Clay Target Guy
Well-Known Member
Well Ronny (Reloader7RM on another forum) along with Ronny's dad, Mitch (one of Ronny's friends), Reb (a friend of mine) and myself just got back from hunting whitetail in TX.
I drove in there on Friday afternoon and Ronny and his crew drove in a little later that afternoon. I had never met "Big Ronny" (Ronny's dad) or Mitch before but both were great people and in just a few seconds you felt like you had known them both all your life. Reb was not due to fly in until the next day. We got everything unloaded and had a big BS with the guide the rest of the afternoon and into the night.
Next morning started out a little ruff for me as I could not seem to get out of the bathroom. Everyone else left to go to their hunting spots and I finally got out of the bathroom and grabbed a roll of TP and headed out with my guide. Everyone saw deer on the first morning but not trigger time was logged by anyone.
Reb rolled in about 2 that afternoon and was ready for the afternoon hunt. Everyone headed out again and Big Ronny passed on a nice buck ( something he would live to regret).
Sunday morning dawned to a little warmer temps than opening day but STRONG winds. I saw a buck that required a second look but his rack was tall on one side and short on the other so I passed. We came back in and ate lunch and rested getting ready for the afternoon hunt. The wind only got stronger during the day. It was 30 MPH guesting to 45 mph.
The wind sure made it hard to even get out of the truck without having stuff go blowing out. I ended up hunting a place I had hunted the afternoon before but had not seen much. We went down into the river bottom this time to try and get out of the wind. We had not been there long until I starting seeing deer in my bino's. We had been there about a hour and it looked like you flipped a switch, deer started showing up everywhere. I am watching some deer in my bino's when I see a new deer jump the fence and come into the field. He was a tall racked buck and it got my attention. I turned to tell the guide about him and saw new movement out in a island of trees out in the field. I check him out with the bino's and he is a wide 8 pointer with good mass but his points were only about 6" long. I look back at the tall racked buck in the corner of the field and he turns to look in my direction. I can see that he only has about a 13 inch spread and my heart sank. I told the guide "I would bust him if he was wider". About that time I look and I have 5 gobblers and about 20 hens coming across the field right at us. I am afraid that they will bust us and spook the deer but at about 10 yards out they split us and head to either end of the field.
For some reason the deer spook and leave the field but the turkey all stay. I keep thinking about that tall racked buck but he is gone. About 10 min go by and my guide says "that buck is back in the corner of the field on our side. You will have to lean out past the tree to be able to see him". I do and glass him some more, and I can tell he has something going on with his right brow tine but can't tell what. One again I tell my guide, "I would bust him if he was just a little wider. I wish I could take that 8 pointer and this one and put the two together". I look back and the tall rack buck is gone again, so I just keep glassing and thinking about him. About another 10 min's go by and does start coming back into the field, and I look back and sure enough that same buck is up to fence watching the does and the other 8 pointer. I look him over again and think "man with wind he is a do-able shot" but he turns and leaves again.
I had prayed to the good Lord that he would give me a chance at a good buck and help me to have a shot that could be done in this high wind. Well sure enough the buck comes back again and jumps the fence. I figure it is a sign, heck he just keeps coming back so I tell the guide I am going to take him. I can not get turned to shoot him so I decided to shoot him left handed. I get the gun up and into the shooting sticks and the cross hair lands just behind the should. I let the 260 bark and the deer dropped right where he stood. We walk down to see what I had shot and there was not ground shrinkage. The trash I saw was a 3rd antler about 6" long in front of his right beam.
I text Ronny and tell him I shot, and it is tall but not wide and I am guessing it will go about 125. We get it back to camp and Ronny says it is bigger than I think. We get the cape and head off and Ronny and Mitch start scoring it while we are cutting up the meat.
When all the work is done Ronny ask "what do you think it scored?" I stuck to my 125, others guessed 130 but Ronny was closer than anyone when he said "it is at least 140" when we first pulled up. The final score was 152! I could not believe it, my goal was something around 140.
Last year on this trip I had tag soup so I was really happy to have a good deer.
Ronny got several pictures of it but I forgot my camera but got a few on my phone. I will have to figure out how to tranfer them and post them up in a few min's.
