This is a deer that was killed on a "Management" hunt with Krivoman at the Mack Ranch in D'Hanis, TX. I put the Management in quotations because in my book this was a trophy hunt where I ended up killing my best deer ever. Mitch's "Too fast for a live hunt, hunt" thread revealed most of the details of the hunt already but I figured I'd throw this up anyway.
Me and Shawn were down at the ranch in October for this hunt but I got very, very sick the first morning and threw up out of the back of the blind so that ended my hunt early, and Shawn wasn't able to connect the first time either. We decided before we left to try to iron out the details to get back there and give it another try. When I originally booked with Mitch I was pretty excited to get a crack at the buck they called Harley, as was everyone else who booked with him. There have been many people back since we were there last who have tried to get Harley but no one was able to connect. We knew going in that Harley was very seldomly seen at the same spot for more than a couple times in a row and then he would move to a completely different area. So while I knew I'd like to get him, I figured the chances were slim to none. I was going in knowing that any deer I was able to get would be well worth it considering what happened the last time I was there with being sick and all.
So we arrived at the ranch around 2:00 PM Friday at while we were getting unloaded and settled in Mitch ran to check trail cameras. When he got back we saw that the deer Mitch wanted to put Shawn on had been a regular at the blind where I had gotten sick last time so they decided to go there. When checking the card for the blind in the food plot right up front by camp, Mitch noticed that Harley had been there the last three times the feeder went off. He decided to sit me there.
I got settled in the blind at around 3:30 and there was not much action until around 4:15 when a few whitetails showed up to eat on the hand corn on the ground. The feeder went off at 4:30 and here came the zoo. I was covered up with animals. There were 11 axis with two of them being nice bucks. There was a great 4 year old 9 point with a little kicker at the base of his right G2 that stayed at the feeder the whole time. Eventually I quit trying to keep count of what animals were there because there were just too many. The only thing I could do was keeping scanning out all three windows to make sure nothing new showed up. All the hand corn was gone by about 5:30 and all of the animals started to filter off into the food plot.
At about 5:45 I noticed a 4 year old 8 point that would go about 125" coming into the feeder so I texted Mitch to let him know that he was there and I flipped the camera on to get some footage of him because I was pretty sure it was the one Mitch had trail camera pictures of and he told me to film him if I see him so he and Dave could determine if it might be on the management hit list also. About the time I got the camera on him and settled I noticed a big tall 8 coming down the road from the left. I knew immediately that it was Harley due to the height and shape of his rack.
I stood up out of the chair and moved it over to the corner of the blind so that I could have room to make a shot. I grabbed my bow and stood there for what was probably only 30 seconds but felt like 30 minutes waiting for Harley to come in to view through the shooting window. When he finally did he skirted around the back side of the feeder and I thought to myself that it just wasn't gonna happen. He stopped behind the corn feeder for a second and then started walking forward and came right in front of the protein feeder onto the road to eat what crumbs may have been left of the hand corn. At this point he was quartering towards me but moving forward slstep by step. I came to full draw and waited for the perfect shot. After a few seconds he turned broadside, then slightly quartering away and I settled my pin in. As soon as he put his leg forward I let 'er rip. Arrow flew true and the shot looked great but the nock never lit up...
In all the excitement of the shot and the fact that I was trying to film the shot myself as well as make the shot, I wasn't able to keep track of where Harley ran after the shot. Right before I let the arrow go I heard my phone vibrate so after the shot I checked my phone because I knew it would be mitch responding to the text about the first 8 point showing up. His text asked if the 8 point had two kickers off the G2, which I knew meant he was asking if it was Harley because the picture of that deer was engrained in my mind from the first time I saw him. I responded that it was a different one. He responded with "oh ok". So I followed up with "Then Harley came in and I shot him". He responded quickly with "How was the shot" and immediately with another saying "Close the windows and call me".
I closed the windows and called Mitch and watched the shot over and over in slow motion trying to see how the shot looked. It was hard to see because the video seemed to get darker immediately before the shot and the fact that the nock never lit. I told Mitch that I couldn't clearly make out the path of the arrow due to the small screen and the screaming fast velocity of My Hoyt Alphamax
.
I told Mitch to come get me when he could and we'd watch it on the TV. After about 10-15 minutes Mitch showed up and we hurried back to camp to watch the shot. After watching it on the TV in slow motion a few times it was unmistakeable that Harley was going to be dead because it looked like a solid vital hit followed by a giant jump and rear leg kick.
We jumped on the Mule and ran back down to blind to look for the arrow and/or blood. We were able to find pretty good blood but no arrow. Mitch asked me where the deer was standing when I made the shot but at this point it was pitch black night. He told me to run back up to camp and double check where he was standing when I shot as well as which way he ran after the shot. So I ran back up to check the camera and familiarized myself with exactly where he was standing, where he ran towards, and where I thought the arrow would have landed.
Once I got back down to where I left Mitch and Shawn, I jumped off the Mule and stood at the spot where he was standing and pointed that he ran straight down the road to the right after I shot. Then Shawn says to me that they'd seen him laying in the brush while I was gone and that they'd jumped him. My heart immediately sank due to the fact that this was now gonna be a much more difficult recovery and also that I thought I had made a much better shot than what I apparently would have made if they jumped him a good 45 minutes after the shot. I then said to Mitch that I guess we should back out and give him some time. He responded with, "Wanna go see your deer?" I just looked at him and said what? He then told me that he was laying out in the middle of the field about 60 yards behind the blind and that they had just followed the huge blood trail after I left to go check the camera. He shined his light over into the field and I noticed him laying there. When we got to him I realized that the shot was as good as I'd thought. I double lunged him with an exit right behind offside shoulder.
