To get an idea, about this hunt, see My next hunt, horns or plenty? When we left this morning, at 7:00, it was cold, for us. A cold front came through over night and it was in the low 40s. It was cool, but sunny as we made our 7hr drive north to the rugged Texas Hill Country. When we arrived, it was a cool 60%, sunny, and almost no wind. After meeting our guide, a bright young college graduate named Daniel, we loaded up and drove to our stands. My buddy Scott was hunting a hind. on our way, we saw a few whitetails and axis, in the small trees and several Red Stags running away. I was impressed, already in the amount of game. We dropped him off on a semi open plateau. When we arrived at the Blind, where I was to hunt, it was not good! It was impossible for me to enter. It's a long story, but suffice to stay, I'm 70, large and not limber enough. Luckily enough the area had lots of dead juniper bushes that had been bulldozered up. We were able to easily and quickly, pile it up and build, what we call a ground blind. We were on the side of a valley overlooking a long narrow rocky field that had been planted with a blend of winter wheat, oats and rye. This is blended and sold as a winter crop for deer and about an inch tall. It was sparse, but noticeable. On the way Daniel had spread some Alfalfa 'pellets' to hold any deer. On the other side of field, was a dry, brushy creek bottom, next to a steep, almost vertical bluff. the valley was fairly wide with scattered shrubs to our right and narrowed with little visibility and no good shooting to our left. The longest shot across the field, depending on angle, was around 150yds. Shots to the right could be up to 300yds, but anything coming from that direction was obviously coming to the field. It was 3:30, the sun was at our back and we had a light breeze from our right.
Because I had wanted to come to Britain, to stalk, just can't do it. I decided to splurge and hunt something with 'horns.' I was hunting a specific cull red stag. For some reason this stag was a loaner and hung out in this area. Within 15-20min two yearling (18month old) whitetail bucks showed up. That was only the beginning. Within the next two hours, probably 20 whitetails showed up! Mostly they were young bucks. Nothing over 3.5 years old. This ranch has a strict rule that any native white tail be taken must be at least 4.5yo. The sun is going down and no stag! To my left I see sounder(group) of hogs. There were around 16 in the group, but they were where I couldn't get a shot. As much as it hurt not to shoot, the stag was my goal. They were wary and soon left. to make things worse a huge spotted boar showed up, but was even more wary, and left. It was now around six and dark was closing fast. Still no stag! It got so dark I probably couldn't have shot and we left. We picked up Scott, who had only seen whitetails and went to the hotel.
Frost! Where I live, the south Texas coast, we rarely see frost. It is, along with temperatures in the teens, fairly common in the Texas Hill Country. On our way in yesterday, Daniel had mentioned to me that he had a Japanese Sika stag. that he wanted taken. He said that it was a lot better trophy than the red albeit much smaller in body. I told them that I would consider it. Besides that, it frequented the same area frequented by the red stag. We dropped Scott of in the blind he had hunted before and went to a different blind. It was backed up to a thick juniper thicket. There was a feeder about a hundred yards in front.it was in the middle of a fairly open, area with scattered juniper bushes and scrub oak. Again, we saw10-12 young bucks and a few does, but neither stag. Three nice 80-100lb pigs came out. Reluctantly I chose not to shoot. Around 8:00 after being in that blind for 1.5 hours we moved to another blind. Daniel left me and said he'd be back in another hour or so. This was very similar to the last setup but with another winter green deer feed plot. These are not really fields in the common sense, but more like relatively flat places that have been disked once and seeds broadcasted. I had just got comfortable when five young red stags showed up. Three spikes and two six pointers. I'm guessing yearlings and 2.5 year-olds. They fed on the green stuff for about an hour and wandered off. Neither stag showed. Daniel and Scott showed up about 15min later. Scott had shot a Hind. He said that after the shot with his 30-06, 180gn sierras that it ran about 60yds and stopped, stood still and wobbled for awhile. It didn't move, just wobbled. He really didn't want to shoot it again, it was obviously hit hard. Finally it fell over. It was obviously dead. Come to find out, it must have moved or was angled more than he thought. the bullet hit behind the shoulder, clipped a lung, the liver and part of the paunch. We returned to breakfast and relaxation. The hind was skinned and gutted and hung in the cooler. It's live weight was 236lbs.
