It ain't a mule deer, but.....

OutdoorWriter · Dec 22, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Dec-22-09 AT 02:24PM (MST)[p]Just returned from a weekend hunt north of Uvalde, Texas. This is the result. It's a legit 10-pt. without the broken point on the crab claw of the left main beam and a little kicker point coming off the right brow tine. Inside spread is 16 inches.

I shot another buck there two weeks ago that is a good heavy 9-point with an 18" inside spread, but it wasn't recovered until two days later after the meat and cape were toast. So I got another cape for him this weekend, as well.

I need to go drop the capes off at the taxidermist right now. I'll take a couple of photos with both of the antlers together and post them later with a few other terrain photos. etc.

TONY MANDILE

How To Hunt Coues Deer

oilcan · Dec 22, 2009

Very nice

elk_horn · Dec 22, 2009

Decent!

ARCHERYBUG · Dec 22, 2009

NICE BUCK !!!!!!!!

mshred · Dec 22, 2009

great buck. nice tine length.

cant wait to see more photos.

well done.
mshred

LESGO54 · Dec 22, 2009

good deal, any animal u get mounted is a trophy

Gator · Dec 22, 2009

Good looking buck. Wish I was down there hunting right now too.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".

treedagain · Dec 22, 2009

great buck....

HillbillyNnevada · Dec 22, 2009

Great buck.

Blank · Dec 22, 2009

Tony:

Very nice deer. Nice to see some green, after all the months of drought. I will be down there Friday - probably take the wife fishing for reds until Monday as she likes fishing with live shrimp and corksin the Bay. Then go to the deer leases at Uvalde and Brackettville for 3 days. Not too mad at the deer right now, but four turkeys would sure go down easy enough!

swbuckmaster · Dec 23, 2009

always love your photos
thanks

Archery is a year round commitment!!

Feleno · Dec 23, 2009

Great looking Texas buck.

OutdoorWriter · Dec 23, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Dec-23-09 AT 12:46PM (MST)[p]Thanks, guys.

Here are couple of pix with both sets of antlers. I put my rifle in one for size comparison sake.

The wider 9-pt. with the dark skull plate is the one I shot two weeks ago.

On the one in the photos above, the G-2s are 9" & 9" and the G-3s are 11" and 10.5". The 9-pt's G2s and G3s are all within 1/4" of 10" either way.

TONY MANDILE

How To Hunt Coues Deer

OutdoorWriter · Dec 23, 2009

These are a few pix of the terrain.

The first one -- taken at 3X from where I shot -- is where I killed the buck this weekend. We were glassing from a ridge about 600-800 yds. away, and I found him with my 12X binocs. He was bedded with three does where the left arrow is pointing.

I stalked within 200 yards when one of the does nailed me. The buck popped up and trotted to the opening where the arrow on the right is pointing to him on the ground. He stopped, facing almost dead away and looking back at me. So I nailed him low in the neck -- bang-flop, DRT.

Because I thought my .264 was shooting too high, I decided to use my custom Robar .300 WM. The 180-gr. TBBC blew through the neck, leaving about a 3" exit hole for the taxidermist to patch up.

Other than the different vegetation, the terrain was very much like the areas where I hunt Coues deer. Since I refuse to hunt over feeders, it was an ideal situation.

This is Doug, the ranch manager, looking over one of the valleys.

TONY MANDILE

How To Hunt Coues Deer

OutdoorWriter · Dec 23, 2009

Some photos of my humble accommodations.

The kitchen area with Doug slicing up the baby back ribs he just pulled off the BBQ.

The rec room area, complete with satellite TV.

The bunk room. There are two small bedrooms and two big bathrooms at the far end. I slept in one of the BR.

TONY MANDILE

How To Hunt Coues Deer

OutdoorWriter · Dec 23, 2009

I'm going to have Chris Krueger of Krueger Creations in Phoenix do a pedestal mount like the one he did of these two mule deer from the AZ Strip.

TONY MANDILE

How To Hunt Coues Deer

a3dhunter · Dec 24, 2009

I used to live just north of Leakey,Texas which is one hour north of Uvalde. We were on a 7,000 acre ranch down there with terrain exactly like that. We were located 50 feet off the Frio river, with a front porch 100 feet long.
There were bucks like that everywhere, they also had free range (low fence) blackbuck, axis deer, fallow deer, all types of sheep (moulflon, corsican, etc...) and a bunch of hogs as well.

We had a couple of nice 10 points that would come right up near the house to feed on corn that the kids put out, but the axis would chase them off. Those axis deer can be a lot tougher than whitetail.

Good looking bucks, congrats.

hikenhunt · Dec 24, 2009

What is a reasonable price for a hunt in that territory ???

Longbow6360 · Dec 24, 2009

Boy Outdoorwriter, from the looks of your "camp" and the deer you shot it sure looks like you had a great time. Thanks for posting your pictures and congrats on some fine bucks.

"My sickle has a boattail"
"hidden soles leave .308 holes"

muleyman · Dec 25, 2009

Thanks for sharing...very nice!

muleyman

mywifeishotterthentiffany · Dec 25, 2009

great deer

"Let's keep things in perspective.I mean for Peet's sake there are kids in Africa that don't even hunt....hello" Jimmy Big Time

OutdoorWriter · Dec 29, 2009

a3dhunter,

Yup, as the crow flies, Leaky isn't too far from where I hunted. It's on Hyw. 83 heading north from Uvalde and I was a bit west and south on Hwy. 55 right next to the Nueces River.

hikenhunt,

The ranch I huhted isn't really a commercial operation. It's more for family and friends. BUT...prices vary greatly on the commercial hunting ranches if you just go to hunt once rather than pay for a yearly lease.

Many charge by the SCI score with various plateaus. For example, a buck up to 120 pts. might be $2,000, while something up to 140, might be $3,000, and so on and so forth. Then there are usually daily rates added to the trophy fees above.

Longbow6360,

Right. It was a tough hunt, but someone had to do it. ;-)

TONY MANDILE

How To Hunt Coues Deer