I've been wanting to go on a hunt or get back into a lease for a couple years now. We lost our lease in Harper so Ive been hunting on my place and one of my neighbors place here in Leander for the last two years.
I started thinking and I remembered my taxidermist, Dan Lansford, mentioned he was doing management hunts on his ranch the last time I was in there. I hunted his place to help thin the does about five years ago and I knew this was a superbly managed whitetail ranch. No cattle on the place and only one goal in mind. Grow big whitetail deer. The ranch is also bowhunting only, my kind of place.
I gave Dan a call and we worked out the details. The way Dan worked it was that I would sit with a lease member and if a trophy buck came out the lease member gets to shoot it, and if a management deer comes in I take the shot.
We set my hunt up for Wednesday through Sunday. I got to the ranch Wednesday, got all my gear ready and shot a few arrows. I met "Big Mike", the lease member who I would be hunting with. We headed to the blind around 4:00 with a steady south wind in our face. Not long after getting settled in we had two doe and a small buck feeding calmly in front of us between 15-25 yards. All we needed now was a management buck to show up. Around 6 a cold front hit and I mean it it hard. The wind turned out of the North with 25 mph winds and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in a matter of minutes. The cold front was nice but the winds were wrong for us. Right after the front hit Mike started tapping me on my leg real excited saying "Dont move! Don't move! Big buck charging in..two of them." I leaned forward to take a peak and saw a freaking huge 9pt charging in. He stopped hard and stiff about 35 yards in front of my blind. He was on full alert, chest out, legs stiff, head up high with his ears perked up. He was massive!!! He stood motionless for about 10 seconds, caught our scent, blew one time, and he and all the other deer tore out of there like they were on fire. I was frustrated at the changing winds but was stoked to see that deer!!!! All the excitement lasted less than 30 seconds buy it was a major adrenalyn rush just to see the 9pt charging in. We got out of the blind early as our scent was just pressuring the area.
The next morning we decided to hunt another blind, the 9pt knew we were there the day before and we wanted to give him time to calm down and not pressure him. We got in the blind around 6:00 and had deer in front of us about a half hour later. It was still pitch black dark but I could see that there were three bucks and a few does through my binoculars. As the sun began to come up we could see that two of the bucks were trophy 10pts pushin 150". Mike was up to shoot but the deer left just before shooting light and never Gave Mike a shot.
Mike had to go home after the hunt so a new lease member came out to hunt with me. Mark and I met and did a little shooting before heading out to the blind for the afternoon hunt. We decided to go back to the blind where we saw the big nine point. We got in the blind around 4. I saw antlers coming through the brush about an hour later. I thought it was the big 9 pt but turned out to be a 8 pt that could pass as his twin. The only problem was that it was a 3.5 year old deer and needed a few more years to grow. He'll be a beast in two years! We had other small bucks come in with some does here and there. I picked up another big wide buck coming in about 50 yards out with my binoculars. Another massive buck, 8 pts, I was hoping this was going to be a management deer he walked 15 yards in front of my blind and fed for half an hour. Mark wasn't positive if the deer was 4.5 or 5.5, so we had to pass him. Better safe than sorry. Mark filmed the deer to have oher lease members help age him. The deer eventually moved off and we headed back to camp. It was determined that the wide 8pt was a 5.5 year old deer and was a shooter
. Did I mention I had him at 15 yards for half an hour!! We decided we would hit this stand in the morning hoping for the big 9 we saw the first day or the wide 8 from this evening.
