I made a video of my buddy's hunt for a buck in south TX. Here's the description:
Lucky Buck Video

It ain't always a guarantee with a rifle!!


Last weekend, I took my buddy Chris hunting in S TX. We were looking for a mature management buck. This OLD 10pt showed up one morning and we decided to try and take him. He was standing about 125yds away and Chris took the shot. He missed by several feet!! The buck ran to another opening in the brush, and Chris fired again and missed in the same spot. Because of camera difficulties, I lost both shots on the tape.


We went back to camp and shot his rifle at a target. It was off by more than 4 feet!! We figured out later that his scope rings were loose.


We changed rifles and went back early that afternoon to the same spot. The buck showed up down a road about 180yds away. He stood frozen while Chris and I decided whether or not to take the shot. Chris was comfortable and took the shot. He must have let buck fever get ahold of him and missed high. The buck left in a hurry, but returned in almost the same spot a few hours later. Once again, Chris squeezed off a shot and missed just in front of the buck.


The next morning found us back in the same spot, but we were completely fogged in. We could only see about 75yds at best. I caught the buck crossing a clearing to our left and heading towards a clearing in front of our position. A few minutes later the buck appeared in the edge of the fog. Chris readied his gun, but the buck was either head on or facing away. As the tension built, Chris was losing it. He took a few deep breaths as the buck turned to leave. He stopped broadside at 80yds and Chris let him have it. The shot took out both front shoulders and the buck only went 20 feet before he fell.


I can't tell you how happy I was for Chris to finally get his biggest buck ever! He's still shaken up about it

must be nice to hunt on a canned game farm. reminds me of shooting prairie dogs. i don't know how many miles my son and i have logged the past 2 weeks to get our bucks. all i know is, my feet are sore and our freezer is full of venison.

Peyton
Persistance pays off. I can imagine your buddies frustration, then excitement when he finally got the buck.

I can tell from the video he was truly excited.
That is a nice deer in anybodies book.

He seems to shoot better in the fog.
Maybe a sheet of wax paper over the front of his scope on clear days might help him out.

there goes the high fence- fair chase argument.If those deer had free range habitat you wouldnt have seen them again in a few hours.

Disregard exsanguinate's ignorance. Great buck and nice recovery! Sometimes you gotta stick with it.

Perry

Ex... and jb,
Why act like that. Peyton is a new member with a good story.

Happy Thanksgiving
Perry

I act that way because I dont believe this should be called "hunting". Where I usually hunt,you miss,you never see the animal again,certainly not every few hours.
Plainly ,this animal had a very limited range to travel,otherwise he would not be back where he was just shot at TWICE IN A FEW HOURS.
How could he possibly live long enough to grow antlers that size if he too stupid to run away when shot at? Even the does stood there and watched for awhile after the shot.
Having hunted on public land all my life,my biggest buck is only a 8 point eastern count whitetail.however,he was taken in free range national forest land,open to public hunting.I snuck(?) out to my stand ,quiet enough that he didnt hear me,which was in a spot i picked out,made the shot, 1st try( actually,it was in muzzleloader season),or I would never have seen him again,because he had thousands of acres to roam,he probably wouldnt come back by there for weeks.
contrast that to a game farm hunt,where they come back every few hours so you can have another chance.Come on.
I just cant see where this in any way can be considered the same.seems to me like shooting cows out of the pasture.Hopefully ,boone and crockett,pope and young will notice this trend,and not allow these animals taken this way,to be counted towards the record book.
An animal born in the grass in an Iowa fence row,against one born on a Texas game farm eating out of a feeder every few hours...If people cant see the difference, hunting is already doomed.
THAT SAID i can see how it would be a lot of fun SHOOTING at one of these ranches,but it isnt hunting,at least not to me.

Peyton, i'm sorry if i offended you, but i concur with jb. as a lawyer would say, i guess we must define hunting first. this to me is more like shooting at a target.

but...if this is the way Texans hunt, i guess it is hunting.

jb
Out of curiousity how do you know this was a "farm". You say "this" should not be called hunting, explain what "this" is and how you know it. Peyton mentioned nothing of this property. You mentioned your deer had a few thousand acres to roam, most ranches in Texas are a few thousand acres so I dont see the difference. The differeniating factor here is this buck is not on public land where it has to fear for its life everyday of the season since his antlers protruded from his head. That buck returning had to do with pressure not a deer "farm". You made numerous references to "your" experience, dont try to deminish Peyton's because yours is different. By the way you mentioned you have only hunted public land, how can you speak of something you have no first hand experiece with. Shame on you sir for trying to ruin Peyton's hunt.

