I got my first deer - A WT BUCK!!!

As you may know I got my first deer over the weekend of 11/30/07 through 12/3/07 and it was my lucky weekend here is the story. Lance had told us about a nice WT buck at the north blind so dad went to check it out. When he came back he said it was a nice blind so we decided to hunt it. We both got up about 5:15 and got dressed to go hunting . We rode in my dad’s truck because of his bad decision to not take the mule. We finally got to the gate and set off for the long walk to get to the blind. We saw the blind and got in to have a good hunt. It took us a while to get settled and I just had to wait while my dad did all the work. Dad and I were finally finished so we just had to wait. After we waited a while a nice WT buck came to the feeder and I did not think it was very tall. Even though it looked kind of short to me dad said it was a nice buck so we chambered a round! I waited a bit to see if anything bigger came out but nope. I picked up my gun and dad told me to aim strait for the heart so I looked through the scope and found a good shot….. BANG! The buck flipped on the ground got up and sprinted away. Dad said “did you get him” ? I think so I said. Dad said what did it do I said it just flipped like this BONG as I hit my head on the top of the blind. That’s pretty convincing if it flipped I said yea. We waited 30 minutes and put the stuff in the truck to track my deer. 5 minutes later…… Ok Cameron look for blood. I did not see any blood but then I heard “hey Cameron look at this” (this was my dad). “WET BLOOD!” I said, very excided. I followed the blood trail looking and saw the deer up against the tree when I was about 8 feet away from it ( dad apparently saw it at the top of the hill). I told dad to see if it was dead because I did not want it to jump up in front of me. He checked IT WAS DOWN! So I went up to it pulled it out a bit for dad to get a picture with his phone. After all the pictures we pulled the buck up the hill and under the feeder and left him there. We went to the truck and drove back to camp to get the guys to help us. We waited a while and no one came so we decided to go and try and get it into the truck. As we were pulling out we saw Erik and we told him I got my first deer so he went with us to get it. When we got there Erik said it was a nice buck and I said that I knew it was. We pulled it up onto a rock to take pictures and nice Erik got on the ground into the blood to take pictures of me with my deer.

I think Erik is really nice. So we loaded up the deer and took it back to camp. Bill was there when we got back he was all happy for me and said my first deer was a lot better than his. We cleaned the deer and loaded him up for a trip back home and he is now at Rhodes Taxidermy waiting to be a trophy on my wall.

MY FIRST DEER,

LITTLEREDWOLFE

Backyard Harvest

Thought ya'll might be interested in my local hunt. Last year a friend of mine told me about a nice buck hanging around the Falconhead properties in Bee Cave. He gave me permission to hunt it. After a few attempts last year, I gave up. I saw him once, but could not get close enough for a shot with the bow.

This year I got serious. I ended up putting a 15 ft ladder stand up next to the field where they were coming to. I also set up a game cam to track times. After three weekends, he gave me a broadside 30 yard shot.

Finally a WT buck for the bowhunter

Someday, I'll be posting about my Aoudad successes, but today it's all about an 8pt WT. I've been sitting back in Aoudad Canyon on the last few trips to Hackberry. I know for sure there's a herd of Aoudads that come through there.

On Saturday morning, the fog was heavy. I was in the invisi-blind which is now tucked inside the clump of cedars about 30 yards from the feeder. Before it was light enough to see without glasses, this buck came into feed. I had never seen a WT buck at this feeder before. As I convinced myself to not let this deer go, it got spooked by soemthing and took off.

About 30 minutes later he was back. Since I had not heard any Aoudad footsteps on the rocks or cliffs and since I was not sure if I was going to get another chance at a WT this year, I decided to shoot. He gave me a broadside shot at 25 yards. After buckling immediately, he fell into the draw about 20 yards from the spot I hit him.

I estimated 4 1/2 years while Darryl said 4 years. Is that close enough? In any case, it's my first buck bowkill. Brett's way ahead of me.

I Stand Corrected!

Contrary to my previous post, there are good representative trophies of Corsican sheep on the ranch! At least one!

I was filling and checking feeders Friday morning around 11:30 am and was driving from the Doghouse to the Cave Blind. About one third of the way down the steep hill to the Cave Blind, a herd of Corsican crossed the road about 80 yards in front of me. I have seen this herd many, many times in this area - all females. However, I looked closer and saw horns and realized a ram was in the herd. I quickly glassed him (a good reason to always wear binoculars on the ranch) and realized he was a good trophy.