After a short night sleep we were up and at it again. In the blind at 6:30. It was in the high 20's and still as a church mouse. No wind to speak of. About a half hour after daylight we hadn't seen a single deer. I heard something walking in the brush and brought my binoculars up to see the big 9 pt walking in. He was really nervous and would not be still. Several other deer were feeding with him a few minutes later. All the deer were jumpy and nervous. Mark gave me the go ahead to take the 9 but he was 27 yards out facing me. Everytime he would get almost broadside something would scare him and he would run off he. He kept coming back to the same spot but was always facing straight on. He finally circled around and wound up 19 yards in front of the blind. He was broadside and I drew my bow back. Just as I got to full draw my wrist popped the buck heard it and ran off and stopped about 40 yards out. I had to let my bow down and wait for him to move back in. He finally came back and it was the same story all over again. I drew on him and he ran off. My draw was quiet this time but he was just so worked up and nervous anything was causing him to freak out. He finally settled down and came back in. He was barely quartering to me at 19 yards. I looked over at Mark and mark was shaking so hard he was litterally bouncing in his chair with buck fever and he wasn't even the one shooting. I started to draw on this deer a half dozen times and was at full draw twice. He was not cooperating! This deer had us both worked up. I was able to get to full draw the third time and the deer stayed put. He was still slightly quartering to me but was giving me enough vitals that I felt I could slip my arrow through his lungs. I settled my 20 yard pin tight behind his shoulder. I squeezed the release and the arrow took off. The luminok lit my arrow up as it flew through the air. I watched my arrow dissapear behind the deers shoulder and fly out the other side. The deer turned and ran off with his tail down. I could see blood pourig from his body as he ran off. He was hit hard and I knew he was dead.
Mark and I sat in the blind for about 10 minutes telling each other what had just happened as if we handn't just witnessed it with our own eyes. We were both shaking with adrenalyn. We got out of the blind and found my arrow about 40 yards away. The blood and the shot looked good but we decided to wait an hour to track just to be on the safe side. We headed back to camp for a cold drink and to calm down a little. We were back on the blood an hour later the blood trail was good and about 100 yards into it I saw a white belly rolled up at the bottom of a hill. I told Mark I had him and took off running, pumping my fist in the air the entire way. I got to the deer and couldn't believe how tall he was. No ground shrinkage.
Mark and I snapped a few pics where the deer fell and loaded him up.
I'm going to have him mounted in a full alert pose just as I saw him charge in that first hunt.
I'm super stoked about getting this deer. We're thinking he's upper 120's, 5.5 years old. Dan is going to tape him out next week
I have better pics but won't be able to post them till Sunday.
I started thinking and I remembered my taxidermist, Dan Lansford, mentioned he was doing management hunts on his ranch the last time I was in there. I hunted his place to help thin the does about five years ago and I knew this was a superbly managed whitetail ranch. No cattle on the place and only one goal in mind. Grow big whitetail deer. The ranch is also bowhunting only, my kind of place.
I gave Dan a call and we worked out the details. The way Dan worked it was that I would sit with a lease member and if a trophy buck came out the lease member gets to shoot it, and if a management deer comes in I take the shot.
We set my hunt up for Wednesday through Sunday. I got to the ranch Wednesday, got all my gear ready and shot a few arrows. I met "Big Mike", the lease member who I would be hunting with. We headed to the blind around 4:00 with a steady south wind in our face. Not long after getting settled in we had two doe and a small buck feeding calmly in front of us between 15-25 yards. All we needed now was a management buck to show up. Around 6 a cold front hit and I mean it it hard. The wind turned out of the North with 25 mph winds and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in a matter of minutes. The cold front was nice but the winds were wrong for us. Right after the front hit Mike started tapping me on my leg real excited saying "Dont move! Don't move! Big buck charging in..two of them." I leaned forward to take a peak and saw a freaking huge 9pt charging in. He stopped hard and stiff about 35 yards in front of my blind. He was on full alert, chest out, legs stiff, head up high with his ears perked up. He was massive!!! He stood motionless for about 10 seconds, caught our scent, blew one time, and he and all the other deer tore out of there like they were on fire. I was frustrated at the changing winds but was stoked to see that deer!!!! All the excitement lasted less than 30 seconds buy it was a major adrenalyn rush just to see the 9pt charging in. We got out of the blind early as our scent was just pressuring the area.