Perry

And for the record if this is a canned hunt, overpopulated deer in a small acrage pen, I too am against calling that hunting.

BUT we know nothing of this property or the hunt which the two of you would speak of as though you now ANY of the FACTS.

Perry

pictures are worth a thousand words.Did that big buck YOU missed come back and give you a second,let alone a THIRD shot in a few hours?
Im sorry to ruin peytons "hunt",but it is what it is.

quote:

BUT we know nothing of this property or the hunt which the two of you would speak of as though you now ANY of the FACTS.

I concur... You opinionated people! "My way is hunting... your way isn't". That is what I hear. And some of what I have read smacks of jealosy. Am I wrong?

Let the man tell his story... There are a LOT of low fence places in this state that require a management buck be taken every year. That is not "game farming", as some of you so uninformedly stated; it is nothing but herd management/improvement.

I remember when Allen Day left. It was because of the same kind of belittling talk. Go ahead. Run somebody else off!

jb
You did not ruin anything. It sounds like a great hunt. What buck that I missed are you speaking of? The pictures speak nothing of which you have based your aguement, hence the discription of you and ex.. being ignorant.

Perry

quote:

Originally posted by perry:
jb
You did not ruin anything. It sounds like a great hunt. What buck that I missed are you speaking of? The pictures speak nothing of which you have based your aguement, hence the discription of you and ex.. being ignorant.

Perry

first,YOU suggested I ruined his expirence.I wouldnt call it a hunt.my opinion.
I am not jealous at all.The more I see of this type of thing,the less I consider it hunting. it is shooting to me.like prairie dogs.I am concerned that in twenty years,this WILL be considered hunting here as well as in texas.
DOUBLESS, if its not FARMING why do you need HERD MANAGEMENT?
I really dont have a problem with this as long as you dont call it hunting.

quote:

I act that way because I dont believe this should be called "hunting". Where I usually hunt,you miss,you never see the animal again,certainly not every few hours.

THey just don't disappear! THey are there, you obviously don't know where to look. I hunt 10's of thousands of acres on national forest for elk and deer. If I miss a shot one day, I will bet you a pay check they will return the next day and some times later the same day, to the same vacinity,and by being patient and persistant, I can, will, and have found the animal a second or third time. Be it deer or elk or lion or bear. I guess thats a canned hunt ??????

I have spent 40 years hunting Wyoming and would love to do a deer hunt like that once. No snow, no canyons to hike, no 500 hunters from minnysooota, shooting all the fork horns and does, and no proving my manhood, thumping my chest. Just a nice realxing day in a blind watching wildlife and then harvesting a nice buck!

Thanks for sharing the video and "hunt"!

perry, you are correct, we anonymous key board warriors tend to mouth off pretty quickly. case in point...my neighbor went on a buffalo hunt and showed my his pictures. he showed me a picture of a buffalo in a corral being shot by him with his bow. i was appauled. now being neighborly, i didn't say, "you call that a hunt?". i really didn't say anything. we should probably try to have the same manners online as we do in person

theres that "HUNT"word again.
substitute "harvest" and I see no problem.
visibility here is usually quite limited.less than 50 yards.second chances are non existant.as it should be.in my opinion.

Thanks ex..
I have no problem with the opinions stated as long as they are based in fact.
Buffalo in a pen is a new low for "hunting" forsure.

jb,
Herd management is sound practice, agreed with by every sportsman in the world, except you.
You never answered any of my previous question...which buck, property fact?

Perry

mmmmmmm....Healthy debate on AR forum, big breakfast and digging into the chocolate ice box pudding early. Its a good day.

Perry

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kudu56:
[and would love to do a deer hunt like that once. No snow, no canyons to hike, no proving my manhood, thumping my chest. Just a nice realxing day in a blind watching wildlife and then harvesting a nice buck!

QUOTE]
just go out in the pasture and pick one out.only takes a few hours of your precious time.
Hey if it makes you happy have at it.only takes money.doesnt require skill or knowledge or anything else .probably be done by noon.
Reminds me of the story in the new outdoor life about the woman game warden who went on the sting operation in alaska,where the pilots would drive the bears to the "hunters" so they didnt have to hunt for a week.

WOW.....I never expected this!!

Thus was my second post on AR, and may as well be my last. JUST because I am and the video is from TX, some green insensitive a-holes automatically assume that it's a canned hunt. Pull your head out of your ass and quit assuming. We were hunting on 4000 acres of very lightly hunted land. One of our neighbors are 18,000 acres and mostly run cattle. We are 30 miles from Mexico in a remote part of TX. These deer never see people, much less know what a gunshot is. I would call that WILD and NATURAL long before I would consider overhunted public land where deer are scared of their shadow because they are shot at ALL the time.

