Pray for Blood!

Tristate

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This year is going to be another fun year with all sorts of globetrotting. We plan on doing some antelope again and of course some mule deer. I may get to take my oldest girl whitetail hunting this year but we will see how it works out. Turkey season was awesome.

Me and my son got to do our annual father/son hunt with friends and the toms wer'a plenty and readily coming to call. Day I had two birds hang up on a fence for an hour and a half. But after pulling one of my tricks out of the bag they flew the fence and Shane gunned one of them down. Much to our surprise it had 2 beards.

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The next day we got up and out but the weather was starting to get rainy. Sure enough it effected the birds and calling was a lot harder. Around four o'clock I located two birds and they were ready to play. These two boys came in easy and Shane killed one of the best turkeys I have seen killed in a long time. Giant bird with giant beard and monster spurs.

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Just this last weekend we went to the farm and decided to call an old friend of mine with some coon hounds. We spent all night chasing coons through the mud and both my oldest daughter and my son got their first coons. One was a giant. Momma wasn't too pleased with us when we showed up at 2:30 A.M. covered in mud but some things are definitely worth it and we will do it again soon.

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Well we made it home from coon hunting and as tradition we had saved the baculums (penis bones)for the kids to keep for good luck. Traditionally they were sharpened and worn around the neck for toothpick purposes but nowadays most people put them on a key chain or similar trinket. Momma immediately told the kids that the toothpick option was out. Anyway I boiled them to get all the meat off and you would never guess what we saw. Quite possibly the greatest example of survival I have ever personally come across. Here is the pic.

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This baculum was from a very large old coon. As you can see at some point in his life he actually broke his penis and it healed back together. How he did it and how he kept from drowning himself after will forever be a mystery but this great old boar gets much respect for a life I am sure very few could live.
 
I know I haven't been giving updates as planned but things have been a little busy in my world. My daughter and I went cape buffalo hunting in Zimbabwe and because of several unfortunate accidents in a row I have absolutely no pictures of the trip. I am hoping I may be able to get copies of pics from a friend of mine later this year and I will add the Africa section to my adventure challenge later.

However on the bright side I made it through both New Mexico and Texas antelope season and have some amazing stories and pics to share there so I will start on that very soon.

Cheers.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-14-15 AT 02:07PM (MST)[p]SO I went to New Mexico to help some buddies get their antelope before I shot one. On the first morning we had seen some great bucks and had even picked one out to be our "back pocket" buck when we drove up on something special. He was standing 100 yards off the two track with a couple of girls. He sure seemed gentle and all four of us picked up our glasses to give him a look over. Right about the time we decided this was a for sure shooter he took off and was quickly out of that valley. We spent all the rest of the day looking for him with little luck. At the end of the day we found him running like a scalded dog after about six doe. There was no chance to kill him.

The next morning we drove straight back to the original valley which we saw him the day before. Looking back into the rising sun I picked him up alone and trotting about 700 yards away. I realized he was headed straight back for the road we came in on so I cranked up the truck and did a U-turn. We cam speeding up over the hill right when the buck was approaching the road. My buddy jumped out chambered a 30-06 round and whacked him before the buck new what was happening. I almost couldn't believe how quick it all happened. When we walked up to him I really couldn't believe what I saw. This is the largest antelope I have ever seen killed.

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So I left there and traveled an hour and a half northwest to some of the best antelope country in the nation. I was hunting a ranch I had heard about for years for big antelope and I was very excited.

I didn't know the ranch well so the first day two close friends showed me around. We drove all day long and saw some outstanding bucks. About the middle afternoon we located a buck living right against the property line. He really looked like he had it all from far away. I decided I would sneak in there the next morning and kill him. That night the son of one of my friends asked if he could tag along with me. I said sure and well before the sun came up we made the long drive to the corner of the ranch where this buck was hiding. As the sun rose I located the buck again. He was up and feeding alone but he was on the other property. We watched him for about fifteen minutes and he slid under the fence and was legal to go after. Me and my new hunting buddy made a plan and started closing the distance. By the time we got near him he had laid down behind a little grass hill. We slid over the hill and there he was just thirty yards away. I got a great look at him. He wasn't what I thought he was fro afar. He didn't have as much mass as I thought plus his left prong was broken off. Oh well. Lets go find something else. We left the buck and started driving. We were seeing beautiful antelope bucks everywhere. It seemed like heaven.

