Texas Mule Deer
- Thread starter Shane13
- Start date
Saturday I hiked and climbed over 9 miles' worth of canyons. I never saw a shooter. Dad got sick that night, so we had to go home Sunday. Hoping to try again this weekend.
Bonecollector
Veteran member
MountainHigh
Active Member
It came down to the last weekend and the last day, but it came together.....
The best way to describe our mule deer season this year - a butt kicking. Dad and I got on a lease in the Panhandle with some friends. It's 10,000 acres in the Canadian River breaks. Pretty rough country full of big canyons with mule deer and whitetail. It looks big and wide open, but the deer dang sure stayed hidden well. We have no food plots or ag fields. The deer had plenty to eat all over the ranch, so they didn't have to move around a lot. There's lots of water holes on the ranch too, which is great. But, again, it allowed the deer to stay hidden in the draws and in the brush without moving around much.
Since the deer weren't moving, I figured I would. I covered a LOT of ground, most of which looked like this...
The best way to describe our mule deer season this year - a butt kicking. Dad and I got on a lease in the Panhandle with some friends. It's 10,000 acres in the Canadian River breaks. Pretty rough country full of big canyons with mule deer and whitetail. It looks big and wide open, but the deer dang sure stayed hidden well. We have no food plots or ag fields. The deer had plenty to eat all over the ranch, so they didn't have to move around a lot. There's lots of water holes on the ranch too, which is great. But, again, it allowed the deer to stay hidden in the draws and in the brush without moving around much.
Since the deer weren't moving, I figured I would. I covered a LOT of ground, most of which looked like this...
After covering a few miles early Friday in the fog, I got back to my truck about mid-morning. I was texting another hunter with an update and eating a snack. I looked up and learned something new.
I never knew deer would eat cholla. Where I hunted growing up, there isn't any cholla, so I never saw anything eat that thorny mess. This little forkhorn came up within 30 yards of my pickup as I was sitting there in my truck. I watched him for 15-20 minutes eat cholla. He was biting off the little yellow new growth buds. After seeing that, I started noticing lots of cholla with deer tracks around them and those little yellow buds bitten off. They must taste good. They'd have to taste REALLY good to get me to stick my face up in all those stickers to try to get a bite!
I never knew deer would eat cholla. Where I hunted growing up, there isn't any cholla, so I never saw anything eat that thorny mess. This little forkhorn came up within 30 yards of my pickup as I was sitting there in my truck. I watched him for 15-20 minutes eat cholla. He was biting off the little yellow new growth buds. After seeing that, I started noticing lots of cholla with deer tracks around them and those little yellow buds bitten off. They must taste good. They'd have to taste REALLY good to get me to stick my face up in all those stickers to try to get a bite!
Oh, let me back up a little..... Speaking of butt kicking.... I went to the ranch alone for the last weekend of the season. My son stayed home, as he had a date. She's very pretty and super sweet, so I didn't give him a hard time (too much). Dad was going to go with me, but he was going to hunt whitetail with my brother-in-law at a different place for a couple days first. Then on Thursday afternoon, Dad fell off the top of his tower blind as he was climbing into the blind. Just missed the last step somehow and went down. He landed on his feet before falling on his back. He gathered himself and climbed back up and hunted until almost sundown. He got to hurting pretty bad, so he got down and went to the trailer to lay down. About midnight he decided it was time to go get X-rayed as the pain was pretty bad. So my BIL took him to Amarillo to the hospital. Nothing broken - thank God! But he's still pretty sore. So he didn't make the mule deer hunt. That was a bummer.
I went alone, but all the other guys were there. We spread out all over the ranch and gave 'em heck. One guy killed a great old cull buck Saturday morning - at about 450 yards. Big fork. Finally somebody got something on the ground though! The ice was broken.
Everybody saw deer Saturday, except me. I hiked and glassed and put about 10 miles on my hunting boots. I saw tracks and sign everywhere, but never saw a deer. Another hunter and his dad saw a big shooter buck that morning, but they were guessing he was 600 yards out or so and too far to shoot at. They had to leave early Sunday morning, ending their season.
I got a few nice pics Saturday, and I found an arrowhead. That made up for the lack of deer for me. The arrowhead was special. I have never found an arrowhead while hunting and ended up skunked. It's like a sign from hunters past that I'm gonna score. I was pumped to find it. It kept my spirits up.
I went alone, but all the other guys were there. We spread out all over the ranch and gave 'em heck. One guy killed a great old cull buck Saturday morning - at about 450 yards. Big fork. Finally somebody got something on the ground though! The ice was broken.
Everybody saw deer Saturday, except me. I hiked and glassed and put about 10 miles on my hunting boots. I saw tracks and sign everywhere, but never saw a deer. Another hunter and his dad saw a big shooter buck that morning, but they were guessing he was 600 yards out or so and too far to shoot at. They had to leave early Sunday morning, ending their season.
I got a few nice pics Saturday, and I found an arrowhead. That made up for the lack of deer for me. The arrowhead was special. I have never found an arrowhead while hunting and ended up skunked. It's like a sign from hunters past that I'm gonna score. I was pumped to find it. It kept my spirits up.
Sunday morning I went to the rim of the canyon where they had seen the big buck the day before. I got there a little before shooting light and set up in the rocks on the rim. Another hunter and his buddy were watching a few doe and a spike in the bottom of the canyon to the south of me. After sunup, I was glassing. I looked to my left and about eye level to me, what I think was a falcon was gliding ride at me. When I moved my head, he perked up. My fleece beenie must have looked like something furry to eat. The falcon circled me at 10-20 feet several times. It was really cool. He stayed at eye level to me pretty much and just circled around and around really close. I didn't have my good camera with me, but I grabbed my cell phone and got a photo of him as he was gliding away. I felt like that was another good sign. I'm pretty sure he was telling me to get ready, as a deer was on the way.
