And Away We Go!

LISTEN: (4 Min, 53 Sec)

I HAD BEEN PUTTING OUT Vineyard Max every chance I had.  The near seven-hour drive was one I did not relish making until I could start seriously hunting in October. Thankfully a friend agreed to put out the aromatic and nutritional Vineyard Max “bait” in an area I had found far from any existing deer feeder or deer blind. I had found the “middle of nowhere” spot the previous fall while walking and rattling.  I had “struck off” across county with my rattling horns walking at 45-degrees into the wind, stopping every quarter of a mile to rattle.  It was during one of my rattling sessions a most interesting buck had charged in, and, was gone before I could raise my rifle.  Something that occasionally happens when rattling.

The buck was a massive ten-point, main beams spreading well outside his ears, with tines nearly a time and half the length of his ears.  I saw him long enough to “guesstimate” he gross-scored in the high 150’s B&C.  His clean hocks, skinny neck and other age-indicating body characteristics suggested he was certainly no older than four.  Because of his age, I was glad he did not hang around very long. I fear I might have talked myself into shooting him, breaking my self-imposed five-years or older minimum age if he had.

The buck much reminded me of another I had seen in northeastern Texas where I hunt with friends who own the ranch.  His antlers were nearly as big, although not quite as wide. The west Texas buck, rattled in was nearly 20-inches outside.  The northeastern Texas buck, also appeared to be no older than four. His spread was barely 17-inches, outside.  His tines and beams were easily as long, and I suspected more massive.  I passed him knowing if he lived at least one more year, he could become a buck “to write home about.”

Both bucks made it through the 2023 hunting season.  I saw them just before they cast their antlers in mid-March.

Thanks to fortuitous rains during the antler growing season, deer on both properties and many others have not had a “hungry day” this year.

I spent time on both properties during late August conducting our annual night-time spotlight census, and, spent several days looking for deer to get a good idea of current buck to doe ratios and fawn survival rates.   I spotted both bucks and both have grown bigger bodies and antlers. 

I very seldom, if ever use trail cameras, and even when the landowners do, I do not care to see the photos they procure.  I like hunting old style, scouting the property hoping to spot bucks I plan to hunt in real life and then going one-on-one with the chosen deer.  If I come out on top, “Hooray!”  If the bucks come out on top, same “Hooray!”

As our 2024 whitetail season approached, I sighted-in my Mossberg Patriot bolt-action rifles in 6.5 PRC and 7mm PRC (www.mossberg.com) topped with Stealth Vision scopes (www.stealthvision.com), my open-sight Rossi lever-action rifles (www.rossiusa.com) and long-eye relief scoped Taurus Raging Hunter revolvers (www.taurususa.com) with appropriate Hornady ammunition.  All are ready!

I will not be hunting opening day of our Texas’ 2024 Archery/MLDP season, I’ll be in British Columbia, Canada hunting moose.  But I can assure you as soon as I return, I will be hunting Texas whitetails.  I have several bucks, including the two I passed last year, and I am hoping to “encounter” this fall and winter, as well as others. My intention this fall and winter is to take whitetails, both bucks and does, with the guns mentioned.

I will continue using Vineyard Max to draw deer into “the middle of nowhere,” targeting those bucks which seldom if ever show up at “corn feeders.”  I will also be using Vineyard Max to concentrate does in remote area.  Does will attract bucks as the rut approaches.

Later in the season when I am hunting does to harvest our quotas, I will be using Vineyard Max to toll them away from established feeders and normal hunting areas, so those areas are not associated with hunting.

I will remind you of one whitetail fact when it comes to taking an older mature buck, always my goal with bucks; the best time to take a buck of size and age, which you know something about, is the first legal opportunity.  

If you do not bow hunt and hunt on property not under a MLD Permit, you might consider getting a crossbow and becoming proficient with it, which does not take long.  Not unlike the proverbial early bird getting the worm, the early hunter quite often gets the big buck!

 

Email Larry Weishuhn at ContactUs@fishgame.com