A TX Drop Tine Goes Down By Larry Weishuhn
Nov 28, 2009 - 9:38:48 AM
South Texas is undoubtedly my favorite whitetail destination. I live in the Brush Country of Texas and hunt there whenever I can. Of course I love hunting whitetails elsewhere as well. Recently I hunted on Geronimo Creek Ranch where, during the 2008 season, I saw a huge double drop-tine buck, which unfortunately I couldn't get a shot at. This was for my 'Winchester World of Whitetail with Larry Weishuhn' television show produced by Orion Multimedia and appearing on Versus. During the 2009 season, which on Geronimo Creek starts in October due to their Managed Land Permit.
Temperatures were hot even for South Texas and it was unbelievably humid for the Brush Country. Deer activity was extremely slow until very late in the afternoon, once the sun started setting.
The manager thought he had seen a drop-tine buck in the area where I had seen the buck the year before. Thus I decided to hunt that buck to the exclusion of others.
I saw several bucks including a huge non-typical, which caused me to question my resolve to hunt the drop-tine. But I was determined so stayed focused.
I set up my GhostBlind on the edge of the field where previously I had seen the drop-tine buck the year before. From this location I could cover the entire green field opening.
On the fourth afternoon of the hunt and with the last evening hunt period remaining, as the sun started setting the monstrous non-typical came into the field and started feeding our way, ending up less 20 yards of where I was seated behind the GhostBlind. He was then joined by a 6 point yearling buck.
With about 10 minutes of legal shooting light remaining I caught movement across the field. It's was the drop-tine buck and he started feeding my way. As he got closer it was apparent he had no idea we were there, waiting.
The breezes were finicky and thankfully the cameraman and I had sprayed down with the scent eliminator Silver Scent, so not only were we invisible to the deer's eyes, thanks to the GhostBlind , we were also invisible to their noses.
The drop-tine buck walked to within about 60 yards, a which point I raised my .30-06 T/C Encore pistol and fired...
The rest is history.
Larry Weishuhn is one of this country's most recognized hunter/outdoor personalities. A highly experienced professional wildlife biologist, Larry helped develop many of the quality deer and habitat management techniques used today throughout North America. His many years of research, management, hunting of white-tailed deer, as well as the promotion of the species, their habitat and his many years of writing have lead to him being known throughout the hunting world as "Mr. Whitetail". As a wildlife biologist he has established quality deer management on well over 15,000,000 acres across North America.
