Now after rolling the dice for the second time already I knew that this Bow season was going to be the last stitch effort at taking this deer in his prime. The off-season blessed the Texas country side with more than abundant rainfall and browse. To top it off my dad found both sides to “Heart Attack’s” sheds in late April. We confirmed what we had thought and scored him estimating his final score adding in his broken tines to be 183-186” gross B&C. He was a real brute. Finding the second set of sheds was the icing on the cake. Once again the summer drug on and I found little time to practice with my bow. At the last minute in August I decided to purchase a new bow. I bought a Bowtech Tribute and immediately went to work getting it broke in. It took me some time getting used to but, once I had it in tune I was sailing arrows into my targets one on top of another. Rob Schneider got me hooked up with a homemade string suppressor and bowjax gear, and my newly acquired Victory Arrows. With my new Victory arrows tipped with my NAP spitfires I was ready. The down side was “Heart Attack” was not showing himself on the trail cameras anywhere.
The months of July and August went by without a sighting and I became worried sick that he was dead. I finally got confirmation that he was alive on our Moultrie I 60. I breathed a sigh of relief after first seeing him on our trail cams in late August. I went almost another entire month later until the second sighting. This was September 19th. My Dad called me about 10:00 pm on the 21st and told me he had an awesome picture and that he looked huge. With nervous anticipation I walked him through emailing me a picture over the phone for almost an hour. It was well worth the wait! He was a beautiful main frame 10 with 3 kickers. I thought that he was very similar to last season and figured he would go in the low 180’s. I finally had his pattern by using the lunar and time from the Moultrie and compared him to the lunar charts.
Bubba Ammann with the Texas Whitetail Classic was wanting for me to take him on camera for the 2nd Annual Texas Whitetail Classic DVD. Bubba and I setup to try and get a shot at him opening weekend but had no luck. It was too hot and deer were simply not moving. The following week I setup to take vacation from work in relation to the same lunar time that he was at the stand this past September and I setup to take him again on video. This time Bubba was unable to come down so, my Dad stepped in as cameraman with Bubba’s camera.
Thursday morning came and went without a sighting. We saw a very nice 150” 4.5 year old buck with a broken drop and a nice 130” management 8 point but not “Heart Attack.”
That afternoon my buddy Anthony Weeaks showed up and we hung around camp, fished a little and shot a few bows. My Dad is brand new to bow hunting and has only fired about 50 shots in his life. I handed down to him my 2001 Mathews Q2 and got it rigged up to fit him. He was shooting with decent groups. I told him to back up to 25 yards and take a couple of shots and then move back up to 20 and his groups would tighten up. Low and behold after he moved up to twenty yards he robin hooded for the first time. I immediately told him that it was our good luck charm along with the drawing my wife sent with me of me shooting my big buck. We took quick showers and cleaned up and we were off to the stands.
It was hot that afternoon. Deer were moving late. A couple of our regular bucks showed up about 6:30 and milled about. At 7:10 my dad looked down a long sendero to my left that I could not see. He said that’s him! He took his time meandering down the sendero and finally walked up to within 45 yards and stopped for a second. I looked at him one time to verify it was him and then looked back down for the fear that I was going to get buck fever and would have been unable to shoot. A couple of seconds later he walked just within my bow range for a big buck. For a minute or two a young fawn moved in between me and him without me getting a clear shot. Knowing that light was getting dim I knew I had to take a shot when I had one. The fawn cleared and I ranged him at 31 yards. I set my pin to 26 yards to compensate for the drop and tried to steady my shaking hand while putting my release on my loop. I drew back and he turned perfectly with a slight quartering away angle. I released my arrow from my Tribute and sent it down its path of destiny. The victory arrow tipped with my spitfire hit its mark. He bounded off into the brush with all the signs of a vital organ hit. My dad looked at me in disbelief and told me that he was a monster and had got it all on video.
We pulled out of the stand quietly and walked back to camp. We watched the video and felt that the shot was good and decided to wait two hours before going back to trail him. Good Friend Matt Patek showed up about 8:45 ready to help out with the tracking. After the two hour wait we headed out with all the flashlights we could find.
At 9:45 we picked up his trail and followed it for 50 yards and the blood just simply ran out. My heart sank! I knew immediately that the best thing to do was to pull out and call in some tracking dogs. I called Courtney Farris but she was unable to make it down that night because she was over 3 hours away and offered to show up the following morning. I told her I was going to try to get someone tonight but I would let her know. I thanked her and called Roy Hindes next but got his voicemail on his cell phone. By this time texasbowhunter.com was blowing up with the story of me getting an arrow in him and people were calling and texting me wishing me good luck. Good Friend Joe Jasek called me up and offered me Roy’s house phone number. Reluctantly I called his house being that it was already 10:30. Roy answered the phone and we decided that it would be best if he drove in tonight.
Roy arrived at the house we exchanged greetings, looked over the video and immediately went to the stand. Soon after “Gus” (Roy’s Head Track Dog) was released he was quickly on the trail. After wandering through the brush we realized where we went wrong tracking. “Heart Attack” back tracked and circled around on us and headed east. The entire time we were headed north. Roy and I were in front with the rest of the gang in tow. Just as soon as Roy had us stop moving and listen to hear for Gus biting at the deer’s rump my Dad and Matt sounded off immediately that they heard him. We took a few steps through the brush and I peaked over a white brush bush to see the deer of a lifetime lying on the ground dead! I exclaimed there he was and barreled through the brush to get my hands on him. Immediately I knew he was larger than what we had thought. Roy exclaimed that he was the largest deer he had ever found and in my mind I knew he was going to break 190.
I gutted him there in the field and we drug him through the dense South Texas underbrush, barreling through thick white brush and cactus the whole way. We were exhausted after the 60 yard drag. We got him to the truck and everyone gave a round of high fives and the celebration began. Tons of pictures and video followed with everyone staring in awe at this beautiful South Texas Monarch.
His final score varied between scorers. But his official measurement from Boone & Crockett was 194 3/8, with his highest score going 196 2/8. He carried a magnificent frame, 27 ½” wide, matching 29” main beams 13” tines, 34” of mass; field dressed a whopping 198 pounds. He is all you could ask for and more. Truly a buck of a lifetime! The best part was that I got to sit in a stand with the man that got me started hunting while he filmed me taking the deer of a lifetime. Thanks Dad.
Big thanks goes out to everyone on
www.texasbowhunter.com for encouraging me on and standing by our side all night long as we looked for this brute. A special thanks goes out to Roy Hindes, “Gus”, Joe Jasek, Matt Patek, Anthony Weeaks, Bubba Ammann, Courtney Farris, Dad, and anyone else I may have forgotten. This truly is one of the greatest moments of my life.
Thank you all for letting me share it with you.
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