I have been very blessed to hunt a great low fence piece of ground between Bracketville and Del Rio. Great Ranch Owner/Lease Foreman, and a well managed place for the amount of land and number of hunters. I have been on this place for 7 years and harvested 4 of my largest Bow bucks. I was fortunate enough to take this guy opening weekend and it is my 2nd highest scoring buck with a bow. I had history with this deer the previous 2 years, and you could tell back then he had the frame to become a really good one with some age and our feed program. Last year he had broken his Main Beam and G4 off shortly after rubbing out, which was ok because he needed another year. I started getting pics of him this year as the horn growth started, and I was excited to see him blowing up, and more importantly consistently showing up. He was nice last year, but this year he put on allot more mass, and threw a split G3 on as well. I had decided he would be my target buck. I wasn't able to hunt until opening afternoon, and couldn't wait to get settled in. I had deer showing up right after I made it into the blind. This guy showed up, but not until right at dark, and by the time he presented me with a shot, it was too dark. From my camera pics, this guy was an early bird into my area, so I set out extra early Sunday morning to get settled in. My normal routine in years past is to drive into my set and tailgate feed around my blind, but I decided I would try to quietly walk in and hand corn this time to hopefully not blow him out of the area if he was already close by. I got settled in my blind at 6:04 am knowing I had over an hour for shooting light to creep in. At 6:12 am with a bright moon lit sky, I look out in front of me at 20 yards and I can make out a large bodied deer already on the hand corn. I grabbed my binoculars and thru the lenses I immediately pick up the split G3. I will admit the heart started pounding a little, but I also knew he was going to have to stick around for an hour for me to get a shot. I did not have alot of daylight pics of this guy, so I was definitely anxious that he might exit before it was light enough to shoot. Minutes seemed like hours, but he was still grazing on the corn as it reached 7:05 am, but he had made his way to my far left shooting lane; which is the side he had exited the area the night before. He stopped broadside, but it was still too dark to take an ethical shot. Sure enough he walked out of sight leaving the area. I sat there frustrated wondering, would he come back, should I have forced a shot, maybe he'll come back in earlier this afternoon ? At my setup I have a Boss Buck Feeder with the "Hammer" timed feeding system on it that I run Rice Bran Pellets through. From my camera pics this buck loved that stuff, and was where I had most of my pictures of him with his nose rammed up in the tubes. That feeder was set to open up at 7:10am. As I was sitting there pondering the mornings events, the "Hammer" opened up, and the pellets started flowing. Sure enough I look back to my left and here comes the split G3 buck making a bee line to the Boss Buck. All of the other deer scattered as he stuck his nose in to get his share. At 7:15am he starts heading back to my left to make his exit. I had my Mathews Triax in hand, loaded with the Goldtip 5575, and Rage Trypan. This buck stopped at 18 yards broadside in exactly the same place my #1 and #3 largest bucks were taken. I settled the green dot on my Covert Pro Dot sight in the crease behind his left shoulder and touched off the shot. The Red Nocturnal lit up and disappeared right behind his shoulder. I really felt good about the shot, but there is always that doubt of the unknowns until you are able to put your hands on the animal. I was not certain I heard him crash because of all the deer exiting the area after the shot, so I gave him 25-30 minutes while I texted the rancher and some of the other hunters on the ranch telling them about getting the shot. I exited the blind and headed to where he was standing. I was pumped to find the arrow coated solid red, and immediately finding the blood trail. I didn't have to go 50 yards to find the split G3 buck piled up. Again feeling very blessed and fortunate to have harvested a deer of this caliber. Sorry for the long write up, but I felt the hunt deserved more than just a picture.
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