Success.....Finally!

01 December 2011, 09:24

I don't know about ya'll, but I've been killing stuff for at least 53 of my sixty years. I am at the stage of my life/hunting career where I get more pleasure from seeing my children and grandchildren take a game animal, fairly, than if I do it myself. Especially if they do the skinning. A friend of mine invited me to get on a bow only lease just north of Garner State Park in the Texas hill country. I did. I can take my kids and grandkids and let them hunt off my allotment. I'd seen this buck on game cam. He was a stud, and king of the hill. I figure him to be six years old or better. I don't think he would ever be better that he was this year. I consider myself to be a meat hunter. I've not yet ever "scored" an animal. If an animal excites me, I'll endeavor to take it. This old boy excited me. This lease is a "bow only" lease. I've sat out in the area where this buck was taken, probably a dozen times since the first of October. I've seen him once in person. He was a little farther away than I'm comfortable shooting with a bow, and facing straight on. He was too good a buck to wound, and since I could not get a broadside shot, I let him walk. My first-born had set out several times and not seen him. Well, Saturday morning a couple weeks ago the buck made a mistake and came in. My son was shooting a crossbow and was able to close the deal at 30 paces. I've hunted five free range Texas hill country ranches in the last 13 years. I've taken bucks with larger antlers, but this is the biggest bodied buck we've killed to date. He weighed in right at 175 lbs. I told my son, who has been hunting with me since he was six years old, "congrats, that's your Christmas".

GWB