I took this 5.5 year old 9 point that I had named the Kicker 9 last Friday morning at our low fence family property in Southern Real county. This is more than likely going to be the best WT Buck ever killed on our place in the 39 years of ownership. (Gun or Bow) This is also my first true Pope & Young Buck.
This has been a looooong time coming as our place and area has seen a dramatic drop in the WT numbers since 2014. Numbers literally fell off the face of the earth in 2014 but had been decreasing since 2009. In 2017 I personally sat 17 different times and saw ZERO animals of any kind! I attribute a lot of our problems to coyotes moving in and whipping out everything. Over the last 5 years a foreman on a neighboring ranch has pretty much become a full time trapper......... Since he began keeping tract and honing his craft (June 2016) he's snared over 200 yotes. Last year was the first year since 2012 that we could confirm a single fawn survived.
2018 we started to see more game but most of the deer were still young. This kicker 9 was one of 5 bucks in the 4.5 - 5.5 yr age class that I had pictures of. I actually saw him 3 times last season and passed him hoping he would make a big jump.
2019 season began and I had tons of pictures of the Kicker 9 but I was on the fence about shooting him because there was a mature wide 8 that needs to taken out of the gene pool. I had in my mind the kicker 9 should go another year as I thinking he was 4.5 years old. Also to my surprise there were a TON of new bucks running around. I have been tracking no less that 12 different bucks that could be considered shooters this season and all would be personal best trad kills.
My first "real" hunt this season was Thursday Afternoon Nov 21th and the kicker 9 showed himself. He came in to 5 yards but only hung around 30 seconds before taking off to tend to making scrapes and rubs all around my box blind. Then just before complete darkness the wide 8 came in and I had a perfect broadside shot but it was just a tad too dark for me to feel good about it, so I let him walk. I sat there 3 more times that weekend and saw the wide 8 every hunt but he never came in close enough for a shot. My neighbor didn't help things either when he decided to ring off 500 rounds at his shooting range on Saturday evening at 5 o'clock! Not the best way to end a weekend hunt! At that moment I made a decision.... I had to become a weekday hunter if I was going to be successful hunting this blind. This blind is located at the very front of our place and is susceptible to two neighbors screwing things up. It also is the only spot that we are seeing a ton of consistent Whitetail at.
So we tucked tail and made plans to come back Wednesday Dec 11th. Hopes were high but tempered. I knew both neighbors had been terrorizing the two ranches I border the whole week of Thanksgiving and the rut was in full swing. I heard tons of reports of deer being everywhere but luckily nothing I was after got shot.
6am Wednesday the 11th my uncle and I hit the road and Wednesday afternoon's hunt started at 2:30 but it was a bust. I had a small 8 pass by out of range. Thursday morning was cold but I only saw 3 doe.
Thursday evening I saw 5 doe and then 13 Aoudad came in and one of the ewe's had to give up the ghost! https://youtu.be/kOGe3QA_EwM
I was happy to take the Aoudad, dont get wrong, but I was there to get a WT Buck.
Thursday evening I made the decision to try again... 4 long hunts in the same spot in a row gets old.....especially when you aren't seeing the game. I had figured that the bucks were locked down on does and this trip was pretty much toast. My only hope was a new doe would come into heat and/or the bucks start getting hungry.
I woke up Thursday morning beat tired. I muscled though my routine feeling a little defeated. While shooting some practice shots I glace up and see a huge shooting star fall from the sky followed by the crack to two bucks fighting!
My energy level spiked and off I went. I was in the blind by 5:30 and by 6am the kicker 9 was there feeding on some Rice Bran and Alfalfa. (BTW this buck was a complete Rice Bran HOG he hammered it all year long.) After watching the kicker 9 through my binos as the beaming full moon glistened off his horns, I made the decision to take him if given the chance. He of course took off chasing a doe before it was light enough to shoot.
The next 1.5 hours was filled with a ton of action all around me. There were bucks and does running around everywhere!!! WTH where was all of the activity that last few days? I probably saw 4 different bucks and 6 different doe. Then out of a corner window I saw the kicker 9 coming my way! Tongue hanging and obviously hungry he came in head down and in a hurry. He jumped into the pen and made his way into my shooting window stopping at 16 yards. He turned quartering away and I drew, focusing on my spot I release and watch as I see my arrow hit the front leg and bury into the front of the chest cavity! Truth be told, I hit a good 4" left of my spot but it was a good hit. I could see blood absolutely spewing everywhere and it was obvious his front leg was completely broken. The kicker 9 made it about 80 yards for laying down and expiring 20 minutes later. I was ecstatic but also a little sad since I've been watching him for so long.
Here is the video, which didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, there was condensation on the window that I didn't notice and I double punched the record button on my gopro. Big bucks will cause you to make mistakes I guess!!
