A buck on the game camera.
CLICK
HERE or on the
picture for the larger pic.
This is
probably one of the 5 bucks
I
saw on Day#1. |
Day #1 (Dec
19)
Morning
- At daylight a nice 8-pt was walking straight toward me. I didn't want
to shoot because it was too early in the hunt. Good thing, too.
A sixer
appeared in the trees and another 8-pt similar to the first. Fifty yards
to my right I saw the real thing, very long tines, heavy, wide, he was
amazing. He walked completely past me but limbs were in the way and I could
not shoot. Two young 8's came up 80 yards in front of me and walked toward
me.
Footsteps
behind me, I looked down, 10 yards behind me and closing, a huge bodied
buck with more of everything that the first buck had. Twelve points, possibly
more. Very heavy and super long tines. The two young bucks were 25 yards
away but I had to risk a shot anyway, I let the Big Boy pass by my tree
and drew. He was in the clear, my pin was almost there. The 8's snorted
and my buck scooted ahead and stopped behind some trees. He looked around
for a while and left.
Another
Bomber came from the woods behind me and walked by parallel to me, again
limbs were in the way. BINGO, another Bomber, not as wide as the others
but 18" at least and with 10 very long tines. He walked out of the brush
and came straight toward me. Head on is not a good angle, I couldn't shoot.
He cut into the woods edge and circled through the trees. I drew and let
down on him twice, limbs were always in the way. Then he walked by me at
15 yards. I looked down thought the limbs and found a hole, drew, put my
pin on his ribs, and released. Crack, my arrow hit a limb and catabputiput
into the air for 45 yards.
This
morning I saw 26 deer ... MOSTLY BUCKS! And out of those, many which were
nice bucks. FIVE (5) were bombers, BIG BOYS. Absolutely. Billy
Don Van Cleave's Wild
Horse Prairie Ranch is a hot, hot, hot whitetail place.
Tony
Dukes saw 2 8-pt's, a sixer and 4 does. He was looking for a better 8.
Tyge saw a 3 year 8-pt with nice, heavy rack. He was looking for a bigger
one. Two trophy rams came through his area also.
Afternoon
Hunt: The deer movement was minimal. I saw 2 young bucks and a doe
and heard wild hogs but didn't see any. Tony Dukes passed on a 8-pt at
10 yards and shot a wild boar. Tyge Floyd zipped. |
|
Day #2
(Dec 20)
Morning:
It's
11:12am now and Tony Dukes and Tyge Floyd are cooking up a bunch of breakfast
good stuff. Tony hunted a ground blind and saw a high 7-pt and a big unidentified
deer. Tyge zipped. I saw a dozen or more. Two sixers walked right
under my tree. I heard them coming and was ready in case they were the
bombers I saw yesterday. I saw a nice 8-pt a little bit out of range.
No big boys showed.
Afternoon:
First
thing, 9 longbeard gobblers came down the trail Tony Dukes stand
was near. Tony drew when they went behind a tree. Tony waited for them
to come out. And waited. He shifted to see where they were. They turned
and walked away. A spike and forky came in the area. A doe came in and
urinated on the ground in the grass. The spike ran the doe off and then
went to where she had urinated and rolled around in it. Three does appeared
on the hill. One had her tail up as she went. 100 yards behind her Tony
saw a large, dark, heavy horned buck with his nose to the ground on the
trail of the doe. He caught up with them and separated the hot doe and
disappeared into the brush. Tony also saw 4 bucks and 6 does. The only
buck out of bow range was the big one.
I
saw 14 deer, 6 bucks and 8 does. One was a bomber but he was out of range.
Tyge zipped.
Back
at camp tonight Tyge BBQed whole chickens. Ahhhh, it was good eating. |
A long tined buck postures
for a younger buck and a
doe.
CLICK
HERE to see the pic. |
Day #3 (Dec 21)
Billy Don Van Cleave has
digital game cameras out near stands on the ranch and we have some pics
of some of the bucks here. Check out the pic on the left of this long tined
bomber buck. Click on "GO" to see the whole picture and what he is doing
(you're
gonna like it) ... GO.
This morning was a little
slower. I saw one small buck. Tony Dukes saw 6 bucks but they weren't what
he was looking for. Tyge saw a bomber 8-pt and tried to get a shot but
it didn't work out. He saw another nice 8 and 6 other deer, plus a group
of wild hogs. |
A buck that passed the
game camera. CLICK
HERE
or on the the picture for
the larger pic. |
Day #4 (Dec 22)
Billy Don kindly extended
our stay until Dec 24 so we have a couple more days. This morning Tony
Dukes had a young 8-pt, a chocolate horned 10 pt, and 8 does within range.
But Tony was expecting a "much grande" 10-pt or an exceptionally wide 8-pt
that were in the brush. They didn't come out.
Afternoon: a 3 1/2
curl black buck walked up under Tony and when he looked down at the buck
it spooked. A bunch of deer went with him. Later 7 deer were in sight and
the "mucho grande" 10 appeared 75 yards away in the brush behind Tony.
Wild hogs came out of the trees and all the deer left.
I had other obligations
today but am back in camp now. We'll see what happens tomorrow. |
|
The
young, chocolate
horned
10-pt Tony
passed
on yesterday.
|
Day #5 (Dec 23)
Morning:
Daylight
came first. The wind came next. Big wind. The cold kind. It worked on me
until I was cold to the bone. A sixer walked under my tree and I saw a
doe. Tony Dukes saw 7 does and a small buck. Afterward we all drove into
Burnett and ate killer hamburgers at Storms. I ate two triple meats and
a hot fudge sunday, getting cold makes me hungry.
Afternoon:
Tony Dukes had an exciting
afternoon. I saw 2 small bucks and 5 does. Meanwhile Tony's first
deer sighting was when a doe saw his Montana Decoy and ran 200 yards to
it. It looked at it confused for a minute and then walked away. Thirty
minutes later bucks came into the area. A high horned, heavy 6-pt, an old
buck, followed by an 8 with very wide but thin antlers. Then a high, heavy
racked 8-pt at 15 yards, tree branches prevented a shot. They gathered
in a thicket 40 yards away where an exceptionally wide and very heavy 8-pt
walked up to them. Suddenly the bucks snorted and left. Wild hogs ran right
under Tony's tree. Then Tony heard two chilling growls and a mountain lion
appeared on the trail of the pigs and disappeared after them. |
