After six decades of hunting deer, I’ve come to enjoy spending time in the outdoors with friends at deer camp almost as much as actually harvesting the deer. But don’t get me wrong. Sun glistening off big antlers still gets my pulse racing. This past week, I not only enjoyed some great time with wonderful old friends but made some new ones as well. I was there in the blind with one of my best friends when he took the buck of his life and later invited to hunt with another great friend close to home where I put a big buck on the ground and meat in the freezer. Let me tell you all about it!
Let’s begin with the adventure in big buck country of BECKER BOTTOMS, Kaufman County.
I was introduced to David Cotton and his father Edgar a few weeks ago by Steven Waugh while doing an article on video cameras for hunters. I was invited to come back and hunt their ranch in Kaufman County and bring my friend Larry Weishuhn, aka “Mr. Whitetail”. The guest list grew to include wildlife biologist Brandon Houston and Jeff Rice, part of our TV show ‘A Sportsmans Life’ on Carbon TV.
I got permission for Jeff to do the shooting and I man the video camera and film for our show. Brandon Houston served as cameraman for Larry. The hunt was before the recent cold front with temperatures around eighty degrees for the high each day, less than ideal deer hunting conditions. But the two days we spent together were magic, everything a deer hunt should be, including a lot of ‘campfire talk’ around the fire pit in the evening, great food and even a couple of mature bucks on the meat pole: the wall hanger Jeff took during the last few minutes of legal shooting light and an old monarch management buck Larry shot on the last morning of the hunt.
The forest floor was covered in acorns, and deer are presently feeding heavily on their preferred food but deer also enjoy a bit of ‘salad’ in the food plots. Regardless of what many think, corn feeders where deer have become accustomed to feeding are never totally ignored by deer. They still like to drop by for a few nibbles
of the golden kernels regardless how good the acorn crop. During the rut, which is presently in full swing in much of north and east Texas, these feeders serve as meeting spots for deer. Does are accustomed to these areas and, thanks to a highly refined olfactory system, bucks can locate a receptive doe from a great distance.
Jeff and I were situated for the afternoon hunt in an elevated blind overlooking a couple of long food plots with a corn feeder about 100 yards on the edge of one of the plots. We spotted a lone doe an hour or so earlier and a couple of young bucks cruising the area in search of a receptive doe. And then, when what I call the ‘witching hour’ of last few minutes of shooting light arrived, we spotted a heavy antlered buck easing out of the brush on the edge of the food plot, right on the trail of a doe that had earlier emerged along the same trail. It took only a couple seconds to determine this was a shooter. Jeff eased his rifle into the window of the blind, and I heard the safety click to the fire position. By then I had the video camera rolling but the light was low and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to capture the action. As the buck walked farther into the field, there was just enough light for the camera to focus and record. The rest, as they say, is history. A perfect shot dropped the buck in its tracks, and my buddy had his career best buck on the ground. Jeff was raised in Wisconsin and is a veteran hunter with many years of deer hunting experience, but when he walked up to the old monarch he had just harvested, he was as proud as a youngster who had just taken his first buck. Weishuhn later scored the buck at 155 BC inches, and the Cottons said it was one of the bigger bucks that came off their place.
CLOSER TO HOME The day after this hunt, my friend and neighbor Kenneth Shepherd invited me to hunt with him on his place. Kenneth has taken a lot of really big bucks on his land, including a giant typical that scored grossed 172 BC. The plan was for him to shoot if a monster buck showed, and I was given the okay to take anything mature and that included anything from an old forkhorn to anything below Kenneth’s target buck. The day before our hunt, my buddy spotted a buck he said dwarfed his 172 incher but the deer was moving through timber and over 300 yards away. I was hoping the monster buck would return on this morning hunt for Kenneth. I felt confident I would be able to take a mature buck sometime through the course of the season.
At first light, we spotted five does and a younger buck at the feeder. The deer hung around for about 45 minutes and then slowly worked their way back into the brush. I remember telling my buddy that I fully expected a mature buck to show mid morning. There was a lot of doe scent left in the area, and it appeared one of the doe was coming into estrus after watching the interaction with the young buck. Sure enough, around 9 am we spotted a big ten point’s antlers glistening in the morning sun as he approached the area the doe had frequented. With nose in the air, he departed the direction of the doe earlier that morning, and the route passed 125 yards out in front of my blind. An easy shot for my old .270 dropped the big buck, and my first week of this year’s deer season was a wrap.
I won’t forget the fine deer taken on these two hunts but, more importantly, the great times spent with fine friends. In all honesty, I believe I would hunt deer the remainder of my life just for the enjoyment of being with great friends in the outdoors but…. you can bet I’ll be looking for that big buck until it’s time to rock on the porch and relive all the fun I’ve had in the deer woods!
Contact outdoors writer Luke Clayton via email. His website is www.catfishradio. org. Here, you can listen to his weekly radio show and connect with A Sportsman’s Life on Carbon TV.
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