As always it is great to see Ronny and get to hunt with him and his friends. Worst thing about being around them is your sides hurt from laughing so much....
Figured it out
I drove in there on Friday afternoon and Ronny and his crew drove in a little later that afternoon. I had never met "Big Ronny" (Ronny's dad) or Mitch before but both were great people and in just a few seconds you felt like you had known them both all your life. Reb was not due to fly in until the next day. We got everything unloaded and had a big BS with the guide the rest of the afternoon and into the night.
Next morning started out a little ruff for me as I could not seem to get out of the bathroom. Everyone else left to go to their hunting spots and I finally got out of the bathroom and grabbed a roll of TP and headed out with my guide. Everyone saw deer on the first morning but not trigger time was logged by anyone.
Reb rolled in about 2 that afternoon and was ready for the afternoon hunt. Everyone headed out again and Big Ronny passed on a nice buck ( something he would live to regret).
Sunday morning dawned to a little warmer temps than opening day but STRONG winds. I saw a buck that required a second look but his rack was tall on one side and short on the other so I passed. We came back in and ate lunch and rested getting ready for the afternoon hunt. The wind only got stronger during the day. It was 30 MPH guesting to 45 mph.
The wind sure made it hard to even get out of the truck without having stuff go blowing out. I ended up hunting a place I had hunted the afternoon before but had not seen much. We went down into the river bottom this time to try and get out of the wind. We had not been there long until I starting seeing deer in my bino's. We had been there about a hour and it looked like you flipped a switch, deer started showing up everywhere. I am watching some deer in my bino's when I see a new deer jump the fence and come into the field. He was a tall racked buck and it got my attention. I turned to tell the guide about him and saw new movement out in a island of trees out in the field. I check him out with the bino's and he is a wide 8 pointer with good mass but his points were only about 6" long. I look back at the tall racked buck in the corner of the field and he turns to look in my direction. I can see that he only has about a 13 inch spread and my heart sank. I told the guide "I would bust him if he was wider". About that time I look and I have 5 gobblers and about 20 hens coming across the field right at us. I am afraid that they will bust us and spook the deer but at about 10 yards out they split us and head to either end of the field.
For some reason the deer spook and leave the field but the turkey all stay. I keep thinking about that tall racked buck but he is gone. About 10 min go by and my guide says "that buck is back in the corner of the field on our side. You will have to lean out past the tree to be able to see him". I do and glass him some more, and I can tell he has something going on with his right brow tine but can't tell what. One again I tell my guide, "I would bust him if he was just a little wider. I wish I could take that 8 pointer and this one and put the two together". I look back and the tall rack buck is gone again, so I just keep glassing and thinking about him. About another 10 min's go by and does start coming back into the field, and I look back and sure enough that same buck is up to fence watching the does and the other 8 pointer. I look him over again and think "man with wind he is a do-able shot" but he turns and leaves again.
I had prayed to the good Lord that he would give me a chance at a good buck and help me to have a shot that could be done in this high wind. Well sure enough the buck comes back again and jumps the fence. I figure it is a sign, heck he just keeps coming back so I tell the guide I am going to take him. I can not get turned to shoot him so I decided to shoot him left handed. I get the gun up and into the shooting sticks and the cross hair lands just behind the should. I let the 260 bark and the deer dropped right where he stood. We walk down to see what I had shot and there was not ground shrinkage. The trash I saw was a 3rd antler about 6" long in front of his right beam.
I text Ronny and tell him I shot, and it is tall but not wide and I am guessing it will go about 125. We get it back to camp and Ronny says it is bigger than I think. We get the cape and head off and Ronny and Mitch start scoring it while we are cutting up the meat.
When all the work is done Ronny ask "what do you think it scored?" I stuck to my 125, others guessed 130 but Ronny was closer than anyone when he said "it is at least 140" when we first pulled up. The final score was 152! I could not believe it, my goal was something around 140.
Last year on this trip I had tag soup so I was really happy to have a good deer.
Ronny got several pictures of it but I forgot my camera but got a few on my phone. I will have to figure out how to tranfer them and post them up in a few min's.
As always it is great to see Ronny and get to hunt with him and his friends. Worst thing about being around them is your sides hurt from laughing so much....
Figured it out