NOT that it matters but the Buck scored 139 according to the Elusive Wildlife Measuring tape I used to score him. The tape was very easy to use BUT words of advice DON'T LEAVE IT ON THE HORNS VERY LONG!!! IT'S A TOTAL PITA TO REMOVE!!
This has been a looooong time coming as our place and area has seen a dramatic drop in the WT numbers since 2014. Numbers literally fell off the face of the earth in 2014 but had been decreasing since 2009. In 2017 I personally sat 17 different times and saw ZERO animals of any kind! I attribute a lot of our problems to coyotes moving in and whipping out everything. Over the last 5 years a foreman on a neighboring ranch has pretty much become a full time trapper......... Since he began keeping tract and honing his craft (June 2016) he's snared over 200 yotes. Last year was the first year since 2012 that we could confirm a single fawn survived.
2018 we started to see more game but most of the deer were still young. This kicker 9 was one of 5 bucks in the 4.5 - 5.5 yr age class that I had pictures of. I actually saw him 3 times last season and passed him hoping he would make a big jump.
2019 season began and I had tons of pictures of the Kicker 9 but I was on the fence about shooting him because there was a mature wide 8 that needs to taken out of the gene pool. I had in my mind the kicker 9 should go another year as I thinking he was 4.5 years old. Also to my surprise there were a TON of new bucks running around. I have been tracking no less that 12 different bucks that could be considered shooters this season and all would be personal best trad kills.
My first "real" hunt this season was Thursday Afternoon Nov 21th and the kicker 9 showed himself. He came in to 5 yards but only hung around 30 seconds before taking off to tend to making scrapes and rubs all around my box blind. Then just before complete darkness the wide 8 came in and I had a perfect broadside shot but it was just a tad too dark for me to feel good about it, so I let him walk. I sat there 3 more times that weekend and saw the wide 8 every hunt but he never came in close enough for a shot. My neighbor didn't help things either when he decided to ring off 500 rounds at his shooting range on Saturday evening at 5 o'clock! Not the best way to end a weekend hunt! At that moment I made a decision.... I had to become a weekday hunter if I was going to be successful hunting this blind. This blind is located at the very front of our place and is susceptible to two neighbors screwing things up. It also is the only spot that we are seeing a ton of consistent Whitetail at.
So we tucked tail and made plans to come back Wednesday Dec 11th. Hopes were high but tempered. I knew both neighbors had been terrorizing the two ranches I border the whole week of Thanksgiving and the rut was in full swing. I heard tons of reports of deer being everywhere but luckily nothing I was after got shot.
6am Wednesday the 11th my uncle and I hit the road and Wednesday afternoon's hunt started at 2:30 but it was a bust. I had a small 8 pass by out of range. Thursday morning was cold but I only saw 3 doe.
Thursday evening I saw 5 doe and then 13 Aoudad came in and one of the ewe's had to give up the ghost! https://youtu.be/kOGe3QA_EwM
I was happy to take the Aoudad, dont get wrong, but I was there to get a WT Buck.
Thursday evening I made the decision to try again... 4 long hunts in the same spot in a row gets old.....especially when you aren't seeing the game. I had figured that the bucks were locked down on does and this trip was pretty much toast. My only hope was a new doe would come into heat and/or the bucks start getting hungry.
I woke up Thursday morning beat tired. I muscled though my routine feeling a little defeated. While shooting some practice shots I glace up and see a huge shooting star fall from the sky followed by the crack to two bucks fighting!
My energy level spiked and off I went. I was in the blind by 5:30 and by 6am the kicker 9 was there feeding on some Rice Bran and Alfalfa. (BTW this buck was a complete Rice Bran HOG he hammered it all year long.) After watching the kicker 9 through my binos as the beaming full moon glistened off his horns, I made the decision to take him if given the chance. He of course took off chasing a doe before it was light enough to shoot. The next 1.5 hours was filled with a ton of action all around me. There were bucks and does running around everywhere!!! WTH where was all of the activity that last few days? I probably saw 4 different bucks and 6 different doe. Then out of a corner window I saw the kicker 9 coming my way! Tongue hanging and obviously hungry he came in head down and in a hurry. He jumped into the pen and made his way into my shooting window stopping at 16 yards. He turned quartering away and I drew, focusing on my spot I release and watch as I see my arrow hit the front leg and bury into the front of the chest cavity! Truth be told, I hit a good 4" left of my spot but it was a good hit. I could see blood absolutely spewing everywhere and it was obvious his front leg was completely broken. The kicker 9 made it about 80 yards for laying down and expiring 20 minutes later. I was ecstatic but also a little sad since I've been watching him for so long.
Here is the video, which didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, there was condensation on the window that I didn't notice and I double punched the record button on my gopro. Big bucks will cause you to make mistakes I guess!!
NOT that it matters but the Buck scored 139 according to the Elusive Wildlife Measuring tape I used to score him. The tape was very easy to use BUT words of advice DON'T LEAVE IT ON THE HORNS VERY LONG!!! IT'S A TOTAL PITA TO REMOVE!!
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