We left at three to go back to our blinds. Scott was hunting a blind in a small, couple of acers opening surrounded by juniper. Pig sign was everywhere. I returned to the valley that I had hunted the night before. Low and behold, last night after we left Daniel and his father had taken an old unused blind and placed it inside our previous juniper ground blind. It was old and a little rough, but perfectly huntable. Daniel dropped me off, hid the vehicle and returned. It was about 3:30, sunny with a 5-10mph wind from the right. within15min, probably the same two, plus a couple more yearling bucks and does appeared. Over the next hour More deer arrived including some really nice, almost trophy ones. Of course they were all whitetails. They were joined by an axis doe. Most were coming from the left. All of a sudden three nice, blackbuck bucks and 8 or so blackbuck does with some juveniles. I love being in a deer stand. I have been doing it for 57yrs. I love the anticipation. All of a sudden every deer and antelope started hauling a$$ from our left. It was obviously nothing we had done as the deer closest to us never looked in our direction, but back to their left before they began to run. Who knows? There had been talk of a mountain lion. I guess we'll never know. Nothing showed, it got darker and my hunt was over. In spite of my failure to kill a stag, had a great time, made a new young friend and saved enough money to go back next year. Besides that the days one didn't get a deer makes the days one does even better.I hope you liked my story. Stay tuned to hear about my return trip the axis hunt place. thanks capt david
Because I had wanted to come to Britain, to stalk, just can't do it. I decided to splurge and hunt something with 'horns.' I was hunting a specific cull red stag. For some reason this stag was a loaner and hung out in this area. Within 15-20min two yearling (18month old) whitetail bucks showed up. That was only the beginning. Within the next two hours, probably 20 whitetails showed up! Mostly they were young bucks. Nothing over 3.5 years old. This ranch has a strict rule that any native white tail be taken must be at least 4.5yo. The sun is going down and no stag! To my left I see sounder(group) of hogs. There were around 16 in the group, but they were where I couldn't get a shot. As much as it hurt not to shoot, the stag was my goal. They were wary and soon left. to make things worse a huge spotted boar showed up, but was even more wary, and left. It was now around six and dark was closing fast. Still no stag! It got so dark I probably couldn't have shot and we left. We picked up Scott, who had only seen whitetails and went to the hotel.
Frost! Where I live, the south Texas coast, we rarely see frost. It is, along with temperatures in the teens, fairly common in the Texas Hill Country. On our way in yesterday, Daniel had mentioned to me that he had a Japanese Sika stag. that he wanted taken. He said that it was a lot better trophy than the red albeit much smaller in body. I told them that I would consider it. Besides that, it frequented the same area frequented by the red stag. We dropped Scott of in the blind he had hunted before and went to a different blind. It was backed up to a thick juniper thicket. There was a feeder about a hundred yards in front.it was in the middle of a fairly open, area with scattered juniper bushes and scrub oak. Again, we saw10-12 young bucks and a few does, but neither stag. Three nice 80-100lb pigs came out. Reluctantly I chose not to shoot. Around 8:00 after being in that blind for 1.5 hours we moved to another blind. Daniel left me and said he'd be back in another hour or so. This was very similar to the last setup but with another winter green deer feed plot. These are not really fields in the common sense, but more like relatively flat places that have been disked once and seeds broadcasted. I had just got comfortable when five young red stags showed up. Three spikes and two six pointers. I'm guessing yearlings and 2.5 year-olds. They fed on the green stuff for about an hour and wandered off. Neither stag showed. Daniel and Scott showed up about 15min later. Scott had shot a Hind. He said that after the shot with his 30-06, 180gn sierras that it ran about 60yds and stopped, stood still and wobbled for awhile. It didn't move, just wobbled. He really didn't want to shoot it again, it was obviously hit hard. Finally it fell over. It was obviously dead. Come to find out, it must have moved or was angled more than he thought. the bullet hit behind the shoulder, clipped a lung, the liver and part of the paunch. We returned to breakfast and relaxation. The hind was skinned and gutted and hung in the cooler. It's live weight was 236lbs.
We left at three to go back to our blinds. Scott was hunting a blind in a small, couple of acers opening surrounded by juniper. Pig sign was everywhere. I returned to the valley that I had hunted the night before. Low and behold, last night after we left Daniel and his father had taken an old unused blind and placed it inside our previous juniper ground blind. It was old and a little rough, but perfectly huntable. Daniel dropped me off, hid the vehicle and returned. It was about 3:30, sunny with a 5-10mph wind from the right. within15min, probably the same two, plus a couple more yearling bucks and does appeared. Over the next hour More deer arrived including some really nice, almost trophy ones. Of course they were all whitetails. They were joined by an axis doe. Most were coming from the left. All of a sudden three nice, blackbuck bucks and 8 or so blackbuck does with some juveniles. I love being in a deer stand. I have been doing it for 57yrs. I love the anticipation. All of a sudden every deer and antelope started hauling a$$ from our left. It was obviously nothing we had done as the deer closest to us never looked in our direction, but back to their left before they began to run. Who knows? There had been talk of a mountain lion. I guess we'll never know. Nothing showed, it got darker and my hunt was over. In spite of my failure to kill a stag, had a great time, made a new young friend and saved enough money to go back next year. Besides that the days one didn't get a deer makes the days one does even better.I hope you liked my story. Stay tuned to hear about my return trip the axis hunt place. thanks capt david