My buggy was on a steep slope and thanks to a previous (and last) use of it by Bill, the parking brake was broken. I placed my right foot on the brake and stood up and reached back for my rifle. While I was chambering a round, the herd starting running. I brought the rifle up just in time to see the ram pause for a second or so to look back before he went into the brush - BANG! He was on the ground. From when I saw them until now, about 7 seconds.

Brad gets his buck

This past weekend proved to be a good hunting. We got to camp on Friday evening, too late to get to the blinds. Instead we had a nice evening talking with Brian and Amanda. Brad White and Mike Stauffacher came as guests of me. Saturday morning began with a doe taken by Brian at the Photo Blind. He saw a few bucks, but could not get the right one at the right spot for a shot.

I got busted in Aoudad Canyon after seeing a herd of them approaching but never getting to the feeder. I had heard that Bill and Ron set up a ground blind, but when I got there, the blind was turned over on its roof so I snuck in a hole in the trees next to it. After I got busted, I managed to get the blind into the natural hole in the trees. You'll see the blind if you walk up the road to the feeder. It's 35 yards from the feeder.

Brad saw an 8pt at #3 that morning chasing a doe. The rut is on.

On Saturday evening, I sat in the wood blind (the ground blind) and didn't see anything. Brad and Mike hunted together at the double feeder and saw a spike and a couple of does. Brian hunted the far north feeder and ended up shooting a mature 8 pt that we estimated to be 6 years old.

The fog rolled on Sunday morning. I didn't see a thing in Aoudad canyon. A couple of axis does were feeding at Darryl's feeder halfway back in Aoudad canyon. Brad on the other hand had all the action at #3. He ended up shooting this nice 3x3 Sika. It came in early, fed, and actually bedded down for a while. Once he moved, Brad dropped him on the spot with his 243.

I'll be beack next weekend still on the hunt for that elusive Aoudad.

Brett got his buck

After the frustrating hunt for the seven point at the photo blind, Brett finally got to bring home a buck from Hackberry. It was an evening hunt. Brett's first venture was down to the spring blind. When he got there, however, he was disappointed with the double bull location. Not only was it a little close to the action, it is set up on a downslope and was very uncomfortable to sit in for a long time. Instead of putting up with that situation, he left and headed back to the bunkhouse with the truck. It was after the feeders went off when he snuck into the photo blind, hoping to see the eight pointer he had seen earlier that morning.

There were deer already feeding in front of the blind when he got there. In a addition to the small bucks, the doe, and the axis doe, he saw a nice axis buck come in. Brett hasn't seen enough axis to make a call as to whether or not to take it. He was just about to give up on the hunt when the wide eight came in. The buck eventually ventured towards the blind and ended up giving Brett a 25 yard broad side shot. Brett pulled back on his Bowtech Allegiance. He steadied and released. He knew he'd hit it.

Having had a bad experience a week before, see comments, he knew not to push the deer. He exited the blind and went back to camp to wait for me and for more time before we tracked. We had a great dinner of axis rump steak and wild pig loin. Thank you Darryl. It occupied about an hour and a half. Time to track. We found the blood trail and started following it towards the dump. He wandered through the cedars. We were nervous about stirring him up if he was not dead yet. On our right, we heard a deer trot off. Now we were very worried. I recommended to go back to camp to wait for morning. We followed the blood about 20 feet further when Brett turned around and saw his buck dead and laying under a cedar.

He's now at Game Tracks in Oak Hill waiting for Terry to mount. 19 inches inside spread. Way to go Brett.

Here's the 7 point that got away from us.

Rachel's First Hog

Rachel finally got her hog! She has been desparately wanting to shoot a hog since the fall of 2005.

We were hunting #9 in the morning for Sika. I had to let a big bodied Sika walk because it was to dark to judge his antlers, but he looked like a whopper! Rachel was with me in the blind, but asleep. I watched two other Sika stags play around for about an hour and waited for the big guy came back - no luck.

Eventually two hogs came in, but Rachel didn't feel comfortable shooting 100 yards with a red dot scope with no magnification. We decided to leave and got out of the blind. We looked back and now saw around 10-12 hogs at the feeder! Since the wind was blowing towards us pretty hard and the sun was at our backs, we decided to stalk up to the hogs!

