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West Texas Mgmt buck

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    West Texas Mgmt buck

    Excuse the long write up... I just get carried away with the keys and this was a special surprise invite from an old friend.

    Got an invite to go try to kill a MLD deer out at the infamous BoneThug's place last Sunday before I was going to head to my place for the rest of the week. After a long early drive to San Angelo I met up with Brandon and got to spend the day with him, his saint of a wife, Jennifer and their daughter Bekah. Was good to catch up with them after a few years of not being able to get together. Got to put my hands on and see some of the great deer Brandon has taken recently that I hadn't got around to checking out in the past two years due to health reasons and that **** old white truck ... After a few hours Brandon I decided to head out to his place and get a tour of the lease as well as get in the blind a little early. On the way KingsX (also on the same lease) asked us to stop by and see the new house. We didn't have a lot of time but I got the grand tour and it was a beautiful place he and his wife Barbara have built. Great to see yall as well.

    What started as me thinking I was coming to go whack a doe or two for them to meet their MLD numbers (which I happy to sling some arras at) , turned into a surprise..."Hey I want you to shoot one of these mgmt bucks for me" offers" I was surprised and thankful for Brandon's generosity. Hell yes...I'm game. I like to shoot/hunt old mature bucks. So he gave me pics of two deer on the list.....a estimated 10.5 YO buck named Droopy (mainbeams drooped more when he was younger) and a 8.5-9.5 year old deer name Grandpa. Grandpa was slightly bigger horn wise and a tank body wise, but I was happy with both the pics and the name of the game was removal, so whichever deer came in first was going to get an arrow.

    Fast forward to about 3 pm and its windy as a mutha...25-35 NNW wind and an open blind area in a Krivoman was interesting. I literally felt like I was going to need to aim at the arse to hit the deadly V....lol Brandon was set up in the rifle blind overlooking the area and we were to keep in touch via text on shoot/ no shoot. I had studied the pics pretty dang hard so I was positive I could identify the deer I needed to shoot. With the quality of deer they have, I could definitely tell which deer not to shoot and I saw a couple of those.. Anyway....not 15 minutes into the hunt Brandon texted me that Droopy was right in front of the rifle blind headed my way. I saw him walking through the woods but he did not end up coming in immediately. He circled all the way around the Krivoman and I thought I was going to be toast. Luckily he liked what he smelled, so he finally came in but wouldn't get closer than 28 yards. My adrenaline was pumping looking at the the mainbeans that jumped off his head and the heavily swayed back when he stood just looking around with his head up. I was ready to shoot if he'd get closer but in that wind for me on somebody else's place as a guest over 25 was a no-go. A doe ended up dragging him off into the brush and ending that buck fever session.

    So I'm texting with Brandon and going over what happened and why I didn't shoot (he agreed) and I look up in the brush, there is Grandpa staring at the blind facing me at 40 yards! What a toad body wise! He looked like a **** Volkswagen. I get the adrenaline pumping again as he slowly walks in ( like an old grandpa) and I'm thinking he's headed slowly but surely for right under the feeder to camp out. I can't miss with vitals that big lol. Unfortunately he too veered out about 28-30 yards broadside for several minutes. A doe, I think he entered with, was on my right and he headed that way. He was now at 23 but facing me... all I needed was him to turn broadside and I'd let it fly. Sucker was quartered to me headed the right way and his doe stepped on a rock slipping, and making a noise....well that booger him which also subsequently booger her even more. They are now at 40 and looking around. He starts to walk back in and she heads out. He turns around to look at her and follows her off. Dangit!! Bad luck there! So once again I'm texting with Brandon after another adrenaline rodeo and I'm hoping either deer comes back. Meanwhile I get to watch some really nice deer eating around me so I'm content and entertained. Been a long time since I have had deer that caliber around me that close and haven't been locked in to fling an arrow.. it was cool to watch them. 10 or so minutes later Droopy shows up and finally follows the script to a T. He's walking in eating broadside at 20 yards on my left. Due to Brandon's video arm being set up for a DSLR, my little compact video camera was severally limited to how far to the left it could record. My fault I should have used my tripod in the first place. Unfortunately I had part of the window edge in my recording and that made it darker and more distorted than normal. So because of this I had to wait for him to get into view and just barely got him there before he went behind the feeder again. I drew as I thought he was about to move the onside front leg forward, did my checks (except my grip eveidently see later) and let the arrow fly! That Grim Reaper Micro-Hybrid tipped 425 grain "teenager" arrow smacked him in the deadly V and passed through quick. We are still looking for my arrow. He ran toward Brandon, who was also recording the opposite view from the rifle blind, and he got some cool footage that I have added to mine in the video. He went a total of 60 yards bleeding like a stuck hog. I was **** excited because this was by far the oldest buck I have ever shot. and I thought I made a great short according to my eyes and watching the subsequent video. Those GR MicroHyrbirds have been really impressive for me the past couple of years. Love the short tracks and big blood trails. Unfortunately the lighted nock did not light up, fully anyway. I had used this nock in my practice the previous days with the number one arrow with a practice broadhead and never had a problem with it. Not sure why it chose this time to not light up. Only thing I can think is I forgot to turn it off in my quiver. I hate it when that happens. Plus I guess I torqued the bow or my grip was jacked up because the arrow flight was funky after shooting bullet holes at CCR on Wed a couple days before and darts in my practice. Luckily the arrow corrected itself in time and hit true and straight.

    So the video, with it being distorted due to the mount limitations and the side of the blind window in the pic, the nock not lighting up, the deer surprising Brandon by running straight at him and not being ready to zoom out and the dang wind making so much noise, the video is as good as I could get with what we had to work with. Its nothing fancy and super edited/overproduced......Just the kill shots and some slo-mo recording the great memory to share.. And come to find out KingsX and his wife showed up right before we were going to start tracking as well so it was just like old times. It was good to have the old crew back together in that scenario. ..its been awhile. It was great seeing all of them. I cannot thank Brandon enough for the invite and the great time all day hanging out with him and his family as well as Jeremy and Barbara. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks again B for sharing your place with me..... Good times!

    Droopy scored 124.5" for the MLD tags....aged estimated at 10.5 with their history. He's at Tobin's Top Pin Taxidermy as we speak being euro'd so I can put him on the wall with my other euros.

    Here is Droopy with his old man back and scarred knees....

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    Droopy as we found him with jaw broken and his deadly V violated ....

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    Hero Tailgate shot for Moser...

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    The video




    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyuFn22m3MQ"]West Texas management deer....-Droopy - YouTube[/ame]
    Last edited by Smart; 12-23-2020, 09:48 AM.

    #2
    Nice write up and congrats to you on a nice buck.[emoji106]

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      #3
      Very cool. Congrats

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        #4
        Good job Smart !

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          #5
          Way to go Jason! That was awesome video footage and editing man!

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            #6
            Tagged to read this novel later.

            Congrats on the deer, and the video.

            Oh and a great deadly V shot!
            Last edited by AntlerCollector; 12-23-2020, 09:20 AM.

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              #7
              Great hunt and extremely nice gesture by the Thug!

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                #8
                Very nice
                Waydago

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                  #9
                  Awesome video

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                    #10
                    Great deer, Smart and great write up! Brandon is as solid as they come.

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                      #11
                      Nice. Still amazes me how fast they react to the sound of a bow. All 3 deer ducked just before impact.

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                        #12
                        Very nice buck...congrats!

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                          #13
                          Nice deer

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                            #14
                            Great write up and nice shooting, Jason! Congratulations on a fantastic buck!

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                              #15
                              Good story and congratulations on getting a nice buck.

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