Lone Star Bowhunters Association - Had To Cut The Trip Short....

.....but it was for good reason!

My lease is only about an hour north of Brushy Hills and being a day lease, I figured the odds of an actual kill was slim. So as many know I took this week off to spend time hunting Axis, hogs and maybe some turkeys on my lease. So after a great weekend warm up, I was pumped and ready for an entire week of playing "Great Mighty Hunter". I had also planned on doing a lot of work as I just moved one of my feeders to a new and hopefully more prosperous areas. Obviously I didn't get ay of that completed either!

So I arrive Sunday afrternoon and check my feeders and cameras. The new spot looks great! Lots of deer and hogs coming in with hogs hitting the feeders every day for the last month during mid afternoons. So the plan is to see where and when the Axis are traveling. Since they are free ranging they have proven to be a challenge. I did manage to get my first with a rifle before Christmas and wondered if I was ever going to get on with a bow.

First night I am sitting in my tree stand on the edge og the field planted with soy beans. I have had this samestand sitting there the last two seasons and have only gotten off one missed shot and a nice Axis. No matter what I have tried since, I get busted when I attampt a draw. This night proved to be no exception.

Just as it is pushing the twighlight hour, I hear them coming up behind me. Not where I expected them to appear from at all! The owner has been doing some cedar clearing and it has changed their pattern since last April/May. I see what I think is about 6 or 7 bucks walking towards the fence line. One hops over the fence and as I am turning my head to see if any are shooters, he stops and lets out a bark that made me jump out of my skin! One more bark that almost breaks my ear drumbs in the still almost dark woods and the whole area comes alive with countless Axis heading back to where ever they came from. My heart rate that had jumped 50 beats seemed to shut down completely as I wonder if they will come back this way while I am out here this week.

The next morning I am back in the same corner of the field, only in my pop up instead, expecting and hoping they will return from the opposite direction. After an hour and a half after sun rise, I figure they are not coming in. Then I spot the one lone buck that had made it over the fence the night before. He is in the field and slowly making his way back to that spot. As I glass him I know he is not the one I want to shoot, so I get to watch him for 30 minutes as he makes his way back towards my set up. Now I know where I hope they will be that evening and later that day, move may blind to a much better location. Now we wait and hope.

I was so excited for the chance I was in the blind at 4 PM. Had lots of wildlife for four solid hours. Icluding a humming bird flying into my blind. I checked my cell for the time.....8:10. About to the point where my old eyes can't see much and I am no telling myself its going to be another bust, when like Houdini there is suddenly Axis coming down the tree line. My heart rate once again climbs, my breathing is rapid and I have to concsiously attempt to slow and gather my senses.

That worked for about a half second, that is until I saw the big boy of the bunch pushing the others out of his way so he could get to the browse they were all fighting over. He was huge! Not the biggest I have seen on our lease, but if he stepped into my lane, and I did not get busted, I was going to make the attempt to ground check him! I could not breath! Was it getting darker? How long were they going to take to get where I needed him to be? Was it going to be to dark to see my pins, let alone make an ethical shot?

Before I knew it he bumped some smaller bucks out of the way and began moving towards my shooting lane. As he does, I notice he is still in velvet. I am shaking as I draw and hold for him to cross in front of me. If he crosses where I think he will, he will be exactly 30 yards. I see him step into my sight and just that quick, all is quiet, I am as calm as can be, I aim low expecting him to jump the string like a whitetail and trip my release. I hear the tell tale thwack! and watch him head for the tree line. Of course all his buddies follow. But as I watch them not run, but trot off into the woods, I now think I missed.

I wait and I wait and I wait.....for about 15 minutes. I check my cell again and its 8:35. I have to know so I climb out of the blind and as soon as I do, the woods explode with Axis running and barking everwhere! I figured I missed so I head to where I last saw the buck and I have blood, good blood. I follow for 15 yards and there he is! Laying right inside the tree line! At this point its possible that I let out a loud burst of "Hell yeah!" Then I gave thanks to the Great Mystery for allowing me to finally close the deal.

As it turns out, hedidn't jump the string and I hit him right where I aimed. Which went through the heart and the 125 grain Magnus Stinger put him down before he knew anything was wrong. The brand new Hoyt Katera draws first blood and its a special trophy to me!

But as luck would have it, my camera batteries were dying and after 3 test shots, I managed to get this one shot before they died altogether. I was more concerned though with getting the animal caped and on ice as quickly as possible. He was a toad! The backstraps and tenderloins were unbelievable! Not ever having had dealt with anything in velvet before, I figured the best thing was to ice it all down and keep the horns from getting wet. Most of all I had to get him to my taxidermist as quickly as possible!

By the time I was finished and running into Kerrville for more ice, it was 2 AM. I was up at 7 and packed by 9 and on the road for the 5 1/2 hour trip back home. Thus ending my hunt for this week.

Its all good!!

Roger