to try and climb down the ladder of the stand. When I got into the feeder pen and looked at the blood I couldn't believe it there was good blood with some gut matter mixed in
. I slowly worked over to the far side of the pen when I see him laying about 30 yards from the pen with his head still up. I sat next to a tree and just watched him. Over the next 20 minutes he tried to get up several times but never made it more then a foot or so. With the brush he was in there was no way for a follow up shot. Finally he tried to get up one last time and collapsed onto his side. That was it he never moved again. I gave him 10 minutes with no movement and then headed over to him. He was done when I got there. Finally after passing him the first weekend of bow season I get to lay my hands on him the last weekend. I couldn't believe it when I walked up to him. No ground shrinkage here. My biggest bow buck up to this point was a 128inch 8pntr I had shot the weekend before out of the same stand. Here is where he fell.
We got him back to camp and I took him to Los Cazadores on Sunday morning to get scored. He ended up at 163.3 with 14 scoreable points.
July 3rd.
July 7th
August 6th
Several us around camp looked at pictures and some video of the buck and kept coming up with him scoring in the low 150's. Bow season rolls around and opening weekend I had him at the feeder both days and decided to pass him in hopes for a bigger buck. Around late October I started second guessing my decision to let him go and started hunting him again. I never saw him at the feeder again during shooting hours and on December 1st he vanished completely. No one on the lease was getting any pictures of him and we were not sure if the pasture next to us had taken him. Finally on January 4th he showed back in the pictures but coming in at midnight. This pattern continued until January 8th when he started showing up morning and evening. Looking at the pics I couldn't believe that he only had one small kicker that was busted off.
Friday the 14th I was able to get out of working that night and pointed the truck south for the last weekend. Saturday morning I had several new bucks and some of the regulars come in but no stagger lee. Was starting to think he wouldn't show up that morning when at 9am he jumped into the feeder pen. He went straight to the protein feeder and feed for about 2 minutes. No shot available. He turned to walk to the corn feeder and stopped but was quartering towards me too much for a shot. He looked at the corn feeder for bit and not seeing any corn he turned and just walked away without offering a shot. I couldn't believe it. The first time in 2 months I see the buck, I have him at 15 yards and he doesn't offer a shot. I sat in the stand for about another hour and then climbed down and pulled the memory cards and went back to camp. In looking at the pics I noticed the last 2 days he had come in around 2:30 for an afternoon snack from the protein feeder. At 12:45 I headed out and climbed back into the stand. At 1:30 I had a small 9pntr come in and feed for about 30 minutes at the protein feeder. He finally jumped out of the feeder pen and headed across the pasture to the east of the blind. I watched him about 75 yards to the top of the hill. Right as he is getting to the heavy brush he starts backing up and moves off of the trail. Out of the thick brush walks stagger lee. It takes him about 30 minutes but he finally makes his way down to the feeder pen. He is standing about 10 yards from blind in the brush staring into the feeder pen. When I see him jump into the pen I drew back my bow and waited for the shot. He took about 4 steps into the feeder pen and stopped. He was at 8 yards when I took the shot. He bolted out the far side of the feeder pen. I sat for about 10 minutes before I thought it would be safe to try and climb down the ladder of the stand. When I got into the feeder pen and looked at the blood I couldn't believe it there was good blood with some gut matter mixed in
. I slowly worked over to the far side of the pen when I see him laying about 30 yards from the pen with his head still up. I sat next to a tree and just watched him. Over the next 20 minutes he tried to get up several times but never made it more then a foot or so. With the brush he was in there was no way for a follow up shot. Finally he tried to get up one last time and collapsed onto his side. That was it he never moved again. I gave him 10 minutes with no movement and then headed over to him. He was done when I got there. Finally after passing him the first weekend of bow season I get to lay my hands on him the last weekend. I couldn't believe it when I walked up to him. No ground shrinkage here. My biggest bow buck up to this point was a 128inch 8pntr I had shot the weekend before out of the same stand. Here is where he fell. We got him back to camp and I took him to Los Cazadores on Sunday morning to get scored. He ended up at 163.3 with 14 scoreable points.
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