While driving I looked over at the one mountain on the ranch. I remembered an old friend telling me he had seen bucks get way up on top of the mountain in a secret bowl that you can't see from below. The young man I was with seemed in great shape. So I asked him if he felt like climbing a mountain. He jumped at it so we loaded our packs with equipment and headed up. once we got up there it was more beautiful than expected. It was a big grass filled bowl right up above everything else. And there was a buck slipping right in the bottom of it, a BIG buck. I told my hunting buddy I was going to shoot this buck. I shot and the buck stumbled and stood there. I chambered another round and attempted to pull the trigger but nothing happened. The gun would not fire. It felt like the trigger had not engaged after cycling the bolt. I looked the buck over. His right front leg was shattered but nothing vital was hit. He was confused and didn't know where the shot had come from. Laying in the grass we were devising a plan on how to sneak out of the bowl and back to the truck to retrieve another rifle that was there. I asked my friend if he had a screwdriver and he explained he had a leatherman. Using a leatherman tool in the field I pulled the entire rifle apart laying in the grass. I found the disloged pin in the trigger assembly re-installed it and put everything back together. My friend had kept an eye on the buck who had laid down by the time I was done. I dry fired the rifle. We were back in business. We crawled to a different point to get above the buck and waited for him to stand back up. As soon as he stood he fell right back down dead. The ordeal was over. We walked up on him and what a buck he was. I couldn't be happier. Here is my best antelope to date. Killed at 7740 feet above see level.

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Well I made it back home and got back in gear at the shop. It didn't take long though and we were almost into Antelope season here in my home state. I was going to be guiding six antelope hunters and trying to help some buddies get theirs all at the same time and I only had 9 days to pull it all off.

I arrived at antelope camp Texas the day before season opened about two o'clock. Dumped my gear and immediately headed out scouting. I found one really promising buck in the first half hour out. He wasn't tall looking but had those swept way back hooks that score really well and his mass got better and better as your eye traveled up the post.

Opening morning I had two clients in the truck so we flipped the coin and decided who would be first. The first shooter was a first time antelope hunter. He works for Texas Parks and Wildlife and was fun and interesting to have in the truck with me. He is also crazy about Texas aggie football. I could already feel the pressure that he wanted to be back at the bunkhouse buy kickoff time that afternoon. We did a good bit of driving looking at quite a few bucks with one looking heavy and promising. We decided to put that one in our back pocket though and keep looking. I told him about the good one I had seen the afternoon before and asked what I was waiting for lets go get him. SO we headed to a wheat field that I had left the buck in the evening before.

Sure enough when we got to the field he was laying right in the middle of it. There was no mistaking him. I could see the tattered left ear through the spotter. My client was really excited until I explained there was really no approach on this buck. He was laying in the middle of a three hundred acre wheat patch with nothing taller than two inches 700 yards in all directions. I told him we should just dig in and watch. Some girl could get him up and running and maybe he would move to a stalkable position. My client just kept looking at his watch and worrying he might miss the football game. Finally he suggested we should just go right at him and when we pushed him out of bed maybe he would just move somewhere else where we could get him killed. I didn't like the idea but I felt obligated to get the client into some action. We grabbed the shooting stick, range finder, and a weapon and started straight at the old laying buck. five minutes later we were at just a couple hundred yards and he was still laying still. I couldn't believe it. We walked even closer. Finally at 165 yards the buck stood up turned broad side and the client whacked him easy. We approached the buck and what a great old trophy he was. One of the oldest antelope I have ever seen. Covered in scars and turning pale I really think he just flat out didn't care about his mortality anymore. It was either going to be us or the coyotes this fall and I think he lucked out and it was us. Here is one of those old donkey faced bucks and a hellavu great first antelope.

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I got the buck gutted and loaded and headed back to camp. My customer had time to spare before kickoff and I enjoyed skinning and cutting up the old buck and eating my lunch sandwich. My next customer was going to be special and hard to please though. I knew we would have lots of fun because my next customer was my wife. She killed a nice antelope in New Mexico last years and was determined to do even better this year. Once I was finished we loaded her gear and headed out. We covered a lot of country and saw some nice bucks. One was really nice but not as big as what she was looking for. Another hunter killed this buck with a bow a day later.