We moved from cedar bush to cedar bush - getting closer and closer. Eventually we got within 10 yards, stepped out from behind a bush, and Rachel shot the closest hog! There were some bigger ones, around 200+lbs, back in the brush, but it was probably a good thing we didn't shoot one of these with a .223!

She made a clean shot and dropped the hog on the spot - it took out the spine. It was a sow and weighed 75 lbs. We cleaned it back at the cabin and kept the rump meat and backstraps!

Congratulations Rachel!

Darryl's Axis

I hunted the Cave Blind Saturday morning by myself and saw a big herd of Axis bucks and two White Tail bucks. One of the Axis bucks was very large and mature, with dark coloring. He was teaching the younger bucks in the herd to how to fight. There were no females present. It was pretty cool to watch. He also chased the White Tail away from the feeder so his buddies and he could eat. I decided that he was a nice mature buck that Darryl might be interested. Save the shot for your buddy!!!

We came back that evening and positioned ourselves on the ridge overlooking the floor of the canyon. We were not hunting the normal "Cave Blind" location, but an area that Darryl and I found and picked out almost 13 months ago. Luckily we had marked it well because it is very hard to find. The feeder was about 180 yards away. We waited. Nothing showed up that night except for a white tail doe, small 4 point buck, and an axis doe. Oh well.

We came back Sunday morning and got into position around 6:20 AM. It was pitch dark. Around 6:45 AM we could make out many dark figures around the feeder. At the same time, Sika started bugling - they were very close!!!

We had enough light by 6:55 to see the large buck chasing a white tail buck away, but wanted to wait until the feeder went off at 7:00 AM in case there was a larger one in the herd I had not seen the day before. We watched until about 7:15 AM and decided no more Axis, or any Sika, were going to come in. We had 8 Axis bucks at this feeder at this point.

Darryl took the shot at 180 yards with his Browning Stainless Synthetic Stalker. The 120 grain .25 WSSM entered perfectly behind the shoulder! (We would later find no exit wound - perfect).

You could hear the bullet impact the animal - WHAM! He took off running to his left, jumped the hog fence, and then his front legs collapsed underneath him. He regained his footing and continued to run with two of the other bucks. I watched them run under a large group of oaks and I watched the two other deer exit, but not him. He had ran about 40 yards and fallen. Awesome!

He was very old and mature and weighed 225 pounds. He was 31" long and very heavy.

Nice deer Darryl!

Hackberry Ranch Vistas

Last Week of July

Here are some pictures from the last week of July.

Would you believe some pigs jumped into the back of my buggy and took a nap?

One even had a nose bleed...... Poor pig :)

According to Bill "Yosemite Sam" Coffey, a 700 pound wild hog exists on the Hackberry Ranch. Bill doesn't believe folks who claim they have witnessed Bigfoot, so we are a little concerned about his Hogzilla sighting and whether we should afford him the courtesy of believing his sighting. However, a man of good standing and repute, not known for long yarns nor tall stories, was present with Bill when the hog was sighted. According to David "I've raised pigs my whole life" Smith, "If he was an ounce, he was 700 pounds!"

So what do you believe? Is there a real Hogzilla on the Hackberry Ranch? You decide.

More as the story develops.

Spring Time at the Hackberry Ranch

JC's Axis

May father-in-law, JC, had been looking for an Axis since last fall, but had the misfortune of always attracting Hogs and Axis in velvet to wherever he was. Well, we were going to change that on this hunt.

While I hunted for my Aoudad, he sat in a number of different blinds, but never saw any Axis bucks, just Hogs, Whitetails, Sika, and Mouflon. The weather was very erratic while we were there which caused the Axis to change their feeding times. Initially, they were feeding after dark.

Mature 31", 145 pound Axis Buck

Monday
Around mid-day on Monday we were driving to the back on the ranch in J's truck to get some work done. As we drove past #3, heading to #4, I saw some Axis ahead of us about 200 yards in the middle of big field grazing. It was 12:26 PM. We immediately stopped and got ready to shoot. There was a very nice Axis buck with a group of about 10 does. Unfortunately, the does saw us and the herd scrambled up to the left. We were unsure whether they had gone up the hill or were working their way down to the stream bed by #4, so we got out and started a stalk. We slowly crept all the way to #4, but didn't see or hear them. Axis usually don't go very far when startled and make a lot of noise. They had gone up the hill, so we got back in the truck and continued on.

