Saturday afternoon, my wife & I both shot nice bucks out in Val Verde County. My wife's is a mainframe 8 point with 3 (scorable = 1" or more) kicker points. Although he only has a 12 5/8" inside spread, he has 4 tines at 10" or so. Its gross typical score is 133 6/8, it nets 126 6/8 as a typical or 138 0/8 as a non-typical (adding in the 5 5/8" on non-typical points). Its absolute gross score (no deductions at all) is 139 3/8. Although the kicker points knock it out of the Texas Big Game Awards program (too many inches of deductions for a typical, not enough inches of nontypical points to make it as a nontypical), she says she wouldn't want to trade the kickers for a certificate any day. My wife and 3 1/2 year old daughter were sitting together, and hadn't settled into the stand for more than 20 minutes when the buck stepped out and my wife let him have a 120 gr 6.5 mm X bullet from her 260 remington through both lungs at about 100 yards.




I haven't aged the deer yet (I will once I get it caped), but I figure it was either 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 years old. It was shot less than 100 yards from where she shot the old 7 point back in November.

Since my dad was out with us, I decided that it was time I tried hunting one of the back canyons on the place (i.e. I would have help if I shot something back there). I had also watched a small buck chase a hot doe from the first canyon to the second in the morning, so I figured it was a good bet that she might be there - and hoped that there would be better than a 4 point with her. So I built a chair out of 2x4s and carried it back to the canyon. As soon as I overlooked the canyon rim, I spotted a band of sheep . . . and a single fawn feeding. So I carefully eased my way down into the canyon without spooking the deer - in fact, it bedded down shortly after I spotted it . . . some of the sheep spotted me, but I wasn't hunting them and they didn't spook bad enough to push out the deer. I got settled in at a good vantage point and sat down to read a book and enjoy the canyon. About 30 minutes before sundown, the doe and fawn stood up and started feeding, then a mature buck stood up. All deer were about 225 yards away, and the deer began to walk down the canyon away from me. I readied my 6.5x284 (also shooting 120 gr XLCs), and when the buck turned to hook his horns in a juniper, I could see that he was a 10 point. At this point, he was standing about 250 yards out. I didn't have a lot of time to decide to shoot or let him pass, and I estimated he'd go 125" or so. As it turns out, I misjudged him by a bit (I thought each of his tines were about 2" better than they turned out to be). He was slightly quartering away (I thought he was quartering more strongly than he really was) and I sent one shot down range hitting the liver and the back of one lung. He then ran back towards me about 25 yards and stopped, slightly screened by some acacia. I thought I could shoot over the brush, but I held off on the follow up shot for a few minutes. I could tell he was hit hard, but when he didn't fall within a few minutes, I shot again, and missed (bullet probably deflected by the acacia), then shot a 3rd time and hit him (as it turned out, low in the leg - probably also deflected by the acacia). The deer moved another 25 yards closer, this time completely screened by mesquite. When he began to move again, he moved into an opening and I shot a 4th time, hitting him in the shoulder, anchoring him. He had a 14 2/8" inside spread and grossed 117 2/8, netting 115 0/8. Depending on how you measure such things, he's either my 3rd best (gross score) or 2nd best (net score) buck to date. We was also fully mature, with a 26" neck. Now it was time for work, and I hiked back to the cabin. On the way back, Dad told me that my wife had shot a big buck too, so now we had two bucks to get out. Fortunately, hers was relatively near the jeep road - it took Dad and I an hour and a half to haul mine out of the canyons with the cart.




Here are the two bucks side by side - you can see that my wife's is considerably better than mine.

Was this near Del Rio? Thanks a bunch, Nathan

Nice bucks, especially hers. It's good to see you have that little one involved so early.

Nice Deer, Great Pics ....thanks for sharing.....NOW, when are we gonna see that little one grabbin' ahold of some horns with a BIG smile on her face????

Nice Nice...
Glad to see families hunting together

ps, i hate to tell you this, but her's is bigger!!

jeffe

[ 12-08-2003, 16:11: Message edited by: jeffeosso ]

Nathan - it was about 20 miles North of Del Rio (about 9 miles west of the 277/377 jct, if you know the area)

Wes - I imagine we'll start Cheyenne shooting next year. We'll see how she does with 22s first. Probably won't have her shooting deer for another year after that.

Troy

Congratulations on the nice deer! But, I more congratulate you on being out there as a family (reminds me of my daughter, now nearly 34, when she was young). Hope you have many, many more family outings.

Lee

CONGRATS!! BOTH ARE VERY NICE! YOUR WIFE MUST BE TICKLED PINK ABOUT HER BUCK...WAY TO GO

Congratulations to you and your lovely wife...

But one correction, your not quite in West Texas, that is legally on the other side of the Pecos, your a hundred miles form West Texas, and you can make a lot of Texans hot with such cruel rumor mongering, oh I know some of them claim its West Texas but they are just jealous! West Texas begins at Sanderson, or so I was taught from childhood and sworn to uphold that tradition!!

Hell, Ray . . . there are folks around here that bill their town as "where the west begins" . . . and they're talking Fort Worth! And here you're quibbling about Loma Alta vs Sanderson! LOL

Troy

very nice deer...congrats

Ft. Worth...where the west begins

Dallas...where the east peters out

Ray, I am Texas born and bred. The line goes back pre-Civil War. However, I always thought of El Paso and vicinity as an annex of New Mexico.

and here I thought blanco was the line...

jeffe