All in all this was an amazing hunt on an amazing ranch with amazing people. I can't give enough thanks to Mitch and Dave for giving us the opportunity to hunt the ranch. Harley ended up scoring 141 7/8" making him almost 10" bigger than my previous best deer.
Me and Shawn were down at the ranch in October for this hunt but I got very, very sick the first morning and threw up out of the back of the blind so that ended my hunt early, and Shawn wasn't able to connect the first time either. We decided before we left to try to iron out the details to get back there and give it another try. When I originally booked with Mitch I was pretty excited to get a crack at the buck they called Harley, as was everyone else who booked with him. There have been many people back since we were there last who have tried to get Harley but no one was able to connect. We knew going in that Harley was very seldomly seen at the same spot for more than a couple times in a row and then he would move to a completely different area. So while I knew I'd like to get him, I figured the chances were slim to none. I was going in knowing that any deer I was able to get would be well worth it considering what happened the last time I was there with being sick and all.
So we arrived at the ranch around 2:00 PM Friday at while we were getting unloaded and settled in Mitch ran to check trail cameras. When he got back we saw that the deer Mitch wanted to put Shawn on had been a regular at the blind where I had gotten sick last time so they decided to go there. When checking the card for the blind in the food plot right up front by camp, Mitch noticed that Harley had been there the last three times the feeder went off. He decided to sit me there.
I got settled in the blind at around 3:30 and there was not much action until around 4:15 when a few whitetails showed up to eat on the hand corn on the ground. The feeder went off at 4:30 and here came the zoo. I was covered up with animals. There were 11 axis with two of them being nice bucks. There was a great 4 year old 9 point with a little kicker at the base of his right G2 that stayed at the feeder the whole time. Eventually I quit trying to keep count of what animals were there because there were just too many. The only thing I could do was keeping scanning out all three windows to make sure nothing new showed up. All the hand corn was gone by about 5:30 and all of the animals started to filter off into the food plot.
At about 5:45 I noticed a 4 year old 8 point that would go about 125" coming into the feeder so I texted Mitch to let him know that he was there and I flipped the camera on to get some footage of him because I was pretty sure it was the one Mitch had trail camera pictures of and he told me to film him if I see him so he and Dave could determine if it might be on the management hit list also. About the time I got the camera on him and settled I noticed a big tall 8 coming down the road from the left. I knew immediately that it was Harley due to the height and shape of his rack.
I stood up out of the chair and moved it over to the corner of the blind so that I could have room to make a shot. I grabbed my bow and stood there for what was probably only 30 seconds but felt like 30 minutes waiting for Harley to come in to view through the shooting window. When he finally did he skirted around the back side of the feeder and I thought to myself that it just wasn't gonna happen. He stopped behind the corn feeder for a second and then started walking forward and came right in front of the protein feeder onto the road to eat what crumbs may have been left of the hand corn. At this point he was quartering towards me but moving forward slstep by step. I came to full draw and waited for the perfect shot. After a few seconds he turned broadside, then slightly quartering away and I settled my pin in. As soon as he put his leg forward I let 'er rip. Arrow flew true and the shot looked great but the nock never lit up...
In all the excitement of the shot and the fact that I was trying to film the shot myself as well as make the shot, I wasn't able to keep track of where Harley ran after the shot. Right before I let the arrow go I heard my phone vibrate so after the shot I checked my phone because I knew it would be mitch responding to the text about the first 8 point showing up. His text asked if the 8 point had two kickers off the G2, which I knew meant he was asking if it was Harley because the picture of that deer was engrained in my mind from the first time I saw him. I responded that it was a different one. He responded with "oh ok". So I followed up with "Then Harley came in and I shot him". He responded quickly with "How was the shot" and immediately with another saying "Close the windows and call me".
I closed the windows and called Mitch and watched the shot over and over in slow motion trying to see how the shot looked. It was hard to see because the video seemed to get darker immediately before the shot and the fact that the nock never lit. I told Mitch that I couldn't clearly make out the path of the arrow due to the small screen and the screaming fast velocity of My Hoyt Alphamax
. I told Mitch to come get me when he could and we'd watch it on the TV. After about 10-15 minutes Mitch showed up and we hurried back to camp to watch the shot. After watching it on the TV in slow motion a few times it was unmistakeable that Harley was going to be dead because it looked like a solid vital hit followed by a giant jump and rear leg kick.
We jumped on the Mule and ran back down to blind to look for the arrow and/or blood. We were able to find pretty good blood but no arrow. Mitch asked me where the deer was standing when I made the shot but at this point it was pitch black night. He told me to run back up to camp and double check where he was standing when I shot as well as which way he ran after the shot. So I ran back up to check the camera and familiarized myself with exactly where he was standing, where he ran towards, and where I thought the arrow would have landed.
Once I got back down to where I left Mitch and Shawn, I jumped off the Mule and stood at the spot where he was standing and pointed that he ran straight down the road to the right after I shot. Then Shawn says to me that they'd seen him laying in the brush while I was gone and that they'd jumped him. My heart immediately sank due to the fact that this was now gonna be a much more difficult recovery and also that I thought I had made a much better shot than what I apparently would have made if they jumped him a good 45 minutes after the shot. I then said to Mitch that I guess we should back out and give him some time. He responded with, "Wanna go see your deer?" I just looked at him and said what? He then told me that he was laying out in the middle of the field about 60 yards behind the blind and that they had just followed the huge blood trail after I left to go check the camera. He shined his light over into the field and I noticed him laying there. When we got to him I realized that the shot was as good as I'd thought. I double lunged him with an exit right behind offside shoulder.
All in all this was an amazing hunt on an amazing ranch with amazing people. I can't give enough thanks to Mitch and Dave for giving us the opportunity to hunt the ranch. Harley ended up scoring 141 7/8" making him almost 10" bigger than my previous best deer.
Comment