Tuesday
This was a full day. After getting my Aoudad in the morning, we drove into Kerrville to drop him off at Rhodes for a shoulder mount and to get the backstrap made into sausage - I just have to try it. We also have lunch at a local BBQ place and then came back to the ranch to do some work.

By the time we had finished working and taking a break, it was almost 7 PM. We decided to take a drive down the North road around 7:30 PM to see if we could find anything. We stopped at the Goat pens by #3 and walked down the road and up to #3 to have a look. We didn't see anything except for a lone Axis doe on the hillside behind the Goat pens. We watched her for a few minutes to see if she was alone, she was, so we moved on.

We started a quite walk towards #4. In the same field where we had seen the Axis the day before, we jumped two does that were in the stream bed to our right. We kept walking. As we got near the end of the field on the road (where it goes down into the stream bed and then up towards the field behind the #4 stand) we saw a small group of Axis on the low ridge to our right. Unfortunately, they had seen us first and took off at a moderate pace. There were two bucks and one doe. The bucks were the ones I had seen at #3 in February and stalked to within 10 yards of as they moved to eat by the Goat pens. At that time one was in velvet and was around 34-35" inches, the other was just starting to grow out. By this time the 34-35" inch Axis was polished and the his buddy was fully grown, but still in velvet. Both nice deer.

We were beaten, but not done. We slowly made our way towards the field behind the #4 stand, but instead of taking the road, we crept along a low area that lay between the field and stream bed. I had never been back here before, but it was an awesome area to stalk from. It kept us out of sight and eliminated any noise we would had made in the stream bed. We went about 200 yards and then I crawled up to the edge of the field. I looked out and about 100 yards to the right of the #4 stand (the stand, not the feeder) there was an Axis buck and a doe feeding along the fence that runs into the #4 stand. They were about 125 yards in front of us. I had J come up behind me and I put the shooting sticks in position. I waited until the Axis was positioned correctly and told him to shoot. Bang! The shot hit in front of his shoulder in the brisket/lung area. The deer took off running. We didn't have a clear idea of where the shot hit at this time, so we put 2 more into him right before he made it into the thick brush. He was down. J's first Buck - Axis or Whitetail - he was very excited. I called him 31" and 150 pounds on the ground; he proved to be 31" and 145 pounds after meauring and weighing, pretty good!

This was the third Axis buck I guided (Carla, Jay Pettersson, JC), all three being spot and stalk kills versus stand/feeder kills. If you want to take an Axis, get up and move around! This would have been #4 for spot and stalk, but Alek and I missed a chance last November at an Axis buck down South. He ran away when an Axis doe busted us! Make sure and keep an eye on the does!

Aoudad Hunt

Friday April 13th was my last day at Dell after almost 14.5 years. My father-in-law and I decided to take some time at the Hackberry to hunt and do some work. We arrived Friday afternoon and stayed through Wednesday. My friend Mario joined us Monday and Tuesday to hunt turkey.

Several of us had sighted a large chocolate Aoudad on the ridge behind the #1 blind for quite some time. He was usually part of a larger group that typically appeared early morning. They would typically graze from West to East and then disappear onto the ridge. He had also been seen at the #4, the Double Feeder, behind #3, and closer to the highway on the same ridge. Several folks had made stalks on him, but no success.

He weighed in at 233 pounds. His right horn measured 32" and his left 30.875". I still don't know if he was the Chocolate Aoudad or another monster we had on the ranch. Let's hope "Chocy" is still up on the north road waiting for someone.

Saturday

I started the morning hunting #4. I didn't expect the Aoudad to show up here, but the blind gave me a good vantage point to glass several of ridges. Around 8:30 AM, I went to check the hog trap. I glassed the canyon behind the trap and immediately found four Aoudad grazing at the back of the canyon, but I didn't see the large one. On my way back to the cabin, I stopped to glass behind #1. I saw a lone Aoudad high up and nothing else.

Around 10 AM we went into Aoudad Canyon to fill the feeder. On the way in we glassed a group of Aoudad near the top of the ridge past the feeder. We filled the feeder and then went further back into the canyon to look around. We found the Aoudad sunning themselves at the very top rim of the canyon. Tthere were two large rams, one a monster. There was a group of Aoudad several hundred feet below them that blocked our approach. We didn't think he was the Chocolate Aoudad, so we made note of their position and moved on versus trying to stalk them.