It was starting to get late and decided to start working our way back to camp. I pulled onto the main road and I hadn't driven more than maybe half a mile when I ran into a little group of doe and a buck right next to the road. They were gentle and no more than eighty yards away. They must see dozens of trucks drive past them day in and day out so I assume they didn't think we were any different. I picked up my glasses and started looking over the buck. He couldn't be as big as I thought. Not living right next to the road. He sure did look big though. This is where I am embarrassed but must tell the truth. My wife looked him over. She thought he looked really nice. I TOLD HER I THOUGHT HE WAS 76 AT BEST! She told me several times she would shoot him because he was pretty and there he was 80 yards away and I wasn't listening to my hunter. I was treating it more like it was my hunt. I told her we would drive away and keep this guy in out back pocket.

That night I listened all evening at dinner about how she would have been happy with that buck even if I didn't think it would score that well. I finally agreed that we would go give him a second look the next day and take a poke at him if possible.

The next day we all loaded up in the truck and headed out to find the buck. My last customer road along to watch the show and so did my brother. He was there handling the cooking but wanted to get out and see some country. We went right back to the same area but no luck finding him there. We started driving west and hitting high spots to glass. Right when I was ready to change plans my brother said he could see some antelope to the west on a little hill top. I put the glass on him and immediately recognized him as the buck we had been looking for. Man he looked even bigger than the day before. But he couldn't be as big as he looked. I started ripping the math apart in my head. Meanwhile we got a pic of him in the spotter.

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I decided the buck was approachable on foot by coming up the north side of the hill he was on. We got the range finder sticks and weapon and headed out while the other two guys watched the show from the truck. On top of the hill things worked out about as good as Stevie Wonder juggling. A doe busted us and the buck picked a low channel escape route that took him right past us but below our vision. I saw him heading east behind the hill a split second before he was gone. We walked back to the truck and my brother told us the buck and all of his doe ran about ten yards from the truck. and had headed over the next hill to the north. I swung the glass around and found them. They had gone a pretty long way but seemed calm again. We started devising the next path of attack. I picked up the glasses again to look at the landscape and how we could use it in our approach when I realized something was going down. I focused and realized our buck was in a serious fight with another buck. I threw everything in the truck and yelled at every one "GET IN"! This was our best chance to kill him. We took off driving straight at the fighting pair. I told my wife to listen to me and I would tell her which one to shoot as the two bucks were spinning like a top as they vigorously attacked each other. At 90 yards I slammed on the breaks and she jumped out of the truck and chambered a round. Almost at the same time the bucks separated and for the first time it dawned on me. This is a giant buck. He dwarfed the good buck he had just pulled away from. I stayed calm and told her shoot the buck on the right. He stood like a stone broadside huffing air and wild eyed. I think the adrenaline was still racing in his veins. The shot rang out and he crumpled without a step. We calmly got to our feet and began walking to him. He was magnificent. Easily the largest buck I had ever seen personally killed in Texas. My wife thought I was lying when I told her how big it was. I think she was in disbelief too. Since coming home she finally recognized it for what it was. Here is a true Texas Giant.

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Well my next hunter showed up the next day and he was pretty excited by the already dead lopes he saw in camp. He was nervous that maybe there weren't any big ones left but I told him not to worry. The next morning we got up ate breakfast and loaded the gear. We began driving at daybreak and soon we found a pretty nice antelope. I had seen this buck the day before the customer arrived and he was sure fired up to shoot him. We watched him for quite awhile but I finally waved him off and told the client I really thought we would find better. We drove all morning and saw several nice bucks. But being the first day for a guy who had never hunted antelope I figured we would hold off for something special.

