Opening day in South Texas

TackDriver284

Handloader
Feb 13, 2016
2,305
1,536
Left at 4 am to drive 2 hours to my deer lease to spend the weekend. As I was coming over the hill , going the speed limit of 75 mph, my heart jumped when I almost had full contact with a big doe standing in the middle of the road with my HD2500 Duramax diesel truck, but managed to swerve around it and maintain control. I was thinking about my family that is back at home, that life can flash right before your eyes in an instant, if that was a car or a truck coming head on or a deer through a windshield. Said a little prayer on the way thanking the lord for my safety. Upon arriving at the hunt areas I sprinkled some corn along the senderos and waited in the blind in the dark until 7 am and can barely see dawn to the east. I can feel the cold steel of the .308 next to me with some 168 grain Ballistic Tips. Heard some hogs squealing from afar and some deer started coming out at daybreak. I saw two young bucks from a distance alone away from several does and one loner buck on another sendero. In all, about twenty does and fawns and several small bucks, but no shooters. Some javelinas feeding about on another sendero. After an hour or so, one six point buck, about 2 years old, was feeding alone on a sendero and two coyotes showed up about 100 yards from it, and its weird that coyotes DO eat corn and they were eating and walking slowly towards the buck, after about 10 minutes, the coyotes were about 25 yards from the buck , probably thinking of a strategy to get closer, and the buck eyeing them and paid no attention to them but staying alert sensing something fishy is going on. When the coyotes were about 20 or so yards then they sprinted and gave chase, closing the gap, the buck sensed they were coming and hightailed it towards me with coyotes on its heels, then veered into the heavy brush and disappeared and coyotes hot on its tail. After 5 minutes I guessed the coyotes was crap out of luck because they came back on the road to snack on corn. :lol: It was interesting to see how nature evolves around us and how they survive. The next morning I was hoping for a hog to send to the slaughterhouse for some sausage and chorizo, but did not see one this morning. The beautiful sounds of 15 or so cardinals singing in a tree and wildlife sounds was a blast. Boy, it was so hot yesterday evening that I decided to stay in my RV and watch the Cowboys and Kansas City game. Headed back home this afternoon after cleaning my RV for the next trip next week. Hopefully see better signs. (y)
 
Seeing game in the routine of survival is one of the benefits of being a hunter. Great writeup, Mark.
 
Mark, I am glad that the Lord had your hand on the way in :wink:. It sounds like you had a great time and it will be just a matter of time until you fill your tag.
Thank you for the post, hope to see photos of a nice buck soon.
Shoot straight, have fun and most of all be safe.

Blessings,
Dan
 
Thanks Mike and SaskBoy, pretty sure I'll get a buck hopefully once the rut comes around.
 
1. Glad you and your truck are okay. Those close-encounters with deer on the highway get a little scary!

2. Very cool write-up of your hunt from the deer blind. I've only done that a few times, and it has been productive. Has also been very interesting - from a good blind - a hunter can see all sorts of interesting wildlife behavior.

3. I hope you get a rockin' good buck next time! (y) Love the .308 or 30-06 coupled with 165/168 gr Ballistic Tip bullets, or something similar... Very nice combo for deer sized game. Or... pretty much most other game in North America come to think... :mrgreen:

Guy
 
Guy Miner":dbytshhc said:
1. Glad you and your truck are okay. Those close-encounters with deer on the highway get a little scary!

2. Very cool write-up of your hunt from the deer blind. I've only done that a few times, and it has been productive. Has also been very interesting - from a good blind - a hunter can see all sorts of interesting wildlife behavior.

3. I hope you get a rockin' good buck next time! (y) Love the .308 or 30-06 coupled with 165/168 gr Ballistic Tip bullets, or something similar... Very nice combo for deer sized game. Or... pretty much most other game in North America come to think... :mrgreen:

Guy

Thanks Guy, I know you are so attached to your Green Machine and had great hunts with it and had it for a long time. Yep, the Nosler is my favorite among many of my hunting rifles I own, it does very well and performs great on game. It's my go to bullets when it comes to hunting. Hopefully during the rut, I'll see some nice sized Texas bucks. This buck came out during archery season and a hunter who doesn't bowhunt snapped a picture of it and sent to my email. It was last season and no one has seen him again, might be lurking in there somewhere.
Kt1Jfqx.jpg
 
Mark that is a great looking Buck I sure hope it survived the year :wink: he would be a real wall hanger this year (y)!!
Mark please call me Dan or anything close :mrgreen:!

Blessings,
Dan
 
Great headgear on that bad boy. Yeah, that would be a grand buck to tag. Hope you get a crack at him.
 
sask boy":3r5xmh8p said:
Mark that is a great looking Buck I sure hope it survived the year :wink: he would be a real wall hanger this year (y)!!
Mark please call me Dan or anything close :mrgreen:!

Blessings,
Dan

Yes Sir Dan. :mrgreen: Hope I see him, heard that it was at a ranch next to ours but low fenced between us.
 
DrMike":3cn24rke said:
Great headgear on that bad boy. Yeah, that would be a grand buck to tag. Hope you get a crack at him.

It's sure a very nice racked buck. I think he is about 5 years old, would you think? See the way the back is caved in a little and the belly sagging. I am not an expert in aging bucks though.
 
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