Next we moved to a vantage point on Four Mile Ridge to view the feeder above #1. It is in the path of the Aoudad we see in the morning, but before going up there to hunt (a long walk) we wanted to be sure. We found a position on Four Mile Ridge where the canyon behind the Photo Blind ended. We glassed for about 30 minutes. Nothing. Right when we were about to move on we sighted a group of Aoudad on the left side of the canyon. We studied them for about 20 minutes. They were in very thick cedar and hard to make out. We determined they were a different group. That night I hunted #4 just in case the large Aoudad made a rare evening appearance. Nothing. Just a single Hog.

Sunday

I decided to hunt the #10 blind in the morning. It sits on the ridge above where I saw the large Aoudad Saturday morning and evening. Maybe he would come to the top to eat. Only Hogs came to the feeder. Nice. I walked down the ridge and found the area I saw the Aoudad sunning themselves Saturday morning. The cover is a lot thicker than it looks once you are in it versus looking across from the other side of the canyon.

I headed to Aoudad Canyon for the evening hunt. I parked at the gate and walked in, during which I jumped the same Axis buck twice. I got into position on the side of the hill opposite the feeder and waited. From about 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM I glassed several different lone Aoudads and groups moving about on the hills. We have a lot more on the ranch than we ever thought. Around 6:30 three Whitetail bucks came into the feeder and stayed until it went off. At this point the side of the hill came alive with noise and eight Aoudad ran full speed to the feeder and started to eat. The large one was nowhere in sight. I spent the next 30 minutes glassing the opposite hillside and finally found the large Aoudad with another mature ram, a ewe, and a lamb. They were very far away. I moved laterally across the face of the hill to try and get closer. I decided to take a cross-canyon shot at 516 yards. I had my 300 Ultra Mag. I got into a rock steady position and after watching him move in and out of cover for about 20 minutes, I took the shot. The herd reacted immediately. He ran down the rock face, back up, and then ran full speed across the ridge, and disappeared into the brush with his herd. I looked across the canyon and there was yet another group of Aoudad eating, watching me shoot, and not even running. I ended the hunt and walked back to highway. I jump the same Axis buck.

Monday

We slept in Monday morning so we could get some work done during the day. I decided to hunt Aoudad Canyon again that night and got into the same position again around 5 PM. Again, I saw large numbers of Aoudad grazing on the opposite hill side. Around 6 PM I sighted a large group to left before they disappeared into the tree line. I saw several large Aoudads in the group, definite shooters, but at this distance I couldn't determine whether the large one was in the group. After the feeder went off, a group of Aoudads made their way down to feed. This was a different group from the previous evening hunt. It was smaller group, but with much large rams; at least two shooters. It was also a different group than I had seen around 6 PM. We have a lot of Aoudad. I waited until 7:45 PM and then decided to walk to the very back of the canyon to see if I could see any other Aoudads or maybe run across some Axis or Hogs. I didn't find anything, but it was an incredibly beautiful walk. I eventually turn around and make my way out in the dark. I jump the same Axis again when I get near my buggy.

Tuesday

Mario and I get up around 5:15 AM. I need to get him up to the blind North of the cabin to Turkey hunt. We almost stayed in because of a very light rain, but decided to go ahead with the hunt. I dropped Mario off and then drove to Aoudad Canyon. This time I parked a little further in to shorten my walk over the wet rocks, plus the rain and wind offered some sound cover for the buggy. I manage to jump the same Axis buck again.

I got into position around 6:20 AM and waited. First visible light was around 6:45 AM and I noticed a lone Aoudad ram under the feeder patiently waiting for it to go off. At 7:00 AM the feeder went off, but the Aoudad barely touched the corn. Around 7:25 AM a ewe came in and they start to feed together. I guess he was waiting for his girlfriend to show up. I didn't know Aoudad were so polite. I decided to be polite as well and waited for the big Aoudad.

Around 7:45 AM a group of about five Aoudad showed up and started eating with the other two. I kept glassing the hill sides and ridges for the large Aoudad, but don't see him or any others. I had just put my binoculars down when I caught movement on the opposite side.... it was the large Aoudad! He was moving down the side of the hill, I assumed he was making his way towards the feeder. He stopped for a few seconds and looked at me, but not enough time for a shot.

