Just picked my deer up from the Sportsman’s Memory Shop in Grapeland. It took a while but I expected it as they do great work and have been friends of mine for close to 40 years.
This buck I gave the name “Curley Bill” in 2019 when he showed up for the first time. He had split brows on both sides and one on each side curled down.
I had a little trouble getting good pictures when he showed up in early of 2019 but he was pretty regular day and night at the protein feeder and eventually I was able to establish that in my opinion he was 4 1/2 years old and was off limits.
In late October I had him at 18-20 yards and was sure that he was 4 1/2 but awful tempting but felt he was going to make this his core area and he should be safe. I already had my target anyway so that allowed me to roll the dice on him.
Fast forward to 2020 season I couldn’t wait to see if he would show back up. I knew that he made it through the season being that I had him on camera to verify it. I hadn’t seen him all year at my protein station and right on track he showed up at the same time as the prior year. He had lost one of his curls and grew a claw on his left side. One of his distinguishable characteristics is that his G2s go straight back making them appear shorter than they really are.
So this year he is only showing at the protein feeder at night and and maybe twice a week only. I have a bow stand at that location but will only go to it if I have a target patterned becuase it’s tight and deer come from all directions. You only get one chance down at that stand.
By Thanksgiving I only had one daytime picture and it was very early at first light and then he left. I told my wife that I was going to hunt that that morning but would be home by 8:30 in time for the family coming to our house for Thanksgiving. It was the slowest hunt that I had all season from the rifle stand uphill from the feeder. By 7:45 I hadn’t seen a single deer and then a buck appears from nowhere out of the brush and is staring right at the blind. Even though I’m 125 yards from the feeder he has a bead on me for what seems like an eternity. I’m moving at a snails pace to get my binos up to my eyes. Once I get the binos on him I can tell he’s a nice buck but I don’t recognize him at all and he’s burning a whole through me. You guys know how heavy binoculars can get when you can’t move to let them down.
I have to say that he was impressive with the sun shining on his dark wet antlers. Eventually he turned and committed to the feeder and when he turned I could see his G2s going straight back and new that it was “Curly Bill”.
So my gun is already in the window but as luck would have he goes to the feed tube on the back side. No worries I’ll just wait till he heads out and then I’ll have my opportunity. And then it dawns on me that he could turn and walk straight away taking another trail out and then ghost me the rest of the season.
Well his body is angled enough that I figured I better take the shot. I can see the point of the shoulder and as long as I don’t hit the feeder leg I’m good with the shot. So I took a deep breath and let it out and squeezed one off and the 7 mag did it’s job. He is DRT.
I waited about 15 minutes and then walked to my truck to go down the hill and load him up. It was a blessing to have him at the house when the family started showing up and the grandkids enjoyed watching PawPaw skin and quarter him. He scored 151 and teeth appeared to be 5 1/2.
This buck I gave the name “Curley Bill” in 2019 when he showed up for the first time. He had split brows on both sides and one on each side curled down.
I had a little trouble getting good pictures when he showed up in early of 2019 but he was pretty regular day and night at the protein feeder and eventually I was able to establish that in my opinion he was 4 1/2 years old and was off limits.
In late October I had him at 18-20 yards and was sure that he was 4 1/2 but awful tempting but felt he was going to make this his core area and he should be safe. I already had my target anyway so that allowed me to roll the dice on him.
Fast forward to 2020 season I couldn’t wait to see if he would show back up. I knew that he made it through the season being that I had him on camera to verify it. I hadn’t seen him all year at my protein station and right on track he showed up at the same time as the prior year. He had lost one of his curls and grew a claw on his left side. One of his distinguishable characteristics is that his G2s go straight back making them appear shorter than they really are.
So this year he is only showing at the protein feeder at night and and maybe twice a week only. I have a bow stand at that location but will only go to it if I have a target patterned becuase it’s tight and deer come from all directions. You only get one chance down at that stand.
By Thanksgiving I only had one daytime picture and it was very early at first light and then he left. I told my wife that I was going to hunt that that morning but would be home by 8:30 in time for the family coming to our house for Thanksgiving. It was the slowest hunt that I had all season from the rifle stand uphill from the feeder. By 7:45 I hadn’t seen a single deer and then a buck appears from nowhere out of the brush and is staring right at the blind. Even though I’m 125 yards from the feeder he has a bead on me for what seems like an eternity. I’m moving at a snails pace to get my binos up to my eyes. Once I get the binos on him I can tell he’s a nice buck but I don’t recognize him at all and he’s burning a whole through me. You guys know how heavy binoculars can get when you can’t move to let them down.
I have to say that he was impressive with the sun shining on his dark wet antlers. Eventually he turned and committed to the feeder and when he turned I could see his G2s going straight back and new that it was “Curly Bill”.
So my gun is already in the window but as luck would have he goes to the feed tube on the back side. No worries I’ll just wait till he heads out and then I’ll have my opportunity. And then it dawns on me that he could turn and walk straight away taking another trail out and then ghost me the rest of the season.
Well his body is angled enough that I figured I better take the shot. I can see the point of the shoulder and as long as I don’t hit the feeder leg I’m good with the shot. So I took a deep breath and let it out and squeezed one off and the 7 mag did it’s job. He is DRT.
I waited about 15 minutes and then walked to my truck to go down the hill and load him up. It was a blessing to have him at the house when the family started showing up and the grandkids enjoyed watching PawPaw skin and quarter him. He scored 151 and teeth appeared to be 5 1/2.
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