The next morning we decided to hunt another blind, the 9pt knew we were there the day before and we wanted to give him time to calm down and not pressure him. We got in the blind around 6:00 and had deer in front of us about a half hour later. It was still pitch black dark but I could see that there were three bucks and a few does through my binoculars. As the sun began to come up we could see that two of the bucks were trophy 10pts pushin 150". Mike was up to shoot but the deer left just before shooting light and never Gave Mike a shot.
Mike had to go home after the hunt so a new lease member came out to hunt with me. Mark and I met and did a little shooting before heading out to the blind for the afternoon hunt. We decided to go back to the blind where we saw the big nine point. We got in the blind around 4. I saw antlers coming through the brush about an hour later. I thought it was the big 9 pt but turned out to be a 8 pt that could pass as his twin. The only problem was that it was a 3.5 year old deer and needed a few more years to grow. He'll be a beast in two years! We had other small bucks come in with some does here and there. I picked up another big wide buck coming in about 50 yards out with my binoculars. Another massive buck, 8 pts, I was hoping this was going to be a management deer he walked 15 yards in front of my blind and fed for half an hour. Mark wasn't positive if the deer was 4.5 or 5.5, so we had to pass him. Better safe than sorry. Mark filmed the deer to have oher lease members help age him. The deer eventually moved off and we headed back to camp. It was determined that the wide 8pt was a 5.5 year old deer and was a shooter
. Did I mention I had him at 15 yards for half an hour!! We decided we would hit this stand in the morning hoping for the big 9 we saw the first day or the wide 8 from this evening.After a short night sleep we were up and at it again. In the blind at 6:30. It was in the high 20's and still as a church mouse. No wind to speak of. About a half hour after daylight we hadn't seen a single deer. I heard something walking in the brush and brought my binoculars up to see the big 9 pt walking in. He was really nervous and would not be still. Several other deer were feeding with him a few minutes later. All the deer were jumpy and nervous. Mark gave me the go ahead to take the 9 but he was 27 yards out facing me. Everytime he would get almost broadside something would scare him and he would run off he. He kept coming back to the same spot but was always facing straight on. He finally circled around and wound up 19 yards in front of the blind. He was broadside and I drew my bow back. Just as I got to full draw my wrist popped the buck heard it and ran off and stopped about 40 yards out. I had to let my bow down and wait for him to move back in. He finally came back and it was the same story all over again. I drew on him and he ran off. My draw was quiet this time but he was just so worked up and nervous anything was causing him to freak out. He finally settled down and came back in. He was barely quartering to me at 19 yards. I looked over at Mark and mark was shaking so hard he was litterally bouncing in his chair with buck fever and he wasn't even the one shooting. I started to draw on this deer a half dozen times and was at full draw twice. He was not cooperating! This deer had us both worked up. I was able to get to full draw the third time and the deer stayed put. He was still slightly quartering to me but was giving me enough vitals that I felt I could slip my arrow through his lungs. I settled my 20 yard pin tight behind his shoulder. I squeezed the release and the arrow took off. The luminok lit my arrow up as it flew through the air. I watched my arrow dissapear behind the deers shoulder and fly out the other side. The deer turned and ran off with his tail down. I could see blood pourig from his body as he ran off. He was hit hard and I knew he was dead.
Mark and I sat in the blind for about 10 minutes telling each other what had just happened as if we handn't just witnessed it with our own eyes. We were both shaking with adrenalyn. We got out of the blind and found my arrow about 40 yards away. The blood and the shot looked good but we decided to wait an hour to track just to be on the safe side. We headed back to camp for a cold drink and to calm down a little. We were back on the blood an hour later the blood trail was good and about 100 yards into it I saw a white belly rolled up at the bottom of a hill. I told Mark I had him and took off running, pumping my fist in the air the entire way. I got to the deer and couldn't believe how tall he was. No ground shrinkage.
Mark and I snapped a few pics where the deer fell and loaded him up.
I'm going to have him mounted in a full alert pose just as I saw him charge in that first hunt.
I'm super stoked about getting this deer. We're thinking he's upper 120's, 5.5 years old. Dan is going to tape him out next week
I have better pics but won't be able to post them till Sunday.
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