11-07-2013, 09:30 PM
So, I am still going to condense the story a bit, because I could go on forever on all that happened on this week long hunt.
First, I will just say that a member on here was very kind in offering some info, and I am grateful for that. He knows who he is, and can admit to it if he wants, but I won't throw his name out there to get bombarded with questions.
Now, to the hunt.
My dad and I arrived early Halloween morning to our hunt area after about an 8 hour drive, which had season opening the next day. We met with different landowners I contacted from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Now we had a first-hand look at the lay of the land, and the dozen or so properties we had permission to hunt. Saw 4 bucks on one ranch this day, but not many deer at all. We came up with a game plan to hunt a Walk-In-Access area, which bordered up to a property with corn that we had permission to hunt. I set up on the front field in the area, and my dad worked back a little further to find a spot. POW, I hear maybe 20 minutes later. I called him a few minutnd was told that he shot at a 24-26" muley buck, but wasn't sure if he hit it. It jumped over a fence behind the walk-in area, which was posted. Therefore, we spent a good portion of the day figuring out who owned that land. We did finally figure it out, and they gave us permission to go check out the situation. We found no blood, and no deer in the area, and looking back we are pretty sure his scope was looking over some brush, but the bi-pod did not quite get the barrel over some bushes. Bummer. Well, I sat in that area that opening evening, and he went down in a little further. I had 2 whitetail does to my north, and 3 small muley bucks to my south and east. The bucks kept looking SE, then feed, then look, and feed, etc. When finally, one fed off and another looked and bolted. There was a spike that stayed around. 30 seconds later, I see a beautiful whitetail buck standing right at the fence on the side that is private. I snuck down into the open field and get set up on my shooting sticks. Seconds later, he jumped the fence, stopped broadside at about 180 yards... and took a dirt nap. Crazy, the muley spike just lifted his head, then went back to feeding. The whitetail does did the same thing. I had this buck tag and a whitetail doe tag. I could have tagged out right there, but would have had nothing to do while I waited for my dad to fill his two tags. The spike went over and smelled my buck, and just fed off. There were even 2 more does that joined the two already there that just stayed out feeding about 250 yards away from me while I took pictures and gutted the buck. Man was it fun to drag this thing out aver a mile in a walk-in only area. It took both of us over 2 hours.
So, I sat in a spot about 300 yards away from my dad and had him sit there for 5 sits (3 mornings, 2 evenings). I saw shooter muleys every sit (22"+). I even put one to bed, but 50 yards onto some private property. We tracked down the land owner, and got permission. I was happy to see he was still there 3 hours later. My dad just starts getting into position when we catch some movement to our right. A coyote we may have scared makes a direct line running straight at this buck. It would have literally run him over in his bed if he didn't stand and run. So, that was blown. The bucks were there, just wasn't able to close the deal. So, my dad switches me spots Monday evening, since I'm seeing the bucks. What do you know, he sees 1 whitetail doe, and I have a 4 point and 2 point muley come in 25 yards from me. Well, he decided he was dropping standards to a 3 point on Tuesday. We only saw 1 doe in the morning, and went to check out the ranch we saw 3 bucks on the day before season. We spotted a group of about 8-10 deer, with a 2 point and a 3 point. So, we put on a stalk and he shot his buck at about 35-40 yards. We got it gutted and loaded into the truck. Hurried about 25 minutes away to the area we had been hunting. I got my stuff on and walked in. shooting hours ended about 5:25. I got into position at 4:59. About 5:15 I had 2 muley does come in close behind me. Then, around 5:20 a whitetail comes into the field about 150 yards away. I glassed it, and it was a doe. Got down to a prone position and let her have it. Just like that, we go from 2 out of 4 tags filled, to being tagged out. My day shot his doe Sunday evening. We hung the deer, deboned them in the morning, and drove back through the day yesterday. All in all, a very fun hunt. I rarely get to rifle hunt, since I do the archery here. Actually, I'm pretty sure this is the only rifle deer hunt I have ever done with my dad.
And last but not least, the best part of this whole this was that I inherited my grandpa's 7 mag after he passed away late August, and this buck was the first animal I harvested with it.
