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Texas Deer Hunting – Whitetail Season continues

Texas Deer Hunting and Whitetail season is a busy time of year for me and unfortunately keeping my blog up to date has been neglected.  I’m trying to catch up though….

Back in the 2nd week of November, Brandon and Marty came back for some more South Texas Deer Hunting fun from North Carolina.  Last year they joined me on their 1st South Texas whitetail hunt and shot some great bucks.

Here’s Brandon’s buck from last year….                                                      Here’s Marty’s buck from last year….

Facing the worst drought in Texas history, I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me during this Texas deer hunting season and on all of my whitetail hunts, especially my trophy whitetail hunts.  Antler growth has definitely been effected by the lack of rain and it’s just been tough to locate any trophy whitetail.  All of my ranches are very well managed and feed protein, but you just can’t replace what mother nature can do for you.  I knew what Brandon and Marty were looking for and was finally able to locate a few bucks I thought they might like.

After picking them up at the San Antonio International Airport we headed to Encinal and with a cold front blowing in we were doing our best to make the afternoon hunt.  We saw quite a few deer, but not any of the bucks we were after.  The next morning we were settled in well before daylight.  As soon as it started to get light enough to see I noticed we had whitetail all around us and more were coming in.  Suddenly, one of the big 10 points we were hunting stepped into the sendero and after a few tense minutes debating whether or not to shoot him, Brandon decided he wanted to take him.  Unfortunately the big 10 had enough and was headed for the brush.  Luckily I was able to stop him just long enough for Brandon to make a perfect shot on him and the buck was ours.

Here’s Brandon with the buck we nicknamed Diamond…

That afternoon Marty and I headed back to the same blind where Brandon had shot his buck and once again were covered up with whitetail as soon as we got in the stand.  About an hour from dark we saw a buck coming in with really white front legs.  We immediately recognized the buck as Socks, one of the bucks on our hit list, and began to get ready.  Once the buck got to about 180 yards and turned broadside, Marty made a perfect shot and Socks was ours.

Here’s Marty with Socks….

With their trophy bucks in the cooler it was time to help the ranch out with it’s management program and try and get some of the management bucks on the ground.

It didn’t take Brandon long to score on a great management buck…

After Brandon got his management buck, Marty and I were in search of a management buck for him but started having some difficulty locating any.  With our last afternoon hunt coming to a close, none of the management bucks were showing themselves.  Their flight was leaving San Antonio about 1pm the next day, so we would have one more morning hunt, but it was going to be a short one.  We were all beginning to wonder if the management bucks would show themselves.  Settling in for our final hunt none of us knew what was about to happen.  Once again as soon as it got light enough to see we were covered up with whitetail.   Suddenly at the end of the field one of the management bucks stepped out and started to head our way.  About that same time, another management buck stepped out in the middle of the field.  Luckily, the buck at the end of the field didn’t like the other buck coming out and started running toward us.  The next thing we knew we had both bucks almost right under the blind and Marty got ready for his shot.  He shot and the big 8 point management buck dropped.  We looked up and the other management buck ran off about 100 yards and stopped and started eating corn.  It didn’t take long for Marty to get on target again and the big 10 point management buck dropped as well.  With just a few hours until their flight was scheduled to leave we had two bucks on the ground and had our work cut out for us.

Here’s Marty with his two management bucks……

We quickly field dressed the bucks and headed back to camp to load up and hopefully get them to the airport on time.

With all the luggage and 5 whitetail, we had a full load…

I’m not sure how, but we made it to the airport in time for them to make their flight and another very successful hunt had come to a close.

I’ve really enjoy getting to know Marty and Brandon and getting to hunt with them the last two years and hope we get to hunt together for years to come.  We always have a great time and end up with some great whitetail and another great Texas deer hunting experience under our belt.

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