TPWD Mule Deer Hunt - Horseshoe Buck

[Deerguy]

Not seeing photos?

[Kevin]

Christmas decorations in the attic and kids going down for quiet time, more to come shortly.

[Kevin]

Trying to figure out why some people can see the pictures and some can’t…

[CWKATTNER]

Can't see them on Desktop, but can on iPhone.

[Texans42]

Tag, good luck

[Sparkles]

In for the rest!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kevin]

I will re-host the pictures in a bit and see if that helps. In the meantime…

The sun had just set and things were getting fairly dark on the hillside when I decided to look towards the Javelina to see if I could still see them. As I scanned that way, I was shocked to see a giant body buck also looking at the javelina. I could tell his tines were tall and he had a solid frame and big body, but that was about it.

Now came the scope/bino/range finder shuffle. I could find him quickly in the binos, but the range finder was another story. I ended up having to take a reading off something I thought was nearby and lined up for the shot. BOOM!

Pulled out the binos and couldn’t find the buck at first, but then there he was! Standing in the same spot and looking over his shoulder. Crap! I was aiming for 300 yards and I appeared to have shot over him.

As rutting bucks sometimes do, he resumed his search for ladies and started heading straight towards me. He just keeps moving my direction, clearly looking for a doe. By the time he reached close enough to easily find in the range finder, he was 125 yards away. I lined up the shot and shut down the buck fever that was starting to boil, and squeezed the trigger. This time I found my lucky horseshoe buck quickly in the scope and he was kicking around on the ground. One more shot to the neck (which turned out wasnt needed) finished him immediately. I couldn’t see his antlers but could tell his neck was as thick as his torso.





I watched him a few more minutes before a packing up and hiking down to him down at the basin edge. When I got there I was floored. I was looking at the biggest deer I’ve ever taken (largest being a 140” WT with my bow) and it was on a $3 public land draw hunt.











It was already getting dark and there have been reports of black bears claiming kills so I quickly went to work gutting, skinning, caping and quartering the deer. This was my first time doing all of that in the field and I learned a few things such as being a meat tarp to lay things on. Once he was ready to pack out, I left a light and my jacket behind to help keep scavengers away and started the first pack out, which was the head and cape. At the truck I got my buddies meat hauler pack he let me borrow before the hunt and started hiking back and forth 1/2 mile over a saddle to pack meat out. The ground is literally covered with cactus and heart size rocks that move when you step on them and I was VERY glad to have a hiking stick with me. No bears and meat recovered. Success!

I got back into HQ around 11p and hung the meat bags in the cooler along with the head. I got to see 2 other bucks that were taken and one was an old huge body buck.

Back at camp, I ate dinner over the campfire and smiled at the stars.



The next morning I packed up and loaded the meat into coolers while the TPWD guys took a CWD sample and measured whatever they needed to from my buck. There we several good deer already taken and by the time I left, 5/6 hunters had bucks down.



Packed up and ready, I hit the road back home.


On the drive out on the highway, I got a good view of the area I hunted.



I will post up some pictures of the other deer taken and my final thoughts this evening. I met some great guys on the hunt and look forward to more TPWD adventures. Texas is an amazing state.

[Kevin]

TPWD Mule Deer Hunt - Horseshoe Buck

I wish I would have spent more time on the field pictures! They really don’t do him justice.

[trophy8]

Dang nice buck dude. Congrats!

[solocam_aggie]

What a buck! Congrats on the hunt.

[Mudslinger]

Great buck! Congrats!

[diamond10x]

Congrats! Delete thread delete thread lol you’re jacking with my odds of getting back out there

[lmartin5]

Great recap, and congratulations on a beautiful deer!

[Bucknaked]

Awesome Buck! Congrats and thanks for sharing

[CarbonFlinger]

Big Ole Buck! Congrats and Happy New Year!

Tuned in for the rest of the pictures and story1