Sure enough, about 30-40 minutes TWO big bucks appeared in the bottom of the canyon coming from the north (my right). I texted the other guys that 2 bucks were coming. One was obviously bigger than the other. I ranged him at 375 yards and got set up on my backpack on the rocks. It wasn't a perfectly stable rest, but it was good. I put the crosshairs on the top of his shoulder and squeezed. POP! He was hit, but he didn't go down. He was holding his front leg up. I'd hit him about 2" low. I shot again. POP! But when I got the scope back on him, I saw sand flying and the buck was still standing. I thought I must have missed. I shot again...and again...and again....
They all sounded like hits, but the buck was still standing. After 5 shots, he moved farther away and laid down but had his head up. I texted the other guys to come over where I was, because the 2nd buck was still just standing there. I shot at my buck again and hit low. I ranged again and the buck was now at 425 yards. So I held a little higher and fired one more. Finally the 7th shot rolled him over, and he didn't move again. He was dead.
Then the other guys got there, but now the 2nd buck was out of sight. But the buck came out from behind a knob in the bottom, and he was right below us at about 150 yards. Mike told his buddy to shoot him. The buddy said he'd never shot or even seen a deer before. I gave him my spot on the backpack for a rest, and he set up. He was breathing even harder than I was (which was pretty hard). He shot 3 times and all were clean misses. The buck hopped his way up the draw on the other side of the canyon, unscathed.
So we drove down to the bottom of the canyon and got as close as we could to my buck. About 1/2 mile away was as close as we could get. We hiked in and took a few pics, gutted the buck and then drug him out to the pickup. It was a relatively flat drag down the draw, so it wasn't horrible. But it was still a LOT of work. We traded off in pairs dragging with one guy resting, and it didn't take us too long. I would have had to make two trips with quarters in my pack if those guys hadn't been nice enough to help me. That was awesome.
Sure enough, about 30-40 minutes TWO big bucks appeared in the bottom of the canyon coming from the north (my right). I texted the other guys that 2 bucks were coming. One was obviously bigger than the other. I ranged him at 375 yards and got set up on my backpack on the rocks. It wasn't a perfectly stable rest, but it was good. I put the crosshairs on the top of his shoulder and squeezed. POP! He was hit, but he didn't go down. He was holding his front leg up. I'd hit him about 2" low. I shot again. POP! But when I got the scope back on him, I saw sand flying and the buck was still standing. I thought I must have missed. I shot again...and again...and again....
They all sounded like hits, but the buck was still standing. After 5 shots, he moved farther away and laid down but had his head up. I texted the other guys to come over where I was, because the 2nd buck was still just standing there. I shot at my buck again and hit low. I ranged again and the buck was now at 425 yards. So I held a little higher and fired one more. Finally the 7th shot rolled him over, and he didn't move again. He was dead.Then the other guys got there, but now the 2nd buck was out of sight. But the buck came out from behind a knob in the bottom, and he was right below us at about 150 yards. Mike told his buddy to shoot him. The buddy said he'd never shot or even seen a deer before. I gave him my spot on the backpack for a rest, and he set up. He was breathing even harder than I was (which was pretty hard).
He shot 3 times and all were clean misses. The buck hopped his way up the draw on the other side of the canyon, unscathed.So we drove down to the bottom of the canyon and got as close as we could to my buck. About 1/2 mile away was as close as we could get. We hiked in and took a few pics, gutted the buck and then drug him out to the pickup. It was a relatively flat drag down the draw, so it wasn't horrible. But it was still a LOT of work. We traded off in pairs dragging with one guy resting, and it didn't take us too long. I would have had to make two trips with quarters in my pack if those guys hadn't been nice enough to help me. That was awesome.
The buck ended up scoring 164". Oh yeah.... all those misses that I thought I'd fired.... Well, they weren't misses. That buck had holes in him everywhere. All the shots were a little low, but his shoulders and brisket looked like swiss cheese. Tough ol' sucker just wouldn't go down, and I wasn't going to quit shooting until he did. It sure sounded like World War III there for a while.
We posed him to show the good side took a few pics. I was sitting in the rocks at the top of the hill in the background when I shot. It definitely looked like 600 yards, but it was deceiving. Lucky for me that my buddy didn't have his rangefinder yesterday.
We posed him to show the good side took a few pics. I was sitting in the rocks at the top of the hill in the background when I shot. It definitely looked like 600 yards, but it was deceiving. Lucky for me that my buddy didn't have his rangefinder yesterday.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
Nice buck and good story! Glad your Dad didn't break his bloody neck on that fall and only had bruises!
Yep. He was VERY fortunate.
I talked to him this morning. He said he's still sore, but a little less so. He saw an old friend at the post office who had heard about his fall. She said, "So I guess your hunting days are over now."
Dad laughed and said, "Not hardly. I'm not dead."
Topgun 30-06
Banned
That's a retort I hope to use until somebody shoots me between the eyes by mistake when I'm in my 90s, LOL!Yep. He was VERY fortunate.
I talked to him this morning. He said he's still sore, but a little less so. He saw an old friend at the post office who had heard about his fall. She said, "So I guess your hunting days are over now."
Dad laughed and said, "Not hardly. I'm not dead."
Only fall I took (controlled fall as a last resort), I felt fine for a while then my quads and hamstrings started feeling like they were giving out on me along with ankles being sore and that was at 21 years old and being in excellent shape. Glad he wasn't seriously injured.
Congrats on a fine buck, Shane. I think I've seen that sticker on a white jeep before.
Congrats on a fine buck, Shane. I think I've seen that sticker on a white jeep before.