Wow, by far my longest post on BFT.... and trust me it is condensed down. It was a very eventful week.
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First, I will just say that a member on here was very kind in offering some info, and I am grateful for that. He knows who he is, and can admit to it if he wants, but I won't throw his name out there to get bombarded with questions.
Now, to the hunt.
My dad and I arrived early Halloween morning to our hunt area after about an 8 hour drive, which had season opening the next day. We met with different landowners I contacted from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Now we had a first-hand look at the lay of the land, and the dozen or so properties we had permission to hunt. Saw 4 bucks on one ranch this day, but not many deer at all. We came up with a game plan to hunt a Walk-In-Access area, which bordered up to a property with corn that we had permission to hunt. I set up on the front field in the area, and my dad worked back a little further to find a spot. POW, I hear maybe 20 minutes later. I called him a few minutnd was told that he shot at a 24-26" muley buck, but wasn't sure if he hit it. It jumped over a fence behind the walk-in area, which was posted. Therefore, we spent a good portion of the day figuring out who owned that land. We did finally figure it out, and they gave us permission to go check out the situation. We found no blood, and no deer in the area, and looking back we are pretty sure his scope was looking over some brush, but the bi-pod did not quite get the barrel over some bushes. Bummer. Well, I sat in that area that opening evening, and he went down in a little further. I had 2 whitetail does to my north, and 3 small muley bucks to my south and east. The bucks kept looking SE, then feed, then look, and feed, etc. When finally, one fed off and another looked and bolted. There was a spike that stayed around. 30 seconds later, I see a beautiful whitetail buck standing right at the fence on the side that is private. I snuck down into the open field and get set up on my shooting sticks. Seconds later, he jumped the fence, stopped broadside at about 180 yards... and took a dirt nap. Crazy, the muley spike just lifted his head, then went back to feeding. The whitetail does did the same thing. I had this buck tag and a whitetail doe tag. I could have tagged out right there, but would have had nothing to do while I waited for my dad to fill his two tags. The spike went over and smelled my buck, and just fed off. There were even 2 more does that joined the two already there that just stayed out feeding about 250 yards away from me while I took pictures and gutted the buck. Man was it fun to drag this thing out aver a mile in a walk-in only area. It took both of us over 2 hours.
So, I sat in a spot about 300 yards away from my dad and had him sit there for 5 sits (3 mornings, 2 evenings). I saw shooter muleys every sit (22"+). I even put one to bed, but 50 yards onto some private property. We tracked down the land owner, and got permission. I was happy to see he was still there 3 hours later. My dad just starts getting into position when we catch some movement to our right. A coyote we may have scared makes a direct line running straight at this buck. It would have literally run him over in his bed if he didn't stand and run. So, that was blown. The bucks were there, just wasn't able to close the deal. So, my dad switches me spots Monday evening, since I'm seeing the bucks. What do you know, he sees 1 whitetail doe, and I have a 4 point and 2 point muley come in 25 yards from me. Well, he decided he was dropping standards to a 3 point on Tuesday. We only saw 1 doe in the morning, and went to check out the ranch we saw 3 bucks on the day before season. We spotted a group of about 8-10 deer, with a 2 point and a 3 point. So, we put on a stalk and he shot his buck at about 35-40 yards. We got it gutted and loaded into the truck. Hurried about 25 minutes away to the area we had been hunting. I got my stuff on and walked in. shooting hours ended about 5:25. I got into position at 4:59. About 5:15 I had 2 muley does come in close behind me. Then, around 5:20 a whitetail comes into the field about 150 yards away. I glassed it, and it was a doe. Got down to a prone position and let her have it. Just like that, we go from 2 out of 4 tags filled, to being tagged out. My day shot his doe Sunday evening. We hung the deer, deboned them in the morning, and drove back through the day yesterday. All in all, a very fun hunt. I rarely get to rifle hunt, since I do the archery here. Actually, I'm pretty sure this is the only rifle deer hunt I have ever done with my dad.
And last but not least, the best part of this whole this was that I inherited my grandpa's 7 mag after he passed away late August, and this buck was the first animal I harvested with it.
Wow, by far my longest post on BFT.... and trust me it is condensed down. It was a very eventful week.
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