Right about lunchtime we spotted some antelope back in some mesquite country. It was a buck with about nine doe. I put the big glass on him and knew pretty quick we were looking at a definite first day shooter. Before I could put the scope away they took off. headed west and over the hills as fast as they could go. I knew there was a road close to where I last saw them so we jumped in the truck and headed over that way. As nervous as these antelope were I knew there wasn't going to be a vehicle approach. The rolling hills that they disappeared into were perfect for a foot stalk though. We loaded our gear and took off west. Not long into the march I realized my client was wearing boots fit for the dance hall. Too late to stop now and he seamed like a trooper so on we went. We played cat and mouse following the herd through the hills for about two miles. Pretty soon the herd started cutting back towards our direction. We repositioned ourselves to ambush them as they came between two hills. Cover was sparse but we hunkered in next to a little mesquite. I raised up and saw the buck walking the doe right towards us. I told my client to get ready and all the doe came right out where I planned, but no buck. He was gone. We waited and waited and he never came. For the first time I had ever seen the buck dropped his harem. We waited and waited. After a while the girls were a mile away and still no buck. I thought for sure he had laid down farther up the valley but I glassed and couldn't see him. I told my client we were going to back out very slowly make a hook to the south and climb a hill that we could glass the valley better where I am sure he would be laying. We had backtracked about 100 yards on our hands and knees when from behind the hill the buck popped out in a trot. I pulled up my binos and confirmed it was him. He was only 150 yards away facing us. I told the client this was as good as it was going to get he better take the shot. The buck dropped right where he stood. We walked up and admired a tall Texas antelope. What a great day it was turning out to be.

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My customer had some nasty blisters after the stalk but said it was totally worth it. Congrats to him on a hard earned buck.
 
Well another big lope was down and we had some time to kill. My client wanted to see more of the beautiful ranch and more antelope so after cleaning and caping we decided to do some scouting for my next two clients.

We loaded up and drove north into the wheat areas where my first client shot his antelope. In the farthest northwest corner of the ranch we drove up on a heck of a nice buck. He was calmly eating wheat 120 yards in front of us. He had really thick big prongs and a lot of mass above the prong. I knew right off the bat this is where I would come with my next client.

My next customers arrived that night and I told them about a few of the antelope I had on the hit list. Unfortunately a lot of rain arrived with them. It rained all that night and the next day also. We tried to get the truck into the northwest wheat where I had seen the buck the day before but the mud wouldn't allow it. As long as the rain kept going that buck was going to be safe. A lot of areas where we had seen big bucks we couldn't get to now. But we kept on trying.

The next morning it was still drizzling a little but by 8:30 the clouds broke and a good stiff wind started to blow. This was going to dry the roads up quickly. We started inching our way carefully northwest trying to find passable roads that would get us to the big pronged buck. By about lunch time we had successfully navigated into the far northwest corner of the property. With a lot of glassing I was able to locate him in a small depression of grass 100 yards from the north fence. He had a couple other bucks and half a dozen girls with him. It was going to be a hard stalk. The buck was calm but obviously watching us. Luckily the girls hadn't seemed to see us and I knew he would basically follow their lead.

We began our approach and at about 450 yards he rose up and started trotting west. Soon everybody else was up to and trying to catch up. Swing and a miss so we headed back to the truck. They pushed into the center of the wheat and there was no approach on them now. We backed out in the truck to a gate and just sat watching from far away. We sat there for about an hour as they milled around in the wheat. Eventually I was confident they would end up in an area we could approach either by foot or vehicle. I was hoping vehicle because the day before he was so calm around the truck. Finally the antelope started marching towards a road. I told my client to be ready we were going to drive up the road and this gentle old buck was just going to stand there and let us whack him. We started rolling slowly up the road towards the antelope. At about 300 yards my "gentle" buck lit the afterburners and the whole crew lit out like scalded dogs. So much for my easy plan. We watched them run far south into the next wheat field and gather up another couple of young bucks down there. We sat and started watching but they just never seemed to calm down. After about 30 minutes they took off running again for no other reason than they are antelope. I watched them cross into the next pasture and disappear over the hill. I knew a road right where they were headed even though I couldn't see them anymore. I told every body to hold on and we hauled ass. I turned onto the road that would take me around the hill and gunned it. Sure enough we rolled around the hill and there they were. I hit the breaks and my trigger man jumped out on the sticks. He was the far right buck and as soon as I told the client his seven mag popped and the buck ran spraying blood everywhere. I didn't know an antelope had that much blood in them. Within 20 yards he backstepped and tipped over. Here is one of the best pronged antelope I have ever seen with a lot of character with it. Old buck too. Congrats to my client and I loved the 4 hours of cat and mouse we got to play.

