Well I was able to hunt both morning and evening yesterday. First time I've done it all season.
The ranch has been unusually wet the past 3 months which is great cause we need the rain but the clay soils we have get slick with around 0.1". The slow misting rain started yesterday morning before I woke up and only let up for an hour or two here and there yesterday during daylight.
I had lots of deer action around the food plot/feeder I was sitting at, but of course none of those deer needed to be taken this year. The deer I was looking for didn't show up.
Then all of a sudden everything slowly walked off and the action stopped. I suck around for another hour or so but only saw deer running across roads at 300 yards or farther. On my walk back to the truck, the mud under my boots made me taller with every step. It was already that muddy. The truck made it back to camp in 2 wheel drive easily enough.
I hesitantly went back for the evening hunt around 4pm as I had been working on other things since I had gotten out of the deer blind in the morning, and the rain had just started again ever so lightly. I went back to the same spot as that morning and hoped the cull buck I was hunting would come out.
Again, everything I saw was not what I was looking for. There was a lot less action than in the morning, but one of the bug guys came out so I got to watch him through the binos fire a while. I was already getting ready to get out of the deer blind but looked at my phone and saw there was still another 30 min of shooting time. I looked up from my phone and saw 2 does walking out to the middle of the plot. A minute or two later a 4.5 yr 9pt came out in a hurry headed straight for one of the does. This was still not the buck I was after but I figured he still needed to go as the others in his age class look much better. I slowly got my rifle ready and waited for him. I ended up having to hurry my shot as he would not stay still trying to get around the doe. I waited for a broad side shot that didn't have the doe as a pas through shot and placed a 90g GD right behind his left shoulder. It exited just in the muscle of his other shoulder. He turned around and ran back, made another sweeping turn and nose dived all within around 25yds. He didn't move after that. He weighed 170lbs and guys teeth show him at 4.5 years old. I took pictures back at camp as it was too muddy and wet to get any in the field plus it was getting dark. I had to put the truck in 4X4 to get back to camp without sliding off the road this time.
Pictures to come shortly
EDIT: photo at camp below. At 131 3/8" he scored around 15" more than I thought he would. We are still considering him a cull buck because of his score relative to his age but this is another one that will be a euro mount for the new house. I fully caped him too, he had a nice cape with no cuts or scrapes, no nicks on the ears, and a good size neck so I'm sure I'll get some good credit for him from the taxidermist.
The ranch has been unusually wet the past 3 months which is great cause we need the rain but the clay soils we have get slick with around 0.1". The slow misting rain started yesterday morning before I woke up and only let up for an hour or two here and there yesterday during daylight.
I had lots of deer action around the food plot/feeder I was sitting at, but of course none of those deer needed to be taken this year. The deer I was looking for didn't show up.
Then all of a sudden everything slowly walked off and the action stopped. I suck around for another hour or so but only saw deer running across roads at 300 yards or farther. On my walk back to the truck, the mud under my boots made me taller with every step. It was already that muddy. The truck made it back to camp in 2 wheel drive easily enough.
I hesitantly went back for the evening hunt around 4pm as I had been working on other things since I had gotten out of the deer blind in the morning, and the rain had just started again ever so lightly. I went back to the same spot as that morning and hoped the cull buck I was hunting would come out.
Again, everything I saw was not what I was looking for. There was a lot less action than in the morning, but one of the bug guys came out so I got to watch him through the binos fire a while. I was already getting ready to get out of the deer blind but looked at my phone and saw there was still another 30 min of shooting time. I looked up from my phone and saw 2 does walking out to the middle of the plot. A minute or two later a 4.5 yr 9pt came out in a hurry headed straight for one of the does. This was still not the buck I was after but I figured he still needed to go as the others in his age class look much better. I slowly got my rifle ready and waited for him. I ended up having to hurry my shot as he would not stay still trying to get around the doe. I waited for a broad side shot that didn't have the doe as a pas through shot and placed a 90g GD right behind his left shoulder. It exited just in the muscle of his other shoulder. He turned around and ran back, made another sweeping turn and nose dived all within around 25yds. He didn't move after that. He weighed 170lbs and guys teeth show him at 4.5 years old. I took pictures back at camp as it was too muddy and wet to get any in the field plus it was getting dark. I had to put the truck in 4X4 to get back to camp without sliding off the road this time.
Pictures to come shortly
EDIT: photo at camp below. At 131 3/8" he scored around 15" more than I thought he would. We are still considering him a cull buck because of his score relative to his age but this is another one that will be a euro mount for the new house. I fully caped him too, he had a nice cape with no cuts or scrapes, no nicks on the ears, and a good size neck so I'm sure I'll get some good credit for him from the taxidermist.
Last edited:
.