Just because the buck returned to his home area, doesn't mean he couldn't escape. He didn't know any better. AND, just because I hunt in a different area of the country, and maybe a different way, it doesn't mean it's wrong. Step off your quick to judge high horse and have a little respect for other hunters.

Here's another video if you want to analyze my ethics! Archery 9pt

quote:

Originally posted by perry:
Thanks ex..
I have no problem with the opinions stated as long as they are based in fact.
Buffalo in a pen is a new low for "hunting" forsure.

jb,
Herd management is sound practice, agreed with by every sportsman in the world, except you.
You never answered any of my previous question...which buck, property fact?

Perry

I was refering to a hypothetical buck,one that you missed,and you wished you could get a second chance."the one that got away".
herd management IS sound practice.no question.herd management is usually done on ranches,no? not free range land where your fed animals may freely LEAVE to be else where when you miss them .twice.Maybe if you werent shooting down the road.

quote:

Originally posted by Peyton:
WOW.....I never expected this!!

Thus was my second post on AR, and may as well be my last. JUST because I am and the video is from TX, some green insensitive a-holes automatically assume that it's a canned hunt. Pull your head out of your ass and quit assuming. We were hunting on 4000 acres of very lightly hunted land. One of our neighbors are 18,000 acres and mostly run cattle. We are 30 miles from Mexico in a remote part of TX. These deer never see people, much less know what a gunshot is. I would call that WILD and NATURAL long before I would consider overhunted public land where deer are scared of their shadow because they are shot at ALL the time.

Just because the buck returned to his home area, doesn't mean he couldn't escape. He didn't know any better. AND, just because I hunt in a different area of the country, and maybe a different way, it doesn't mean it's wrong. Step off your quick to judge high horse and have a little respect for other hunters.

Here's another video if you want to analyze my ethics! Archery 9pt

dont take it too seriously,I really dont care what you do,to be honest.just giving my opinion.that and $1.00 will get you a cup of coffee.
I also think muzzleloader season should be round ball flint locks only. so sue me.
me,green?

jb
After readings Peyton's description of the hunt you owe him an apology.
HERD management is done where there are HERDS.

Perry

Off to eat too much. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving.

Peyton dont let this run you off and keep posting the videos and stories, helps pass teh time in between hunts!!!

Perry

Peyton,

Nice video. It takes thick skin to post here because some people think their way is the only way. That makes them small minded. Don't let their jealousy spoil you on this website.

exsanguinate,

quote:

but...if this is the way Texans hunt, i guess it is hunting.

Come hunt with me and I'll show you how Texans hunt

peyton,
As for the remoteness of this ranch, are those gunshots or oilwells in the background in the archery video?

jb and exsanguinate,
My grandfather has a ranch in west TX and the deer there are as skittish as I have ever seen. I missed a buck a few years back and went back that afternoon and found him again. There were no feeders or corn in the road, it was just me in the brush hunting like this Texan does. If your up in MN ot MT and blow a buck out never to see him again, it might be a product of how you hunt and not that the deer are gone. Whitetails are very territorial and will come home because its where they feel the safest. Just because you dont have the confidence or ability to go back in and hunt the same deer does not mean that others dont. Granted, it takes no skill to sit in a box and shoot deer. That only requires patience. But that does not give you the right to SLAM this guy because its different than what you do.

Drum

drummondlindsey,
In the archery video,is the buck that is shot by the archer,eating out of a DIRT TRENCH?
if your out in the brush hunting,that is real hunting.no corn in the road ,as you say.none up here either.


Up here if you shoot at a buck and miss,he will probably go crawl into the heaviest cover he has and stay there till dark.he will disappear.he doesnt come back an hour later.if he does,he doesnt live long enough to grow antlers very big.survival of the fittest. a large buck here is smart and alert.A real trophy.he doesnt eat deer food out of a trench.

If the neighbors can be heard shooting in the video,how is it that the deer dont even know what shots are?doesnt seem very remote to me.


If I hurt anyones feelings,well I'm sorry for that,but i still disagree.
I've got to go get ready for blackpowder season opener saturday.If I get another one it will be because I beat him at his own game,on his ground,a real accomplishment.not because I know where the food is put out.just my opinion .good luck and GOD bless.

quote:

WOW.....I never expected this!!

