Honey Creek-Black Cat Big Buck Down with Levergun

[86er]

Yesterday morning started out in the Nat'l Forest with O.S.O.K. and RKrodle. After early morning Jac left and it got to be 80 degrees. Ricky and I decided to hunt our own covert close to home. My early arrival home sent my wife into a "I'll be back in a minute" moment that lasted a half hour more than agreed. I told Ricky I'd meet him and hunt behind him closer to the truck. On the way there the low fuel light goes on. Apparently my wife used the truck while I was gone too. A quick stop for fuel gets me there at 4:30PM. I scramble up my tree for the 18th day. As the sun goes behind the trees at 4:40 I start to alternate doe estrus bleats and grunts. I hear a grunt answer me to my right. Another bleat and a grunt answers and the grass starts moving towards me. A deer steps out at 90 yards and in less time it takes to tell this or read it I stand up, swing right and shoot. It was like being on auto-pilot. In that same split second my brain assessed the deer as sway back, pot belly, big neck and low hung head with a big body. I did not see any antlers. At the shot the deer took two unhurried steps forwards and was out of view. I was using my Savage 99 in 308. 5 minutes later I saw 15 does, a spike and an 8 point. Ricky heard my shot and came to help, and he actually walked to within 75 yards of all those deer before spooking them. I told Ricky the story and we both knew this was iffy. We have antler restrictions where we hunt. A buck must be an unbranched antler or be 13" inside spread or bigger. I honestly did not see any antlers but my mind was telling me "big buck" because of the deer's reaction to the call and posture for the second it was in view. We found blood and lung tissue where the deer stood and then a solid blood trail. I was slightly surprised that I made a good shot because I did not recall the shot picture at all - yet I felt good about the shot inside. I was nervous that I would follow the blood to a doe or small buck but mixed with the nervousness was the confidence that what I saw could not have been a doe or immature buck even though I did not observe antlers. I am pretty sure Ricky expected to find a doe. Unbelievably, the heavy blood trail lasted for over 200 yards. When we found the deer the 165 gr Nosler Partion has hit the bottom ventricle of the heart and cut the right lung while pulverizing the left one and exited the size of a quarter. Oh yeah, and it was a HUGE deer. The spread wasn't an issue at all - 7" more than minimum legal. The heavy mass and long tines gave it a great SCI score of 146 5/8th green. Thanks for the help Ricky! 18 days in that tree paid off.

Here he is at night right after we found him:


This is a picture this morning taken by my 4 year old:


Last picture:

[Old Savage]

Nice buck Joe, you look like you are waist deep in grass in that picture.

[rjohns94]

Very nice buck Joe. Congrats. persistance paid off. Nice shooting. years of practice worked out for you!.

[RKrodle]

Congratulations on a great deer Joe. All that time on stand and in the woods has paid off nicely with a beautiful buck. Even if does have really short legs .

[pokey]

sorry...... all i can think of is dorf on golf.

http://embedr.com/playlist/dorf-on-golf

[FWiedner]

A handsome buck for this neck of the woods. Congratulations!

[doorgunner]

That's a darn nice Texas buck. Congrats!

[O.S.O.K.]

Ricky! There you go again with the short jokes! Don't make fun of his buck! It's a Texas dwarf buck

Hey Joe that's outstanding! Dang, I should've followed you guys home

[kimwcook]

Good job, Joe. You're a lucky man.

[FWiedner]

Ricky! There you go again with the short jokes again! Don't make fun of his buck! It's a Texas dwarf buck

A Dachsbukke... ?

A "wiener-deer"..?

[huntress]

Wow! Good looking buck! For all that excitement, why do you look so angry? Smile! You did good!

Sandy

[Mike D.]

Sweet 3 pointer.

[CEMENTHEAD]

Congrats Joe !! Was his belly hair worn off with legs that short? Tom

[Hanzerik]

Congrats on a fine Deer.

[NonPCnraRN]

Did the deer have one of those blue and white handicapped stickers on it? That is not very sporting shooting it off of its motorized scooter.

[Jaguarundi]

Congrats on the nice Buck !

[Ysabel Kid]

Nice Buck Joe!

Y2K was camping all weekend, then started reading your latest book!

[crs]

Good show Joe. Nice tall rack for that little corner of woods.

[dr walker]

Congratulations on a nice buck.

[KirkD]

Nice shot!