I was selected for one of Texas' public area drawing hunts for Mason Mountain WMA last week. For those of you who don't know about these, it is a great opportunity to hunt in areas that most of us only dream about. Anyway, it was a management deer hunt and the rules only allowed for taking of 6pt bucks or less and one doe with a total of 2 deer. The hunt starts at noon on the first day and ends at noon the third day. My first day was mostly spent checking out the area I was hunting and trying to decide where to set up a ground blind. There was a fixed box blind in the area, but after looking for a while with no luck, I set up the blind in a likely spot. After sitting for an hour and a half, I realized that I wasn't in the right area to find the other blind and set out looking for it. I was successful in finding the other blind and sat there until dark with only seeing an injured javelina. It was a really good looking area with a lot of oak trees dropping acorns so I intended to be there at daylight.
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The next morning was pretty cold, at least by Texas standards. 30 degrees with 20 mph winds in and open blind was pretty uncomfortable after a while. About 0715 I spotted a HUGE bodied buck walking across the stream bed up the hill from me. By the time I got binoculars on him, I couldn't see how many points he had, but the main beam was massive. I warmed up pretty quick after that. Around 0730 another buck was working his way toward me through the stream bed. It took a while to study him carefully to make sure that he met the requirements of the rules. When I decided to take him, he wouldn't stop walking, so I had to make a quick decision and go ahead and pull the trigger. I knew it was a good hit, but I didn't see him go down before he went out of sight. It was hard to wait before going to check on him. I didn't find a blood trail, but I did a pretty good job of marking the exact trail where he went out of sight and it wasn't much farther till I spotted him. He was the perfect management buck. 4 1/2 yrs old and 5 points. Definitely one to take out of the herd.
After getting him taken care of and lunch with my wife, I went to a different area for the afternoon hunt. Sat in another of the areas fixed blinds with this outstanding view.
The afternoon hunt ended with me getting a nice 2 1/2 yr old doe to add to the freezer. I didn't get any pictures of her, since she wasn't much to brag about except the excellent table fare. I was also completely exhausted from field dressing and hauling two deer in one day. I'm getting too damn old for this. I've got to start hunting with some younger partners who like to drag deer.
Here is another of the beautiful landscapes I got to look at while wandering around this gem of Texas.
.The next morning was pretty cold, at least by Texas standards. 30 degrees with 20 mph winds in and open blind was pretty uncomfortable after a while. About 0715 I spotted a HUGE bodied buck walking across the stream bed up the hill from me. By the time I got binoculars on him, I couldn't see how many points he had, but the main beam was massive. I warmed up pretty quick after that. Around 0730 another buck was working his way toward me through the stream bed. It took a while to study him carefully to make sure that he met the requirements of the rules. When I decided to take him, he wouldn't stop walking, so I had to make a quick decision and go ahead and pull the trigger. I knew it was a good hit, but I didn't see him go down before he went out of sight. It was hard to wait before going to check on him. I didn't find a blood trail, but I did a pretty good job of marking the exact trail where he went out of sight and it wasn't much farther till I spotted him. He was the perfect management buck. 4 1/2 yrs old and 5 points. Definitely one to take out of the herd.
After getting him taken care of and lunch with my wife, I went to a different area for the afternoon hunt. Sat in another of the areas fixed blinds with this outstanding view.
The afternoon hunt ended with me getting a nice 2 1/2 yr old doe to add to the freezer. I didn't get any pictures of her, since she wasn't much to brag about except the excellent table fare. I was also completely exhausted from field dressing and hauling two deer in one day. I'm getting too damn old for this. I've got to start hunting with some younger partners who like to drag deer.
Here is another of the beautiful landscapes I got to look at while wandering around this gem of Texas.