Thus was my second post on AR, and may as well be my last. JUST because I am and the video is from TX, some green insensitive a-holes automatically assume that it's a canned hunt. Pull your head out of your ass and quit assuming. We were hunting on 4000 acres of very lightly hunted land. One of our neighbors are 18,000 acres and mostly run cattle. We are 30 miles from Mexico in a remote part of TX. These deer never see people, much less know what a gunshot is. I would call that WILD and NATURAL long before I would consider overhunted public land where deer are scared of their shadow because they are shot at ALL the time.

Just because the buck returned to his home area, doesn't mean he couldn't escape. He didn't know any better. AND, just because I hunt in a different area of the country, and maybe a different way, it doesn't mean it's wrong. Step off your quick to judge high horse and have a little respect for other hunters.

Don't let the egotistic assholes get to you. It is America,if is legal, have at it. No need to try and prove your manhood on every hunt. It is not a macho thing. Hunters and their opinions are our own worst enemies. They seem to have to beat thier own drum!

Thanks yall

I'm not really worried about it, but I just get tired of hearing it everytime something is posted on the net about TX deer. I hadn't had my morning coffee yet, so I guess I got a bit fired up. It's cool

quote:

Originally posted by kudu56:

Don't let the egotistic assholes get to you. It is America,if is legal, have at it.

just dont call it hunting.asshole.

quote:

just dont call it hunting.asshole

I will call it whatever I want egotist! That is just your opinion mighty, doe slaying, tree stand hunter! And we all know what opinions are like!

You must have had a guilty conscience!

quote:

Originally posted by Peyton:
I made a video of my buddy's hunt for a buck in south TX. Here's the description:
Lucky Buck Video

It ain't always a guarantee with a rifle!!


Last weekend, I took my buddy Chris hunting in S TX. We were looking for a mature management buck. This OLD 10pt showed up one morning and we decided to try and take him. He was standing about 125yds away and Chris took the shot. He missed by several feet!! The buck ran to another opening in the brush, and Chris fired again and missed in the same spot. Because of camera difficulties, I lost both shots on the tape.


We went back to camp and shot his rifle at a target. It was off by more than 4 feet!! We figured out later that his scope rings were loose.


We changed rifles and went back early that afternoon to the same spot. The buck showed up down a road about 180yds away. He stood frozen while Chris and I decided whether or not to take the shot. Chris was comfortable and took the shot. He must have let buck fever get ahold of him and missed high. The buck left in a hurry, but returned in almost the same spot a few hours later. Once again, Chris squeezed off a shot and missed just in front of the buck.


The next morning found us back in the same spot, but we were completely fogged in. We could only see about 75yds at best. I caught the buck crossing a clearing to our left and heading towards a clearing in front of our position. A few minutes later the buck appeared in the edge of the fog. Chris readied his gun, but the buck was either head on or facing away. As the tension built, Chris was losing it. He took a few deep breaths as the buck turned to leave. He stopped broadside at 80yds and Chris let him have it. The shot took out both front shoulders and the buck only went 20 feet before he fell.


I can't tell you how happy I was for Chris to finally get his biggest buck ever! He's still shaken up about it

Peyton,

I've never hunted Texas, but I have had a similar experience, twice!

The first time was Idaho. Anyone who has a varied field experience with deer know the smart ones with big racks (like the one in the video) often escape by circling around behind
a predator winding up where they started leaving the predator to move one in search of him. Knowing this, I once missed a great Idaho buck due to buck fever, circled around myself
and shot the bugger in almost the same spot I had missed him in earlier. (About an hour later)
This occurred in about 1 million unfenced acres of wilderness!

The second time was on my uncle's 100 acre farm in West Virginia. I cleanly missed a nice young buck and he disappeared as was suggested by jb. Later that evening, on the opposite side of the farm, I took a second shot at the
same deer and missed again. It wasn't until I got back to the house that evening that I discovered the scope rings were loose! Yes there was a fence around my uncle's farm.
The standard unmended and in disrepair barbed wire jobs prevelant there!

S*it does happen, and often to more than one person. Don't be dismayed by one man's opinion.
They are like butt holes...everyone has one and thinks his doesn't stink!


By the way, I have never disparaged hunting in Africa. But it seems, to me, (unknowlegeable to be sure)that hunting there is more like a canned hunt. Just find the herd, pick out an animal and "harvest" it. Kinda like shooting cows on a large ranch?

Now please, guys, don't be offended, and take me to task for my thoughts on Africa. I'll
be the first to say that I simply don't know s*it from shinola about hunting the dark continent! But I can understand how a little
knowledge and reasoning can result in a negative
opinion whether it is a correct one or not.

There is an "ignore" feature on this site. If
a particular person is that ofensive to you,
just activate the ignore feasture for that person(s)!

