Well, 2009 was a heck of year for me. De-employed in May, and had 5 (yes FIVE) surgeries through the year--GEEZ. Didn't get to go on a couple of annual hunts, no Antelope chasing, and no trip to Kansas--but did get to go to Kentucky, and Hunt on some property of Deer Creek outfitters.

We hunted the 'bottoms' in Western Kentucky, and it was interesting for sure. Tons of a native invasive grass called 'Fragmeites' (sp?)
which was just impenetrable. Deer could hide in it, and did, but they seemed to like coming out of it. Bucks with much headgear at all, seemed to avoid it and stick in the heads of woods there. The stands the outfit had placed were terrible--good locations, but horrible stands, and very questionable steps into them--not the picture of safety...

I went to Wal-mart and purchased one of their 2 man ladder stands, which makes a great 1 man stand--room for you to shift around a bit, and sit your pack or whatnot down We placed it in a small cluster of trees that had been left in a field seperating a couple of sloughs and stands of the fragmeite. Some of these fields were planted in CRP, this one was just basically volunteer growth and predominately something that looked like fescue.

I saw a couple of good bucks at about 400-500 yards in the very back of the field at about 3:30 pm,on day 3 of a 5 day hunt, and one was clearly a shooter buck--there was a 125" minimum requirement at Deer Creek. I may have actually taken a shot at this buck, a nice 10, but there was growth in the trees we mounted the stand on that blocked that path for a clear shot.

About 2 hours later a doe wandered out from the woods to the left of my sitting position, and began picking around at some browse in the field. I saw the 8 point buck I had seen earlier come out in the field behind her, but not really chasing her, despite the rut being in full bloom. I could hear a couple of other deer moving around off to my direct left, but could only catch a glimpse of them here and there. Eventually I saw the 10 pointer again, and he was heading towards a little trail down into the shallow water--in the sloough to my left--there was some aquatic plant in these shallow waters the deer ate regularly.

I looked into the field again and saw two does, and a buck, ASSUMING it was still the eight, which was a darn nice deer, but not the 10--I thought. As I was watching these deer--without my bino's (they were about 200 yards away) in poor overcast light, and evening coming
quickly, I heard some walking in the shallow water off to my left. Hearbeat really going now--I love it! I raised my binos and caught a quick glimpse of the deer, NICE rack and huge body...must be the 10 point I thought...well, I didn't look at it any more, just raised my rifle and checked him out quickly, took a good sight picture and checked the lane to him--he was at about 130 yards according to the laser in my Binos, so I held dead on the back of the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The 308 cal 130gr TTSX hit right where I was looking and he went down like a sack of cement. I was shooting a TC Icon 30TC with 47 grains of Win 748 underneath the 130gr TTSX. Damn accurate.

I calmed down for a minute and gathered myself, climbed down the stand and made my way through the slough over to him--man he was huge--but only 8 points! Dadgone deer had switched positions I suppose, but he was gonna be close to the 125 min...I tried to drag him to the field, and after about 15 yards of wrestling with him, I was spent! Holy cow he was heavy! When we got him back to the lodge and hung him on the gambrel he weighed 258 lbs--field dressed! Kansas size brute. The TTSX made an undetectable entry, which they have done several times on game for me and an exit just over caliber size....got a rib going in too...there was a lot of internal damge, so I think the bullet did a good job, but I wish it made a larger exit at least....

He scored 133 5/8, so he is a darn good 8--would love to have had the 10 to compare. The lodge at Deer Creek was first rate--just great!
Food was pretty darn good, but breakfast was just some cereal or cinnamon buns or whatever, cold--a lot of outfitters do this, and I hate it--breakfast is the most important meal IMO, and you are always tight for time--they do a big dinner, but you have plenty of time for dinner--wish they all made a hot breakfast for you......at any rate it was a challenging hunt, didn't see a lot of deer, but me and my 2 partners saw several bucks--neither of my partners scored, but they did see a few good bucks each! We will be trying to go back next year--depending on the economy!!! Really good folks there--and for those who want to know, there was a group from Whitetail Revolutions hunting there when we were there--trust me--what you will see on TV if they air that hunt, AIN'T what happened for real. If you want the skinny PM me.

