Well I would love to post past years trail camera pics of this deer and tell you that I have watched him since he was 2, but that was just not the case with this deer. This particular property usually holds the same deer year after year, so I do get to watch deer grow year to year on a regular basis. This deer was on the corn from the first time I put some out in the early summer. He was a regular, and he wasn't shy about coming in during daylight hours either. I watched him over the summer and could easily see he was gonna be a dang good deer, he showed the kickers and the character throughout his tines pretty early. I went back and forth on this deer as far as age and I'm still not 100% sure, but I think this deer was only 4 1/2. While I would have loved this deer to be 6 1/2 before I killed him, I just couldn't do it on him. This deer had the potential to be my biggest deer in East Texas, and on family property that we have always hunted, it was just going to be a special deer for me.
Saturday, October 1st
I got in the stand around 3:45, it was a little warmer than I thought it was going to be, but I will take 78-80 over 90+ any day. So I walked in and threw some hand corn out. Before walking back to the stand I grabbed my card from my camera to check and see if kickers was still hanging around. I climbed up in the stand, got settled in and started going through pictures. He was all over it. He had came in the past 3 evenings in a row between 6:45 and 7:10. Well about 5:15 I hear trucks and people. We lease a section of land to a man for hay and he had decided that this would be a good evening to get some work done. So needless to say, with a tractor running 100 yards away from you, I thought the hunt was over. I sat it out and I'm dang glad I did, the quit bushoging about 6:15, still plenty of time left but I didn't have much hope. About 30 mintes after they left deer started to pour into the bottle neck that I was hunting. One deer was a deer I call robin. Robin was a deer that was always with kickers, every picture, if one was there so was the other. The name started out on this deer as batman, batman & robin lol, but kickers seemed more fitting.
..... So when that deer came in to the corn I knew kickers wouldn't be far behind. Well about 15 minutes goes by and no kickers, then from the opposite way all the other deer had came from, there he was 20 yards away on the opposite side of a shooting lane. He walks around to the back of my corn line and starts to eat. I sit there for what feels like eternity watching him eat because his body is facing straight at me. By this time it's getting dark so I'm praying for a move by him. Finally, he walks around to the side giving me a 30 yard shot. I draw back completely undetected and let the FMJ fly, I hit about an in right of where I was aiming and hit him right in the shoulder, as he was running away I saw that I got some penetration but was worried about how much. I get down and walk up to where he was standing and look for any sort of blood. There was a few drops here and there but nothing to write home about. So I headed back to the truck to wait on my dad to get there. About an hour and a half later we go back in, we trail faint blood for about 30 yards, my dad looks up to look around and we both see a big ol white belly. I don't remember ever being this excited after killing a deer. It sure did mean a lot to kill this deer and propert that had so many memories from over the years. I didnt care about score, I didnt care about points, all I could think about was how much hunting this property with close friends and family meant, and how thankful I was That God had given me that opportunity.It was a moment I will never forget.
Kickers gross scored 132 7/8
Saturday, October 1st
I got in the stand around 3:45, it was a little warmer than I thought it was going to be, but I will take 78-80 over 90+ any day. So I walked in and threw some hand corn out. Before walking back to the stand I grabbed my card from my camera to check and see if kickers was still hanging around. I climbed up in the stand, got settled in and started going through pictures. He was all over it. He had came in the past 3 evenings in a row between 6:45 and 7:10. Well about 5:15 I hear trucks and people. We lease a section of land to a man for hay and he had decided that this would be a good evening to get some work done. So needless to say, with a tractor running 100 yards away from you, I thought the hunt was over. I sat it out and I'm dang glad I did, the quit bushoging about 6:15, still plenty of time left but I didn't have much hope. About 30 mintes after they left deer started to pour into the bottle neck that I was hunting. One deer was a deer I call robin. Robin was a deer that was always with kickers, every picture, if one was there so was the other. The name started out on this deer as batman, batman & robin lol, but kickers seemed more fitting.
..... So when that deer came in to the corn I knew kickers wouldn't be far behind. Well about 15 minutes goes by and no kickers, then from the opposite way all the other deer had came from, there he was 20 yards away on the opposite side of a shooting lane. He walks around to the back of my corn line and starts to eat. I sit there for what feels like eternity watching him eat because his body is facing straight at me. By this time it's getting dark so I'm praying for a move by him. Finally, he walks around to the side giving me a 30 yard shot. I draw back completely undetected and let the FMJ fly, I hit about an in right of where I was aiming and hit him right in the shoulder, as he was running away I saw that I got some penetration but was worried about how much. I get down and walk up to where he was standing and look for any sort of blood. There was a few drops here and there but nothing to write home about. So I headed back to the truck to wait on my dad to get there. About an hour and a half later we go back in, we trail faint blood for about 30 yards, my dad looks up to look around and we both see a big ol white belly. I don't remember ever being this excited after killing a deer. It sure did mean a lot to kill this deer and propert that had so many memories from over the years. I didnt care about score, I didnt care about points, all I could think about was how much hunting this property with close friends and family meant, and how thankful I was That God had given me that opportunity.It was a moment I will never forget. Kickers gross scored 132 7/8
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