eelgrass
Long Time Member
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Last weekend, a long time friend invited me to come hunt his ranch for blacktails. It's not huge but does have some nice deer habitat, so I agreed. Plus it's been awhile since we got to hang out together. We go way back. Once in awhile he invites me to hunt but I never ask.
I arrived at about 5 am and he tells me about this big 4x3 (for that area) that he has been hunting. He hasn't seen it since it got hard horned about 5 weeks ago. He dearly wants to kill it. So he says he dropped his 4-wheeler down at the corrals and we would go up on top and hunt down. I would take the lower road down the creek and he would stay up on the ridge. Maybe one of us would run the buck (or any others to the other guy). Sounds like a plan.
I start down the old skid road and I decide I'm not killing his big buck (like I'm going to see it in the first place). He would be happy if I shot it, but I would rather he get it. There is still a week left. I decided if I saw a smaller buck, I'd shoot, but not the big buck.
I'm walking along slowly and peek down below the road when it's open enough. About 1/3 of the way down I peek over and there is a buck bedded down. He's looking away from me and doesn't know I'm there. I sat down and got a good rest, and I realized it's probably the big buck. With the glasses I can see it's a 4x3. I ain't shooting it! Then I decide to see if I could get a photo, and then maybe back off, get below him and push him up the hill to Bob.
All of a sudden he was getting spooked for some reason and I snapped a photo just as he busted out and down the creek he went. Maybe he smelled me but I'm sure he didn't see me. Honestly, I didn't even think I got a good photo.
I get down to the 4-wheeler, and that was the only deer I saw. I told Bob what happened but he can't see the photo too well on my camera. We hunt some other spots but only see does and fawns.
We get back to his house and he downloads my photo onto his laptop. He confirms that the buck is the big one he's been trying to kill all season. He seems a little frustrated and maybe embarrassed. This is the first time I've ever taken a photo of a big buck instead of shooting it.
Blown up for identification purposes.
I'm spending the night so we fix a high ball and start dinner. On our second high ball he starts ragging on me for not killing the buck. He says if I wasn't so old and soft we could be having backstrap for dinner instead of canned frickin beans. He said I probably couldn't hit it anyway.
I told him it was my personal policy to only kill wild deer. I thought that buck was going to come up and lick my boot he's so tame. I told him I can't figure how he hasn't seen it all season. I told him Helen Keller could kill that buck! I told him next time he wants that buck killed, call Stevie Wonder! Stevie Wonder could do a DIY hunt and kill that buck in an hour.
We both started laughing so hard we forgot about dinner! Talk about good times.
Sunday morning we went back in there and saw a few does and fawns but that's all. When I left I told him I was going to frame the photo and put it on my trophy wall and he is welcome to stop by anytime a see it. LOL! He said from now on, cameras are not allowed on his property. LOL
Sometimes the most fun hunts have nothing to do with filling out a tag.
Eel
I arrived at about 5 am and he tells me about this big 4x3 (for that area) that he has been hunting. He hasn't seen it since it got hard horned about 5 weeks ago. He dearly wants to kill it. So he says he dropped his 4-wheeler down at the corrals and we would go up on top and hunt down. I would take the lower road down the creek and he would stay up on the ridge. Maybe one of us would run the buck (or any others to the other guy). Sounds like a plan.
I start down the old skid road and I decide I'm not killing his big buck (like I'm going to see it in the first place). He would be happy if I shot it, but I would rather he get it. There is still a week left. I decided if I saw a smaller buck, I'd shoot, but not the big buck.
I'm walking along slowly and peek down below the road when it's open enough. About 1/3 of the way down I peek over and there is a buck bedded down. He's looking away from me and doesn't know I'm there. I sat down and got a good rest, and I realized it's probably the big buck. With the glasses I can see it's a 4x3. I ain't shooting it! Then I decide to see if I could get a photo, and then maybe back off, get below him and push him up the hill to Bob.
All of a sudden he was getting spooked for some reason and I snapped a photo just as he busted out and down the creek he went. Maybe he smelled me but I'm sure he didn't see me. Honestly, I didn't even think I got a good photo.
I get down to the 4-wheeler, and that was the only deer I saw. I told Bob what happened but he can't see the photo too well on my camera. We hunt some other spots but only see does and fawns.
We get back to his house and he downloads my photo onto his laptop. He confirms that the buck is the big one he's been trying to kill all season. He seems a little frustrated and maybe embarrassed. This is the first time I've ever taken a photo of a big buck instead of shooting it.
Blown up for identification purposes.
I'm spending the night so we fix a high ball and start dinner. On our second high ball he starts ragging on me for not killing the buck. He says if I wasn't so old and soft we could be having backstrap for dinner instead of canned frickin beans. He said I probably couldn't hit it anyway.
I told him it was my personal policy to only kill wild deer. I thought that buck was going to come up and lick my boot he's so tame. I told him I can't figure how he hasn't seen it all season. I told him Helen Keller could kill that buck! I told him next time he wants that buck killed, call Stevie Wonder! Stevie Wonder could do a DIY hunt and kill that buck in an hour.
We both started laughing so hard we forgot about dinner! Talk about good times.
Sunday morning we went back in there and saw a few does and fawns but that's all. When I left I told him I was going to frame the photo and put it on my trophy wall and he is welcome to stop by anytime a see it. LOL! He said from now on, cameras are not allowed on his property. LOL
Sometimes the most fun hunts have nothing to do with filling out a tag.
Eel