Here's a pic of my buck--I think he's handsome for sure!

quote:

had 5 (yes FIVE) surgeries through the year

Well, goooood gosh! So..., you are the one responsible for cranking-up the economy.

Did you go to Joan Rivers plastic surgeon and get that "smile" permantely attached.
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Great story!!! Sure beats my old, I went, I Killed a bunch, and I'm back stories.

My goodness, that really is a fine Trophy WHOPPER buck. Now I see why you are interested in a larger caliber. I do love the 30cals, but there is a lot of room for the Bigger ones when Hunting places like you described.

Any chance the Deer could have been feeding on "floating" Acorns? I've had them splashing around me doing that.

Congratulations on a great Buck, excellent story and glad you made it through all the Drs.
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By the way, a Hot Breakfast always makes me sleepy on Stand. But, I can see where a couple of Hot Sausage Biscuits would indeed be nice.

Good buck, great story! Congrats.

That is a BRUTE -- and a buck to be proud of.

Congats!

Enjoyed the details of the hunt as well. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice!

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:
That is a BRUTE -- and a buck to be proud of.

Congats!

Enjoyed the details of the hunt as well. Thanks for sharing.

+1

Glad to hear you were well enough to go hunting.
And what a deer.

Can't imagine trying to drag that. Outstanding.

Thanks guys, I wish any of the surgeries had been cosmetic, but I had to have two sinus surgeries, first one not successful, so new doc and redo, then an emergency gall bladder removal, and to wrap it up, two surgeries on my throat to improve breathing and help eliminate sleep apnea. The last one was on 12/7/09 and it was a bitch!

Interesting question on the acorns HC, there were a few in these wet areas, and maybe there were some sunken ones, I noticed a lot of deer with their nose down in the water where they grabbed something up and munched on it...not sure what it was they were eating, figured it was some plant..

I was surprised by the amount of oil production in this area of Kentucky, I knew there was a fair bit of coal mining in the area, which we saw also, but the areas we hunted felt like Texas oil country with all the oil wells in the area! I know there are some monster bucks holding in these bottoms, and I hope to go back.

Having a big hole smoked through one of these rascals is probably a good idea too!

Great buck....sorry to hear about your job, it was a rough year.

Excellent Fish, he is a fat dog.

Fish3o114 ----- Congrats on a great buck. Where is Deer Creek in relation to towns and rivers. Good shooting.

Thanks Ted, I'm still staying positive, hoping to earn a few $ in 2010!

Rug, you are right!

Phurley we were in and near a small town named Sebree, KY. It is about 50 miles north of Hopkinsville...there was a pretty good river in the area, but I don't recall the name....I was talking to one of my hunting partners yesterday and he said it was really west/central KY???
We came out Hwy 24 North from Tenn, and then North on 41.

great buck, fish30114
way to rally
reguardless of the bad luck,finished strong
from my point of veiw,congrats

Weidmannsheil Don! What a great buck and a good yarn to boot!

- mike

Congrats on a Dandy Buck!!!

Congrats on a fine buck!

Reloader

Thanks men, it was definitely good to end the year with a neat hunt, and get a good deer on it too.

I like your term Ravenr--'rally'

I'm gonna try and keep that in mind this year!

Thanks for a great story and pics.
We get to elk camp a couple days early and we're on our own for meals. Take a hot plate and fry pan and you got that hot breakfast--assuming ya got elec.

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by Fish30114:
Thanks Ted, I'm still staying positive, hoping to earn a few $ in 2010!

Rug, you are right!

Phurley we were in and near a small town named Sebree, KY. It is about 50 miles north of Hopkinsville...there was a pretty good river in the area, but I don't recall the name....I was talking to one of my hunting partners yesterday and he said it was really west/central KY???
We came out Hwy 24 North from Tenn, and then North on 41.

Hopkinsville is my hometown! You were probably on the Green River.

10-4 10MikeMike, seems right.

Philny1, good idea on the hotplate, there was a kitchen there, just had to take the extra 30-40 minutes and cook for everybody, instead of the cold stuff.....hot eggs just beat cold pastry any day for me!