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Well I had one very happy customer in camp and one to go. My new client asked me about antelope I already knew were around. I told him about a few options I had in my back pocket. One really peaked his interest. I had seen a couple of times a wide long horned "airplane buck" I had run across a few times. It didn't have great mass so it wasn't going to score well but it was going to have a very impressive unique look. He stated he wanted to see if we could find him the next morning and I said I would try my best.

This actually ended up being the easiest antelope hunt all year. We drove to a little corner draw at the back of a pasture where I thought this old buck hid out from time to time. It was very early in the morning and not surprisingly he wasn't there. While glassing the draw I looked south over the fence and 250 yards away there he was. My client looked at him and immediately decided he wanted the buck. About that time the buck started walking away. I backed the truck up and eased through the nearest gate. we headed over to the hills where we had seen him walking towards and there he was just as calm as an old horse. My client slid out of the truck and laid on the ground. The buck was just slowly walking straight away as I gave my client his range. At 305 yards the antelope turned left and my client thumped him really hard. The buck ran about 30 yards and tipped over. Easy as pie. Here's one of those really cool bucks that the trophy books don't account for.

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Well that was it for the main guys and there was one guy left but he didn't know it. My brother handled all the meals for nine days straight and helped keep the quarters clean and did photography also. He worked hard and for his reward it was decided he was going to kill an antelope. He didn't even have rifle but I told him to use my old coyote gun and we went to the range and made sure he liked it's zero. He shot some at 100 and some at 250 and decided he thought it was doable.

I had it narrowed down to two bucks that I thought would fit the bill. Both were very heavy very old bucks. We drove north and quickly found one of them. I spent a lot of time studying him and finally decided we should go look for the other one.

We drove several miles to a wheat pivot and just like most really old bucks he was right where I had left him three days before. He was on his last leg. He had survived something brutal and was probably just hoping somehow some way he might make it through one more winter. But like most bucks laying in a flat wheat field there just wasn't a good approach. We waited quite a while and finally he got up and began feeding. It was perfect time. I giant sun was setting and we put it at our backs and moved straight at him. My brother asked was this really going to work. I told him to look behind us and tell me what he could see. He instantly knew we had a significant edge. We walked directly at the buck. At 175 yards my brother laid down cocked the hammer and flopped his first antelope. He walked up to it and saw what an old warrior this buck was. he had scars all over his head and a wound on his jaw that went all the way to the bone. The mass was exceptional. A great finish to the 2015 antelope season.

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Thought yall might like to see pic of one stomper I know is still out there. Hopefully he can dodge the coyotes for another year.

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Well antelope was done and Texas whitetail was coming fast. I promised my little girl we would go out and find her a deer. Texas has an early season for youth hunters and I had a couple of weekend days that I could get out. So we went to the farm and tried to find a good legal buck or doe she could kill.

The first morning we had a lot of activity and after awhile a giant old six point showed up in the field. He wasn't some high scoring buck but he was legal in width and had more age than almost any deer on the farm. I asked her if she wanted to shoot that deer and she said "Yep!" She aimed but I could tell she was way too excited. She fired and missed so bad the deer didn't even know he had been shot at. He stood for a minute confused and then I watched him trot away in my binoculars. She wasn't too upset and we discussed an analyzed her shot and what she may have done wrong. By the time we got back to the truck I was feeling pretty good about the lesson she got.

That evening we hiked back into the river bottom and ran into the same big six point on our way in. He ran terrified this time and we sat until dark and he never came back out of the thickets.

The next morning we hiked in in the dark. I was really optimistic the big six would show again. The action was a lot slower and after awhile four doe walked into the field. Then a little while later I could see a buck walking towards us down the road. I thought at first it was the big six but when I looked through the binoculars I realized this was a BIG deer. I just let him keep coming right at us down the road and told my little girl to be ready. At 85 yards he stopped and she hammered him. He stumbled around and she quickly chambered another round and hammered him again. He stumbled a few more yards and slowly laid down and died. She had a great first deer hunt and may have killed one of the biggest deer she ever will. Thank God for kids and deer.

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