As he came in closer, I confirmed he was the one I saw Saturday morning and took the long shot at in the evening. This would be much easier at 122 yards. Once he got settled down I slowly moved from behind a cedar tree to shoot. I raised my 300 Ultra Mag up, steadied it on his shoulder (an Aoudad's vitals are further forward than a deer, behind the shoulder would be a gut shot) and squeezed the trigger. It hit him, but it didn't knock him over. I've shot 500, 700, and 1,500 pound Africa antelopes at longer distances than this and put them on the ground! He spun around and started running on three legs! I chambered another round and got ready to shoot, but he crumpled over after running about 60 yards and disappeared down the side of the hill. I couldn't see whether he regained his balance or not so I quickly ran down to look for him. I found him a few yards from where he fell. The bullet had gone through both shoulders, the center of his heart, and his lungs. A perfect shot! I beg to differ with the African PHs that say the Blue Wildebeest is the toughest animal pound for pound on the planet!

Axis Hunt Result

My brother-in-law Mark was the one that got me hooked on bow hunting. Last weekend, he flew in from PA for a brother-in-law hunt down at the lease. The weather was great for hunting and the animals were moving!

The first kill belonged to Mark. He was in the double-feeder blind in the morning. You could say things weren't going his way. When he first arrived and set up, he noticed two of his five sight pins were missing the fiber optic lead. After accepting that handicap, he had a mishap with his seat. He claimed that it was a rock that gave out under one of the legs, but the result was him tumbling over and into the side of the blind. Perhaps the deer just had to see who the comedian was. In any case, three Axis does came in at first light. The last one was the big one that Mark targeted. Being the experience bowman that he his, he quietly drew on the beast. At that moment, the doe chased one of the smaller ones down closer to the cliff face. If you've sat in the blind, you'll know that this positions the animal below you. As Mark followed the deer through the sights he ended up lowering his bow to where the arrow, when released, passed through the window fabric/flap. Whap! Oops! Sh&#@! Laugh it off Mark, it must not be your day. At least you see your arrow stuck in the ground below the blind. Although the arrow was easy enough to retrieve, Mark got another surprise. It turns out the arrow hit the deer! in the guts. Double SH$#@! That's when Mark came to pick me up at #3 (where I saw lots of animals - pigs, sika doe, WT does, 8pt WT Buck - but no shots). We decided to wait until after lunch to track the doe. Four hours later we returned to the blind to see if we could follow the trail. What trail? I found out green gut juice 1) looks like everything else on the ground, and 2) doesn't leave much of a trace. We ended up on random vectors trying to think like a gut-shot deer. I was about to give up when I returned to the blind, glanced into the trees, and noticed something white. 40 yards from the feeder was a 110 pund Axis doe minus a few guts. Pays to wait people.



The next story is mine. Mark and I sat together in the south (wood blind) ground blind in the afternoon. For two years, I've been waiting for my first deer kill with a bow. This was it. The first deer to show up was an 8 pt WT. I noticed him through the trees to the right of the blind. It's always exciting to see bucks come in even if they are not shooters. Right behind the WT, I noticed another set of antlers in the trees. These weren't WT antlers. It was an Axis and it looked like a shooter. As he came in, I was afraind the sound of my heart might scare him away. Mark, without a second chair in the blind, rose to his knees. The buck was tentative. A sudden movement from the WT and they both scattered. They didn't run far, however, and 15 minutes later they were back. The hog panels presented a little challenge for me since the height was interfering with a path to the vitals. I must have waited another 10-15 minutes until he cleared the panels for a shot. I drew back and launched an arrow at 25 yards. The arrow penetrated the deer and it looked like a good shot. Not having shot and killed a deer before, I was a liitle nervous about where the shot went and how good the shot was. Mark's view was impaired by cedar in front of the blind. I also found out Mark was silently suffering from being on his knees so long. I literally had to push him over to regain blood flow to his legs! We call that brotherly love right there.

Mark wouldn't let me track for an hour. The blood trail looked good, however, and eventually ended up at a dead 30inch Axis buck 50 yards from the blind. Not the oldest or biggest buck in the woods, but he'll be hanging on the wall nonetheless. Axis Buck Mount: $450. Freeze drying process to preserve the velvet: $150. Telling the story of my first buck kill with a bow: you got it!