I went to Namibia for a plains game hunt and even though the "farm" totalled 50,00 acres with some low fences (which did not impede any of the game animals in any way, just cattle), the ph said, when we hunted the gemsbok and black wildebeest, "we will go to the areas they frequent" and sure enough, they were there. It was a mile stalk for the wildebeest in a sandy dry creek bed, but he knew where they hung out. If true hunting requires setting out in the morning looking for game as you alk along, then very little african hunting could be called that. Either you drive round looking for herds of springbok/blesbok/oryx,or go up a hill and glass the area, or go to the waterholes to find tracks to follow. Different animals like different terrain and the ph knows that. I walked quite a bit in africa for my two hunts, but I think I spent as much time in the truck. I toopk my first kudu as we were eating lunch near a waterhole, in hopes a warthog would wander by, as he just wandered in instead. The second kudu was spotted in a clearing as we went from one area to another. I bailed out of the truck and put him down. We were not even looking for kudu. I still consider it hunting.

this should be called "Chris's Stupid Repetitive Buck Video"

I never watched Peytons video but agree with Don that deer will circle and end up right where they were "spooked" to start with. I have never seen this on heavily hunted land but have several examples of this in areas where there is less pressure.

a number of years ago my buddy missed a nice buck in late muzzle loader season. flintlock iron sites! This was on Pennsylvania game lands.
very heavily hunted and open to all yr round. He went through the process of reloading his weapon to see yet a larger buck standin a few feet from the first. He decked him on the spot. I helped to drag him out. Was the nicest he'd ever gotten and he must have 50 in his lifetime all Pa public hunted deer. Congrats on the nice buck I hunted down there twice. I also had the time of my life and will never forget it. Welcome to the forum. We're not all assholes here but sometimes their opinions come out louder than those who just respect each other for who they are...human beings.

quote:

Originally posted by jb:
If those deer had free range habitat you wouldnt have seen them again in a few hours.

I've never hunted whitetail behind high fence, but you obviously have to know how they would act. I do know that I have seen deer missed and that I have shot does with bucks present only to see the same deer from the same stand in the same day.

quote:

Originally posted by kevin davis:
I went to Namibia for a plains game hunt and even though the "farm" totalled 50,00 acres with some low fences (which did not impede any of the game animals in any way, just cattle), the ph said, when we hunted the gemsbok and black wildebeest, "we will go to the areas they frequent" and sure enough, they were there. It was a mile stalk for the wildebeest in a sandy dry creek bed, but he knew where they hung out. If true hunting requires setting out in the morning looking for game as you alk along, then very little african hunting could be called that. Either you drive round looking for herds of springbok/blesbok/oryx,or go up a hill and glass the area, or go to the waterholes to find tracks to follow. Different animals like different terrain and the ph knows that. I walked quite a bit in africa for my two hunts, but I think I spent as much time in the truck. I toopk my first kudu as we were eating lunch near a waterhole, in hopes a warthog would wander by, as he just wandered in instead. The second kudu was spotted in a clearing as we went from one area to another. I bailed out of the truck and put him down. We were not even looking for kudu. I still consider it hunting.

Kevin,

Technically, all hunting is just as you describe. We scout the area. We go to and hunt places where we expect to see game. And worst of all, we use...shudder...guides!

Nit picking someone else's methods or places is merely sematics and an exercise in self righteousness.

No offense was intended, so please take none! I
was merely illustrating a point!

quote:

Originally posted by kudu56:

quote:

I act that way because I dont believe this should be called "hunting". Where I usually hunt,you miss,you never see the animal again,certainly not every few hours.

THey just don't disappear! THey are there, you obviously don't know where to look. I hunt 10's of thousands of acres on national forest for elk and deer. If I miss a shot one day, I will bet you a pay check they will return the next day and some times later the same day, to the same vacinity,and by being patient and persistant, I can, will, and have found the animal a second or third time. Be it deer or elk or lion or bear. I guess thats a canned hunt ??????

I have spent 40 years hunting Wyoming and would love to do a deer hunt like that once. No snow, no canyons to hike, no 500 hunters from minnysooota, shooting all the fork horns and does, and no proving my manhood, thumping my chest. Just a nice realxing day in a blind watching wildlife and then harvesting a nice buck!

Thanks for sharing the video and "hunt"!

Kudu,

I think that's called "beanfield" hunting in the South? Has a good sound to it the older I get! And by the way, the deer are free roaming.

We have some pretty big deer here in Ohio. Just
about every stick of woods is surrounded by farmland. I suppose technically, that's
baiting? Hmmmm that's another can of worms, isn't it?