There are times in life and hunting when everything just seems “rightâ€, this particular weekend was one of those. I was invited down by the Bone family to hunt their ranch in South Texas and do some herd thinning with several folks that I consider to be some of my closest friends.
After a couple of successful hunts were in the books by the others in the group I figured that I need to get with the program and stick something to help out the management plan.
Saturday morning found me in a box blind with shoot through vertical windows (as shown)
on each side over looking a food plot to my north and east and a feeder to my west.
I spent the majority of the morning in awe at the number of bucks I was seeing.I had several great buck in front of me but there was an awesome 8 that I had my eye on but he was at about 30-32 yards but never gave me a good shot
.......wise move because Mary had her eye on this particular buck!
You can see why!!
After I turned my eyes from the Big 8, I noticed a huge bodied buck with what looked to be a broken G2 on his left main beam....after further review he didn’t have one at all and definitely fit the management plan! After about 30 minutes of watching this buck run off other bucks and generally act like King Kong, he worked his way into my video frame at 15-18 yards. The comedy of errors that took place with my 275 pound self in that box blind ensued from that point. The large vertical window that I needed to shoot out of was not a possibility because of my chair placement, which left me with one option....shoot out of the small 6†x 6†window on the right side of the blind. To pull off the shot I would have to semi-stand knees bent as shown and make the shot WITHOUT hitting the blind or window!
Like this.....
Okay now I lean waaaaay left and ensure the buck is in frame...check....draw without being seen...check.....stand, anchor, crouch just a little, find the crease just behind the shoulder, sqeeeeeeeeze the trigger, THWACK!! Right were I wanted it!
Click picture for the video of the shot *warning* 18.4MB
I put my bow on the floor, while watching the buck and grab my camera move it to the window in front of me. He runs for about 100 yards and stops with a WIDE stance and begins to seriously sway!! Makes a few more steps and stops again and then begins to run about another 60 yards or so and ducks in the brush just off the road. The time was 7:50 a.m., I waited until the crew came and got me before getting to as to not spoil Steven’s hunt in a big mesquite just 300 yards to my east.
The crew arrived and Mary and Wade helped me track the buck to the last place I saw him,
I had a great blood trail but when it got to the fence where I last saw him it stopped!! Wade looked on the west side of the fence while Mary and I tried to see if he may have walked down the fence and crossed elsewhere. Looking at the blood trail I knew the buck had to be dead!! As I searched the road for signs of him crossing again I spotted the white belly of the buck laying just 10 yards off the road. Needless to say I was absolutely elated!! It was my first South Texas buck and he was down and out!! After a few high fives and hugs,
Wade recorded my LDV and Steven did the honors on the LDP’s.
The buck aged out at 5½ years and was 190 lbs on the hoof, my heaviest buck taken by a long shot. I’m very proud of the buck, he has a lot of character and I couldn’t be happier with him.
It was an absolutely awesome weekend, I would like to thank the Bone family, Jamie, Mary, Justin and Travis, for having me at their ranch and Steven, Wade, Casey and Michael for sharing the weekend with me. This was definitely one of the best trips I have ever been on and thanks so much for reading along.
After a couple of successful hunts were in the books by the others in the group I figured that I need to get with the program and stick something to help out the management plan.
Saturday morning found me in a box blind with shoot through vertical windows (as shown)
on each side over looking a food plot to my north and east and a feeder to my west.
I spent the majority of the morning in awe at the number of bucks I was seeing.I had several great buck in front of me but there was an awesome 8 that I had my eye on but he was at about 30-32 yards but never gave me a good shot
.......wise move because Mary had her eye on this particular buck!
You can see why!!
After I turned my eyes from the Big 8, I noticed a huge bodied buck with what looked to be a broken G2 on his left main beam....after further review he didn’t have one at all and definitely fit the management plan! After about 30 minutes of watching this buck run off other bucks and generally act like King Kong, he worked his way into my video frame at 15-18 yards. The comedy of errors that took place with my 275 pound self in that box blind ensued from that point. The large vertical window that I needed to shoot out of was not a possibility because of my chair placement, which left me with one option....shoot out of the small 6†x 6†window on the right side of the blind. To pull off the shot I would have to semi-stand knees bent as shown and make the shot WITHOUT hitting the blind or window!
Like this.....
Okay now I lean waaaaay left and ensure the buck is in frame...check....draw without being seen...check.....stand, anchor, crouch just a little, find the crease just behind the shoulder, sqeeeeeeeeze the trigger, THWACK!! Right were I wanted it!
Click picture for the video of the shot *warning* 18.4MB
I put my bow on the floor, while watching the buck and grab my camera move it to the window in front of me. He runs for about 100 yards and stops with a WIDE stance and begins to seriously sway!! Makes a few more steps and stops again and then begins to run about another 60 yards or so and ducks in the brush just off the road. The time was 7:50 a.m., I waited until the crew came and got me before getting to as to not spoil Steven’s hunt in a big mesquite just 300 yards to my east.
The crew arrived and Mary and Wade helped me track the buck to the last place I saw him,
I had a great blood trail but when it got to the fence where I last saw him it stopped!! Wade looked on the west side of the fence while Mary and I tried to see if he may have walked down the fence and crossed elsewhere. Looking at the blood trail I knew the buck had to be dead!! As I searched the road for signs of him crossing again I spotted the white belly of the buck laying just 10 yards off the road. Needless to say I was absolutely elated!! It was my first South Texas buck and he was down and out!! After a few high fives and hugs,
Wade recorded my LDV and Steven did the honors on the LDP’s.
The buck aged out at 5½ years and was 190 lbs on the hoof, my heaviest buck taken by a long shot. I’m very proud of the buck, he has a lot of character and I couldn’t be happier with him.
It was an absolutely awesome weekend, I would like to thank the Bone family, Jamie, Mary, Justin and Travis, for having me at their ranch and Steven, Wade, Casey and Michael for sharing the weekend with me. This was definitely one of the best trips I have ever been on and thanks so much for reading along.
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