My Llano County Hunt
I started my weekend off bright and early Friday morning with a 5 hour drive to Llano County. I pulled into camp at about 12:30 and got all my stuff unloaded. I got settled in and visited with my cousins and the ranch hands for a little while. Some more of my family started showing up and we all visited for awhile. At 2:45 we started getting ready for the afternoon hunt. I got my scentloc on grabbed my backpack with my camera and tripod and my bow and headed to the stand known as Antelope Alley. There was a short tripod stand against a tree that I used as a platform and I sat on a big tree limb. I couldnt use my tripod so I put my backpack in the fork of the tree and sat the camera on my backpack. I wasnt in th tree more than 20 minutes when a doe came running in to the protien feeder. She was eating as fast as she could chew but after about a minute a spike came running in from my left and chased her out. The corn feeder was set to go off at 4:30 p:m but 3 doe came in at 4:00 and were eating when a nice young 8 point buck came slipping in. I couldnt get the camera on them from its perch on my backpack so I picked it up and videoed the 4 of them. The buck was under the feeder when it went off. They were far enough away from me that I didnt here the feeder for a second when it went off but I saw the deer take off and I thought they had busted me but then I heard the feeder. Thay hung around for about an hour after the feeder went off then they wandered on off. When it got dark I slipped out of the tree and headed back to camp. When I got back to camp all of th family that was coming for the weekend had made it in and the adult beverages were flowing. We all had a blast catching up but around 9:30 I went to bed cause I wanted to be plenty rested for the hunt I had planned for the next morning. Saturday morning started at 5:00 a:m with coffee and breakfast. After I got done eating I made the rounds around the cabins and woke everybody up who wasnt already awake. I worked out my plan for my morning hunt with My cousin Todd. His dad is the one who owns the ranch. We loaded up in the pickup and headed for the top of the mountain. We dropped a couple of my cousins off then headed for my dropp off point. The plan was for me wait until daylight then slip down the side of the mountain into the dry creek and work toward the road at the far end of the canyon. I made it to the bottom and started working toward the end of the canyon when I came across a spot in the creek were it widened out and had several active trails that came together so I just got set up under a live oak tree and waited to see if anything woud come by. I was there maybe 15 minutes when a doe came running by with a young buck hot on her heels. The buck chased the doe around for a little while then a big mature 160 inch 12 point came slipping off the side of the moutain. He came in close and was walking broadside at about 40 yards but was in some brush and I couldnt get a clear shot. I only had one chance and that was to stop him with his vitals in a 1 foot opening. I tried to time it but when I grunted to stop him he took one step to many and stopped with his vitals behind a cedar bush. He raised his head and looked toward me then just turned and walked off up the side of the canyon away from me. I waited awhile to see if he would come back but never saw him again. It was getting close to my scheduled pickup time so I headed on down the canyon to the road. As I was walking I looked up on the side of the canyon and saw a monster audad grazing just across the fence on the neighbors property. I climbed up to were I could see him better and did a little videoing then I headed on down to the pickup. One of my cousins was able to take a mature buck that needed to be removed from the herd. We sat around and swapped stories all afternoon until time for the afternoon hunt. I was going back to Antelope Alley because my cousin Don that owns the ranch wanted me to take the 8 point I had seen Friday evening. I had gone out earlier and set up a ladder stand hetween the protien feeder and the corn feeder in hopes that the buck would walk by going from feeder to feeder. I climbed into my stand and got the camera all set up and ready but no sooner did I get all setup it started to rain so I put my video camera back in my backpack. Before it stopped raining I had deer all around me so I couldnt get my camera back out. I watched 2 young bucks chasing does around for awhile then all of a sudden they quit chasing and just stared off to my left. I guessed that there was a big buck coming so I stood up picked up my bow and got ready. It wasn't long before the big young 8 pointer I was after stepped into the clearing in front of me at 45 yards. I came to full draw and settled my 40 yard pin midway up his body tight behind his shoulder. I squeeezed the release and watched my arrow fly toward the spot I wanted to hit him. It seemed like everything was moving in slow motion and I watched as the buck dropped what looked like 2 feet as my arrow passed less than 2 inches over the top of his back. The buck ran off and I sat there fuming at myself for missing. I waited about 15 minutes then climbed down and got my arrow. I climbed back up in the stand at sat there cusing myself for missing. I dont think I had been back in the tree more than a couple of minutes when I heard something walking right under me. I looked down and to my left and all I could see next to the tree I was in was horns. I was not going to be able to stand up to take the shot so I slowly eased my bow up and hooked my release on the loop. I came to full draw and started to lower my 20 yard pin when my stabilizer hit the front bar on the stand. The buck looked up at me and I froze. I held my bow at full draw hoping he would look away but he wouldnt so staying at full draw I leaned back as slowly as I could to let my stabilizer clear the bar. As soon as it cleared I eased back forward as slow as I could move. I settled my 20 yard pin on his shoulder and squeezed the trigger on my release. I watched the Rage 2 blade blow through both of his shoulders. He ran up the hill but piled up about 50 yards from were I shot him. I called my cousin to come pick me up. While I waited on him I texted BJ and told her about the buck. Once the pickup was there I climbed down and walked over to my buck. When I shot him I was thinking he only had 10 points but when I got to him I saw that he had a split G2 on his left side. We took some pictures then loaded him up in the truck and headed back to camp. I celebrated taking my big buck by watching my favorite college football team kick the hell out of Texas Tech. Sunday mornings hunt was pretty much uneventful as I saw several young bucks and a few doe. I packed up when I got back to camp and loaded my buck in the my truck and headed home. Here are a couple of pictures of my buck.
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My Llano County Hunt
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